Matthew Short‘s unbeaten 94 just failed to carry San Francisco Unicorns over the line in the MLC Qualifier as Los Angeles Knight Riders booked their spot in the final on the back of Rovman Powell‘s tournament-record 15-ball half-century.

Andre Russell also made a key contribution in his 600th T20 match – just the third player to reach the milestone – as he struck 62 off 50 balls then bowled a crucial 19th over that cost just six runs. That left Unicorns needing 18 off the last which proved out of reach despite Hassan Khan launching a six to make it 9 needed off two deliveries.

Unicorns had made a horror start to their chase with Sunil Narine removing both openers for ducks in the first three balls of the innings – Lhuan-dre Pretorius caught behind first ball and Finn Allen driving straight to cover. But Short and Sanjay Krishnamurthi added 152 for the third wicket taking their side into the final three overs needing 36.

However, Krishnamurthi fell to Shadley van Schalkwyk then Russell kept Short and Aaron Hardie boundary-less in the penultimate over.

LAKR’s innings had been set up by a second-wicket stand of 96 between Russell and Colin Munro who made 51 off 44 balls. Having not been able to get into the middle until late in the 17th over, Powell then injected vital late impetus when the innings threatened to fall short.

He stuck four six in four consecutive legal deliveries off Haris Rauf in the 19th over and hammered two more in the last against Xavier Bartlett to register the tournament’s fastest-ever fifty.

Unicorns will have a second chance to reach the final when they play the second Eliminator on Thursday.