Washington Freedom (cricket)

2023: Inaugural season

The Freedom, in the second overall 2023 draft, picked Seattle-based Andries Gous.^[18] Dane Piedt, Mukhtar Ahmed, and Saad Ali were also all picked up by the team, with South African quick Anrich Nortje announced as a direct signing during the draft.^[19][20] Further signings were made throughout May and June, consisting of the likes of Marco Jansen, Akeal Hosein, and New Zealander Glenn Phillips.^[21][22]

Ahead of the inaugural season opener, the team announced it would be led by Australian Moises Henriques and coached by Greg Shipperd.^[23][24] Tanveer Sangha was brought on in early July as a replacement for Wanindu Hasaranga, who dropped out, while Matthew Short was added to the squad as an injury replacement for Josh Philippe.

On July 12, 2023, Steve Smith joined Washington Freedom as the team's brand ambassador.^[25]

During the group stage, the Freedom were narrowly defeated by Seattle before a six-run defense against Texas marked the team's first victory in the tournament. They would then proceed to prevail in a run chase of 176 against Los Angeles and demolish San Francisco by 30 runs, ensuring a playoff berth.^[26][27] A defeat at the hands of New York, however, would see them confined to a third-place group stage finish heading into the finals.^[28] New York would again defeat the Freedom in the Eliminator, taking them out of finals contention and ending their tournament.^[29]

2024: Maiden MLC title

Following a good inaugural season, the team retained much of its overseas and domestic core, including Akeal Hosein and U.S. bulwarks Andries Gous and Saurabh Netravalkar.^[33] Ahead of the 2024 season opener,^[34] the team signed, amongst others, domestics Ian Holland, Yasir Mohammad^[35] and future captains Steve Smith and Glenn Maxwell.^[36]

With Smith appointed the team's captain and Ricky Ponting replacing Shipperd as head coach,^[37] he led the Freedom through a dominant tournament – with Maxwell and fellow Australian teammate Travis Head firing with the bat and Netravalkar and New Zealander Rachin Ravindra topping the league's bowling charts.^[38] In the group stage, they went top of the table by first recording a 3-0-1 record in Morrisville. Barring one washout game against Texas, the Freedom defeated New York by 4 runs in a rain-affected endeavor, cruised past Seattle by 5 wickets, and crushed Los Angeles by 8 wickets. In Grand Prairie, the team continued their undefeated streak by again defeating Los Angeles, steamrolling New York by 94 runs, and clinching a heavy 42-run victory over Texas. Their only defeat of the season came at the hands of San Francisco, as they were downed by 6 wickets. In the finals, the Freedom defeated the Unicorns by 96 runs to win their first title.^[39]

2025–2026: Continued form, strong title runs

The following year in February, ahead of the Freedom's third season, the team once again retained much of its overseas and domestic cadre, but had to let go of Head due to an overlapping Australian tour of the West Indies. In the four-month leadup to the season opener, the Freedom made a slew of signings to fill up its remaining team spots, including Mitchell Owen and Glenn Phillips. Amidst concern that Smith would not be able to play for the Freedom due to international commitments, the Freedom confirmed that they were eyeing a 2-match stint for him.^[40] Ultimately, due to an injury, he dropped out of the tournament as Maxwell took over captaincy duties.^[41]

As defending champions,^[42] the Freedom began their season with a crushing 123-run loss to San Francisco – courtesy of Finn Allen's mammoth 151.^[43] They quickly recovered, going 4–0 with a 5-wicket win over Seattle,^[44] a heavy 113-run Maxwell-powered victory over Los Angeles,^[45] a thrilling last-over 2-wicket game against New York,^[46] and a high-scoring 7-wicket chase against Texas.^[47] The Freedom closed off their Dallas leg of the tournament strong by again defeating Los Angeles via a last-ball single and delivering San Francisco a 12-run defeat, their first of the season.^[48] Ensured of a playoff berth, Washington headed into Lauderhill with a 6–1 record, tied with San Francisco on points but lower on net run rate.^[49]

At Lauderhill, in a rain-affected game, the Freedom began poorly with a hefty 43-run defeat to Texas.^[50][51] However, in a play for a top-two finish, the Freedom steamrolled Seattle by 8 wickets and eased past New York by 6 wickets.^[52][53] After shooting up to a first-place group stage finish heading into the playoffs,^[54] the Freedom advanced on higher seeding to play New York in the final following a Qualifier 1 washout.^[55] The Freedom ultimately were downed by 5 runs in a last-over thriller, providing New York with their second MLC championship.^[56]

Smith returned to captain the team ahead of the 2026 season; a series of players, including Glenn Phillips and domestic Justin Dill, were let go in favor of Australian cricketers Ben Dwarshuis and Nikhil Chaudhary while South Africa's Marco Jansen was brought back in an attempt to bolster the team's bowling attack.^[57]

The first half of the tournament was a mixed bag overall for the Freedom, marked by a loss-win trend; in their season opener against Seattle in Dallas, an Ottneil Baartman 4-fer set up a 5-wicket loss,^[58] while a day later Mitchell Owen's record-breaking 155 delivered their first win of the season against New York.^[59] The pattern held as Jessy Singh's 5-fer handed the Freedom a crushing 88-run defeat to Seattle before a last-ball six by Nikhil Chaudhary capped off a thrilling win over Texas.^[60][61] The Freedom ended its Oakland leg and reached the tournament's halfway stage with a battering 8-wicket defeat to San Francisco, set up by Lhuan-dre Pretorius' 26-ball 66.^[62] Heading into the Pomona leg of the tournament, the Freedom maintained a 2–3 record, placing outside of the top four.

The second half of the tournament was dominant; the Freedom went 4–1 in their five remaining games. By routing Los Angeles by six wickets and overcoming San Francisco by five, the team snapped their loss-win trend and soared to the top of the table.^[63][64] Barring an 18-run loss in a rematch to Los Angeles,^[65] the Freedom won their next two games against Texas and New York by three and five wickets, clinching a third-place group stage finish and a playoff spot for the fourth year running.^[66][67] In their first eliminator game, Andries Gous' 132 and Smith's 110* led the Freedom to triumph in a record-breaking chase of 267, driving the team's rally into the challenger match, where Gous' 73 propelled the Freedom past San Francisco into the final for the third straight time.^[68][69] At the final, the Freedom were beat out narrowly by one run as Shadley van Schalkwyk held on, three wickets falling in the final over.^[70]

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