Major League Cricket Tips Matches Three & Four: Orcas to add to Freedom misery

• Batters expected to dominate in latest round

• Oakland Coliseum pitch could still be flat

• Knight Riders slightly underrated for runs

• Orcas may be too strong for Freedom

• Read the unmissable MLC team-by-team guide HERE

San Francisco Unicorns v LA Knight Riders
Saturday 14 June, 22.00
TV: Live on Willow

San Francisco Unicorns v Los Angeles Knight Riders MLC tips

San Francisco Unicorns have an opportunity to go two from two against a potentially depleted Knight Riders in game three from Oakland Coliseum.

Having trumped Washington Freedom in the opener, another two points and a huge step towards the play-offs is on the line with LAKR struggling to get their best XI together. That's because of their West Indies contingent who are in Ireland involved in a damp squib of a T20 series.

Sherfane Rutherford, Rovman Powell and Jason Holder are all expected to be absent for Knight Riders. Although Andre Russell is not included in that series, it is a wonder whether they have the quality to fill those three gaps. Andre Fletcher will probably get a game and Tanveer Sangha, too, but they are far from their strongest.

The Exchange has Unicorns as favourites at 1.768/11 and that could look very short indeed on what looks a good batting wicket at the Coliseum. If Unicorns bat first they should put themselves bang in charge by the break.

The run glut for game two didn't quite materialise after Unicorns' Finn Allen smashed records in the opener as his side amassed 269. Texas and New York produced a 367-run winner with Texas winning by three runs. We're pretty sure this is a road for the short term. Drop-in pitches could start to deteriorate after reasonable traffic. Sportsbook's 5/61.84 that LA bust more than 168.5 match runs has appeal while overs 18.5 sixes looks potentially generous at 8/111.73.

Seattle Orcas v Washington Freedom
Sunday 15 June, 02:00
TV: Live on Willow

Seattle Orcas v Washington Freedom MLC tips

Washington Freedom have had a disastrous start to their title defence. They were hammered by Unicorns, a repeat of the final, in game one and have then lost their marquee signing. Steve Smith's broken finger at Lord's in the World Test Championship means he will not be playing Stateside.

Freedom look a little unbalanced as an XI. There's nowt wrong with a front six with the bat (Andries Gous deployed as a finisher) but there could be a worry about a bowling unit which has already been taken apart. They look to be light on proper pace.

Saurabh Netravalkar and Ben Sears are fine but the options after that are limited in terms of a specialist threat. It's bits and pieces from the likes of Jack Edwards, Rachin Ravindra, Mitch Owen and Glenn Phillips. We're not sure why Lockie Ferguson or Jason Behrendorff weren't in the XI. Netravalkar remains value at 7/24.50 for top bowler then with potentially little to beat. 

Orcas, particularly if they bat first, look to be strong value at odds-against. We don't expect the flip to move the market that much. If outright odds were available we would have probably backed them to go from bottom last term to have a serious title bid.

They are blessed with decent domestic talent in Aaron Jones, Steven Taylor and Ben Gannon while David Warner's on-field nous and skip Heinrich Klaasen's power are key. Klaasen making sure he bats in the front four will be important. He is 16/54.20 for top bat.

Shimron Hetmyer is unavailable for Orcas due to that West Indies tour while Faz Farooqi and Gulbadin Naib were awaiting visas. If the latter two make it the Orcas rate a bet pre-toss.

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