Finn Allen shatters multiple records in explosive MLC 2025 opener

OAKLAND: The San Francisco Unicorns launched their Major League Cricket (MLC) 2025 campaign in sensational style, crushing defending champions Washington Freedom by 123 runs in the tournament opener. 

The victory was headlined by a historic, record-breaking knock from New Zealand's Finn Allen and a fiery bowling performance spearheaded by Pakistan pacer Haris Rauf.

Asked to bat first, the Unicorns suffered early setbacks as Tim Seifert was dismissed by Jack Edwards and Jake Fraser-McGurk fell to Saurabh Netravalkar during the powerplay. 

However, what followed was one of the most destructive T20 innings ever witnessed. Finn Allen unleashed a brutal assault on the Freedom bowling attack, hammering 151 off just 51 balls. 

His innings set a new benchmark as the fastest 150 in T20 history, reaching the milestone in only 49 deliveries—beating Dewald Brevis’s previous record of 52 balls.

Allen’s rampage featured 19 sixes, the most ever hit in a T20 innings. This astonishing feat broke the long-standing joint record of 18 sixes held by Chris Gayle (against Dhaka Dynamites in 2017) and Sahil Chauhan (against Cyprus in 2024). 

He brought up his century in just 34 balls, making it the second-fastest hundred in a T20 franchise league, trailing only Gayle’s 30-ball hundred in the IPL back in 2013. 

Allen ultimately scored 134 of his 151 runs in boundaries, including 114 through sixes alone—placing him among the top boundary-scorers in a single T20 innings.

San Francisco's scoring surged in the middle overs, with a consistent flow of runs—21, 12, 20, 12, 12, and 22 across six overs—pushing the total to 194/3 after 14 overs. 

Although they narrowly missed the 300-run milestone, their final score of 269/5 became the highest total in MLC history and the first time a team crossed the 250-run mark in a T20 match on American soil. 

The Unicorns also smashed 28 sixes collectively in their innings, the second-most by any team in a T20 match, just behind Baroda’s 37 sixes against Sikkim in India’s domestic T20s last year.

Washington Freedom started their chase with positive intent, blazing to 89/1 in the powerplay—better than the Unicorns’ 67/2 at the same stage.

However, their momentum quickly faded as Haris Rauf and the Unicorns’ bowling attack dismantled the middle and lower order. 

Apart from Jack Edwards (15) and Ben Sears (10), no other batter reached double figures, and the defending champions were bowled out for 146 in just 13.1 overs.

Allen’s 151 not only rewrote several records but also overtook Nicholas Pooran’s unbeaten 137 from the 2023 final as the highest individual score in MLC history.