Brody Couch and Matthew Short shared seven wickets between them as San Francisco Unicorns moved to the top of the MLC 2026 table with a five-wicket win over MI New York. Four teams have eight points at this stage, with one of them – Seattle Orcas – having played an extra game, and Unicorns have the best net run rate (NRR) of them all, of 0.367.

Unicorns’ NRR received a solid boost thanks to their bowlers, who skittled MINY out for 104. The fast bowlers set the tone, with Couch picking up three wickets and Xavier Bartlett, Haris Rauf and Aaron Hardie all going at five an over or below. Short, meanwhile, made a big impact with his offspin, taking four wickets and conceding just 17 in his four overs.

MINY never got any partnerships going, and only Nicholas Pooran (20) and Corbin Bosch (21) got to 20. They were bowled out off the last ball of their innings.

Faisal Khan dismissed both Unicorns openers early, but the chase was otherwise straightforward, with Short (21 off 20) and Sanjay Krishnamurthi giving the innings heft at Nos. 3 and 4. Unicorns kept losing wickets, with Tristan Luus taking out Short and Hardie, but the target simply wasn’t big enough to challenge them. Krishnamurthi finished with an unbeaten 48 off 45 balls, and steered Unicorns home with 19 balls to spare.