2025 Washington Freedom season

Washington Freedom

2025 season
Coach	Ricky Ponting
Captain	Glenn Maxwell
Overseas player	Glenn Maxwell Mark Chapman Ben Sears Jason Behrendorff Mitchell Owen Glenn Phillips Jack Edwards Lockie Ferguson
MLC	Runners-up
Most runs	Mitchell Owen (313 runs)
Most wickets	Jack Edwards (14) Mitchell Owen (14)
← 2024 2026 →

The 2025 Washington Freedom season was the third season of the franchise in Major League Cricket (MLC). ^[1] The team, which was without last year's captain Steven Smith due to injury, ^[2] was captained by fellow Australian teammate Glenn Maxwell and coached by Ricky Ponting. ^[3]

As defending champions, ^[4] the Freedom began their season with a crushing 123-run loss to San Francisco – courtesy of Finn Allen's mammoth 151. ^[5] They quickly recovered, going 4-0 with a 5-wicket win over Seattle, ^[6] a heavy 113-run Maxwell-powered victory over Los Angeles, ^[7] a thrilling last-over 2-wicket game against New York, ^[8] and a high-scoring 7-wicket chase against Texas. ^[9] 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. ^[10] 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. ^[11]

At Lauderhill, in a rain-affected game, the Freedom began poorly with a hefty 43-run defeat to Texas. ^{[12] [13]} However, in a play for a top-two finish, the Freedom steamrolled Seattle by 8 wickets and eased past New York by 6 wickets. ^{[14] [15]} After shooting up to a first-place group stage finish heading into the playoffs, ^[16] the Freedom advanced on higher seeding to play New York in the final following a Qualifier 1 washout. ^[17] They were ultimately downed by 5 runs in a last-over thriller, providing New York with their second MLC championship.

Background

On January 10, 2025, ahead of the domestic platers' draft, MLC announced that the tournament's third season would begin play on June 13 in Oakland, and end with the final on July 13. In February, the Freedom released a list of retained overseas players', containing the likes of Maxwell, Smith, and Rachin Ravindra. They further retained domestic bulwarks Andries Gous, Saurabh Netravalkar, and Ian Holland, amongst others.

Prior to the season opener, the team signed a slew of overseas players–the likes of Mitchell Owen, Mark Chapman, and Glenn Phillips.

Current squad

• Players with international caps are listed in bold.

Washington Freedom roster

Name	Nat.	Date of Birth	Batting Style	Bowling Style	Year signed	Notes
Batters
Steve Smith	Australia	(1989-06-02) June 2, 1989 (age 36)	Right-handed	Right-arm leg spin	2024	Direct signing
Travis Head	Australia	(1993-12-29) December 29, 1993 (age 31)	Left-handed	Right-arm-off spin	2024	Direct signing
Jack Edwards	Australia	(2000-04-19) April 19, 2000 (age 25)	Right-handed	—	2024	Direct signing
Mukhtar Ahmed	Pakistan	(1992-12-20) December 20, 1992 (age 32)	Right-handed	Right-arm leg break googly	2023
All-rounders
Mitchell Owen	Australia	(2001-09-11) 11 September 2001 (age 23)	Right-handed	Right-arm medium	2025
Glenn Maxwell	Australia	(1988-10-14) October 14, 1988 (age 36)	Right-handed	Right-arm off break	2024	Direct signing
Rachin Ravindra	New Zealand	(1999-11-18) November 18, 1999 (age 25)	Left-handed	Slow left-arm orthodox	2024	Direct signing
Glenn Phillips	New Zealand	(1996-12-06) December 6, 1996 (age 28)	Right-handed	Right-arm off break	2025	Direct signing
Obus Pienaar	United States	(1989-12-12) December 12, 1989 (age 35)	Right-handed	Left-arm off spin	2023
Justin Dill	United States	(1994-11-10) November 10, 1994 (age 30)	Right-handed	Right-arm medium fast	2023
Ian Holland	United States	(1990-10-03) October 3, 1990 (age 34)	Right-handed	Right-arm medium	2024
Wicket-keeper
Andries Gous	United States	(1993-11-24) November 24, 1993 (age 31)	Right-handed		2023
Lahiru Milantha	Sri Lanka	(1994-05-28) May 28, 1994 (age 31)	Left-handed		2024
Bowlers
Saurabh Netravalkar	United States	(1991-10-16) October 16, 1991 (age 33)	Right-handed	Left-arm medium fast	2023
Jason Behrendorff	Australia	20 April 1990	Right-handed	Left-arm fast	2025	Direct signing
Lockie Ferguson	New Zealand	(1991-06-13) June 13, 1991 (age 34)	Right-handed	Right-arm fast	2024	Direct signing
Akhilesh Bodugum	United States	(2000-04-28) April 28, 2000 (age 25)	Right-handed	Right-arm off spin	2023	U23 player
Amila Aponso	United States	(1993-06-23) June 23, 1993 (age 32)	Right-handed	Slow left-arm orthodox	2024
Yasir Mohammad	United States	(2002-10-10) October 10, 2002 (age 22)	Left-handed	Legbreak Googly	2024

League stage

Timing of matches in California are in Pacific Time Zone (PDT) (UTC-07:00), while matches in Texas and Florida are in Central Time Zone (CDT) (UTC-05:00) and Eastern Time Zone (EDT) (UTC-04:00).

Match 1 June 12, 2025 18:00 (D/N) Scorecard

San Francisco Unicorns 269/5 (20 overs)	v	Washington Freedom 146 (13.1 overs)
Finn Allen 151 (51) Jack Edwards 2/39 (4 overs)		Rachin Ravindra 42 (17) Haris Rauf 3/30 (3.1 overs)

San Francisco Unicorns won by 123 runs Oakland Coliseum, Oakland Attendance: 5,126 [18] Umpires: Leslie Reifer (WI) and Rushane Samuels (WI) Player of the match: Finn Allen (San Francisco Unicorns)

• Washington Freedom won the toss and elected to field.
• Finn Allen (San Francisco Unicorns) scored the fastest century (off 34 balls) in Major League Cricket and also the second-fastest in any franchise T20 league, behind Chris Gayle's 30-ball century against Pune Warriors India in IPL 2013. ^[19]
• Finn Allen scored the highest number of sixes (19) in innings breaking the record of Chris Gayle (18) in T20s. ^[20]
• Finn Allen scored the fastest 150 (off 49 balls) in T20s, breaking the record of Dewald Brevis 150 (off 52 balls) against Knights. ^[21]

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Match 4 June 14, 2025 18:00 (D/N) Scorecard

Seattle Orcas 145/9 (20 overs)	v	Washington Freedom 149/5 (13.3 overs)
David Warner 31 (17) Ian Holland 4/19 (4 overs)		Rachin Ravindra 44 (18) Waqar Salamkheil 2/27 (3.3 overs)

Washington Freedom won by 5 wickets Oakland Coliseum, Oakland Attendance: 7,361 Umpires: Jermaine Lindo (USA) and Vijaya Mallela (USA) Player of the match: Ian Holland (Washington Freedom)

• Seattle Orcas won the toss and elected to bat.

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Match 8 June 17, 2025 18:00 (D/N) Scorecard

Washington Freedom 208/5 (20 overs)	v	Los Angeles Knight Riders 95 (16.3 overs)
Glenn Maxwell 106* (49) Corné Dry 2/33 (3 overs)		Saif Badar 32 (31) Jack Edwards 3/15 (3 overs)

Washington Freedom won by 113 runs Oakland Coliseum, Oakland Attendane: 1,985 Umpires: Wayne Knights (NZ) and Vijaya Mallela (USA) Player of the match: Glenn Maxwell (Washington Freedom)

• Washington Freedom won the toss and elected to bat.

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Match 11 June 21, 2025 19:00 (D/N) Scorecard

MI New York 188/4 (20 overs)	v	Washington Freedom 189/8 (19.2 overs)
Quinton de Kock 55 (34) Ian Holland 1/6 (1 over)		Mitchell Owen 60 (26) Naveen-ul-Haq 2/28 (4 overs)

Washington Freedom won by 2 wickets Grand Prairie Stadium, Grand Prairie Umpires: Rushane Samuels (WI) and Wayne Knights (NZ) Player of the match: Mitchell Owen (Washington Freedom)

• Washington Freedom won the toss and elected to field.

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Match 13 June 22, 2025 19:00 (D/N) Scorecard

Texas Super Kings 220/6 (20 overs)	v	Washington Freedom 223/3 (19.4 overs)
Faf du Plessis 69 (31) Mitchell Owen 3/33 (3 overs)		Mitchell Owen 89 (52) Adam Milne 3/42 (4 overs)

Washington Freedom won by 7 wickets Grand Prairie Stadium, Grand Prairie Umpires: Wayne Knights (NZ) and Vijaya Mallela (USA) Player of the match: Mitchell Owen (Washington Freedom)

• Washington Freedom won the toss and elected to field.
• Andries Gous (Washington Freedom) played his 100th T20 match.

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Match 17 June 26, 2025 19:00 (D/N) Scorecard

Los Angeles Knight Riders 213/4 (20 overs)	v	Washington Freedom 214/5 (20 overs)
Andre Fletcher 104 (60) Ian Holland 2/25 (3 overs)		Mitchell Owen 43 (16) Tanveer Sangha 2/35 (4 overs)

Washington Freedom won by 5 wickets Grand Prairie Stadium, Grand Prairie Umpires: Wayne Knights (NZ) and Vijaya Mallela (USA) Player of the match: Mitchell Owen (Washington Freedom)

• Washington Freedom won the toss and elected to field.
• Andre Fletcher and Sherfane Rutherford (Los Angeles Knight Riders) both scored their 8,000th and 3,000th run respectively in T20s.

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Match 19 June 28, 2025 15:00 Scorecard

Washington Freedom 169/6 (20 overs)	v	San Francisco Unicorns 157/9 (20 overs)
Glenn Phillips 58 (39) Xavier Bartlett 4/32 (4 overs)		Matthew Short 67 (40) Mitchell Owen 5/17 (3 overs)

Washington Freedom won by 12 runs Grand Prairie Stadium, Grand Prairie Umpires: Wayne Knights (NZ) and Rushane Samuels (WI) Player of the match: Mitchell Owen (Washington Freedom)

• Washington Freedom won the toss and elected to bat.
• Mitchell Owen (Washington Freedom) took his first five-wicket haul in T20s. ^[22]

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Match 23 July 2, 2025 19:00 (D/N) Scorecard

Texas Super Kings 87/2 (5 overs)	v	Washington Freedom 44/4 (5 overs)
Shubham Ranjane 39* (14) Saurabh Netravalkar 1/30 (2 overs)		Glenn Phillips 18* (11) Nandre Burger 2/12 (1 over)

Texas Super Kings won by 43 runs Broward County Stadium, Lauderhill Umpires: Wayne Knights (NZ) and Rushane Samuels (WI) Player of the match: Donovan Ferreira (Texas Super Kings)

• Washington Freedom won the toss and elected to field.
• The match was reduced to 5 overs per side due to rain.

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Match 26 July 4, 2025 19:00 (D/N) Scorecard

Seattle Orcas 82 (17.4 overs)	v	Washington Freedom 86/2 (9.2 overs)
Heinrich Klaasen 48 (39) Glenn Maxwell 3/12 (4 overs)		Mukhtar Ahmed 36* (21) Jessy Singh 1/11 (1 over)

Washington Freedom won by 8 wickets Broward County Stadium, Lauderhill Umpires: Jermaine Lindo (USA) and Vijaya Mallela (USA) Player of the match: Glenn Maxwell (Washington Freedom)

• Washington Freedom won toss and elected to field.

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Match 29 July 6, 2025 15:00 Scorecard

MI New York 112/8 (18 overs)	v	Washington Freedom 113/4 (15 overs)
Kunwarjeet Singh 33 (30) Glenn Maxwell 3/29 (4 overs)		Andries Gous 46* (34) Tristan Luus 2/39 (4 overs)

Washington Freedom won by 6 wickets Broward County Stadium, Lauderhill Umpires: Wayne Knights (NZ) and Billy Taylor (USA) Player of the match: Glenn Maxwell (Washington Freedom)

• MI New York won the toss and elected to bat.
• The match was reduced to 18 overs per side due to rain.

Standing

Points table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	T	NR	Pts	NRR	Qualification
1	Washington Freedom	10	8	2	0	0	16	0.954	Advanced to Qualifier
2	Texas Super Kings	10	7	3	0	0	14	1.603
3	San Francisco Unicorns	10	7	3	0	0	14	1.330	Advanced to Eliminator
4	MI New York	10	3	7	0	0	6	−0.518
5	Seattle Orcas	10	3	7	0	0	6	−1.842	Eliminated
6	Los Angeles Knight Riders	10	2	8	0	0	4	−1.320

Source: ESPNCricinfo

Match summary

Team	Group matches										Playoffs
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Q/E	C	F
Washington Freedom	0	2	4	6	8	10	12	12	14	16	W		L

Win

Loss

Tie

No Result

Win–loss table

Team	League stage										Play-offs				Pos.
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Q	E	C	F
Washington Freedom	San Francisco 123 runs	Seattle 8 wickets	Los Angeles 113 runs	New York 2 wickets	Texas 8 wickets	Los Angeles 5 wickets	San Francisco 12 runs	Texas 43 runs	Seattle 8 wickets	New York 6 wickets	Texas Higher seeding			New York 5 runs	2nd

Administration and support staff

Washington Freedom staff

Position	Name
Head coach	Ricky Ponting
General Manager	Michael Klinger
Bowling coach	Dale Steyn
Assistant coach	Samit Patel
Team manager	Andrew Lynch
Strength and conditioning	Umar Gul
High performance analyst	Zamir Khan
Physiotherapist	Noor Ali Zadran

References

1. Roller, Matt (January 23, 2025). "Hundred and MLC avoid fixtures clash for 2025". ESPNcricinfo . Retrieved March 31, 2025.
2. McGlashan, Andrew (June 14, 2025). "Smith avoids surgery, faces race to be fit for West Indies Tests". ESPNcricinfo . Retrieved June 25, 2025.
3. Omoro, Ian (June 12, 2025). "MLC 2025: Maxwell Replaces Smith as Washington Freedom Captain". Athlon Sports. Retrieved June 25, 2025.
4. McGlashan, Andrew (July 29, 2024). "Smith, Maxwell star in Washington Freedom's emphatic title win". ESPNcricinfo . Retrieved August 9, 2024.
5. Abbas, Haider (June 13, 2025). "Finn Allen Lights Up the MLC 2025 with a Record-Breaking Century in the Opening Match". Sports Illustrated . Retrieved June 25, 2025.
6. Patel, Smit (June 14, 2025). "Holland 4-fer downs Orcas". Cricbuzz . Retrieved June 25, 2025.
7. "Maxwell's century for Freedom consigns LAKR to heavy defeat". ESPNcricinfo . June 18, 2025. Retrieved June 25, 2025.
8. "Freedom beat MI for third successive win in MLC". BBC . June 22, 2025. Retrieved June 25, 2025.
9. Shah, Faisal (June 23, 2025). "Record-Breaking Chase: Washington Freedom Stun Texas Super Kings in MLC 2025 Thriller". Sports Illustrated . Retrieved June 25, 2025.
10. Das, Aishik (June 27, 2025). "Final ball blunder costs Andre Russell's LA Knight Riders in MLC thriller vs Washington Freedom". The Sporting News . Retrieved June 28, 2025.
11. Patel, Smit (June 28, 2025). "Mitchell Owen fifer powers Washington Freedom to playoffs". Cricbuzz . Retrieved June 29, 2025.
12. Burnett, Ian (July 4, 2025). "Ranjane and Ferreira's firestorm propels Texas Super Kings to 2nd in MLC sprint". Caribbean National Weekly. Retrieved July 8, 2025.
13. Mahbub, Rashad (July 4, 2025). "Ranjane, Ferreira hit quick 30s to lift Texas Super Kings to No. 2". ESPNcricinfo . Retrieved July 8, 2025.
14. "MLC 2025: Washington Freedom bolster top two chances by snapping Seattle Orcas' three-match winning run". The Times of India . July 5, 2025. Archived from the original on July 5, 2025. Retrieved July 8, 2025.
15. Patel, Smit (July 5, 2025). "Maxwell spins Washington Freedom to top-two finish". Cricbuzz . Retrieved July 8, 2025.
16. Patel, Smit (July 8, 2025). "Surging Washington Freedom set sights on another final". Cricbuzz . Retrieved July 8, 2025.
17. "Freedom qualify for MLC final after washout". BBC Sport . July 9, 2025. Retrieved July 13, 2025.
18. Dahlstrom-Eckman, Azul (June 13, 2025). "Oakland Coliseum, In Its Second Life, Hosts Major League Cricket's West Coast Debut". KQED . Retrieved June 14, 2025.
19. "MLC 2025: Finn Allen smashes fastest century in league history against Washington Freedom". Times of India. Retrieved June 13, 2025.
20. "19 sixes, 150 in 49 balls! New Zealand's Finn Allen breaks Chris Gayle's sixes world record in MLC 2025 opener". The Indian Express. Retrieved June 13, 2025.
21. "Finn Allen Creates History With 51-Ball 151 In MLC, Becomes First In World To..." News 18. Retrieved June 13, 2025.
22. "Owen five-for sends Unicorns to their first defeat of MLC 2025". ESPNcricinfo . Retrieved June 29, 2025.