San Francisco Unicorns, Washington Freedom react to record-breaking cricket opener at Oakland Coliseum

OAKLAND — Oakland Coliseum was treated to a historic cricket showcase on Thursday night. 

The San Francisco Unicorns hosted their first-ever Major League Cricket home match, and it was a bad day to be an on-the-books cricket record. 

The Unicorns defeated Washington 269-146, setting new records for both runs scored and margin of victory in an MLC game. San Francisco’s Finn Allen broke the T20 record by batting in 151 runs to power the Unicorns’ offense, also breaking the all-time sixes record with 19. 

It was a historic day several times over, and 5,126 fans were there to see it in Oakland. While that wasn’t a new record, the atmosphere they generated left the game’s players wanting to see more of the same over the forthcoming weekend of continued cricket matchups at the Coliseum.

“It was an amazing experience,” Allen said. “The way that they were able to put the ground together so quickly and lay those wickets down and for it to play like that, we were a little bit nervous, to be honest, of how it was going to play. And I think it was really good. Our bowlers also found a pretty good way to bowl out there, obviously, with balls flying everywhere. We kept our composure and were able to bowl them out. 

“We wanted to come out here for a time with Oakland and throw the first punch and put on a show.”

Allen wasn’t the only Unicorn with a strong performance at bat. Hassan Khan was second-best with 38 runs accounted for, and San Jose State’s Sanjay Krishnamurthi was San Francisco’s third-leading hitter with 36 runs.

But Allen was the undisputed star of the match. Washington simply had no answer for the New Zealand international.

“We had lots of different plans, and none of them worked,” Washington’s Jack Edwards said. “He was on a heater, and everything we tried, he seemed to smack.”

Edwards was disappointed with the result of the match, but he couldn’t hide his enthusiasm for the attendance and fan support the fans provided throughout the night. Though the majority of the home fans were squarely in the San Francisco camp, Washington sixes received robust cheers as well, and the atmosphere was spirited throughout. 

“It was a very cool day,” Edwards said. “I thought we had an amazing crowd and atmosphere out there. And certainly a lot of home runs being hit. 

“I just thought it was a great spectacle. If you came to the game tonight, I think you’d be pretty, pretty happy that you came along. They scored 269 runs, so that’s always gonna be pretty entertaining. We were saying there’s a lot more home runs than at a baseball game. It was a great spectacle representing the MLC.”

Edwards wasn’t necessarily expecting to see as many fans as he did, and he hopes the crowds are similar when Washington returns to the pitch on Saturday.

“I was surprised that we had that kind of crowd tonight,” he said. “It was awesome to play in front of, and hopefully a great start for what’s going to be a great tournament.”

Allen had the last word, fittingly for a day when he inscribed his name in the cricket record books for all time. San Francisco is back on the field at 2 p.m. Friday, and while Allen and the Unicorns will have a hard time upstaging Thursday night’s show, they’re going to give it their best swing.

But Thursday’s performance was special, no matter what San Francisco brings to the table in the rest of the MLC tournament.

“It’s obviously cool,” Allen said of the Unicorns’ historic achievements. “We said today we wanted to put on a good show for the fans, the first time in Oakland. And, yeah, I think we probably did.”