San Francisco Unicorns and Los Angeles Knight Riders meet in the Qualifier of Major League Cricket 2026 at the Oakland Coliseum, with a place in the final at stake. An afternoon start in mild, dry weather should leave the pitch playing consistently throughout.
The Unicorns are captained by Matthew Short and have a dangerous top order in Finn Allen and Lhuan-dre Pretorius, plus Aaron Hardie, Hassan Khan and Haris Rauf in their wider squad. Xavier Bartlett leads the pace options, and the squad also includes Ravichandran Ashwin.
The Knight Riders have names such as Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Rovman Powell, Shimron Hetmyer, Marcus Stoinis and Lungi Ngidi in their group. Their line-up and captaincy are uncertain, so we have not listed a probable XI for either team.
With short boundaries and a quick outfield, 180-plus is considered a strong total, though chasing sides should still be in the game if they handle the powerplay. Our preview narrowly goes for Los Angeles Knight Riders, with the Unicorns expected to win the toss.