Corey Anderson - We would have bowled first as well. We'll have a second crack if things don't go our way tonight, but we'll take the momentum going into today's game. The confidence is high, Sanjay's knock was ourtanding the other game. Pat Cummins comes in place of Matt Henry, le Roux is back as well, he replaces Dhillon.
Steven Smith - We'll have a bowl. There's a bit of grass, could do a bit early on and we'll have a chase. We've got the right to be in this position, want to be successful and go through to the final tonight. We've taken the leanings from the other game and we'll look to do the process right. We're back to the XI that played the penultimate game.
A fresh pitch with some green grass. It's very very hard and that means it's going to skid on nicely, both batters and the bowlers will enjoy these conditions, average score so far is 163. It's a bowl first wicket, reckons Matthew Hayden and Pommie Mbangwa, in the pitch report
Washington Freedom (Playing XI): Travis Head, Steven Smith(c), Andries Gous(w), Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Maxwell, Mukhtar Ahmed, Obus Pienaar, Marco Jansen, Ian Holland, Lockie Ferguson, Saurabh Netravalkar
Washington Freedom have won the toss and have opted to field
18:45 Local Time, 23:45 GMT, 05:15 IST: Washington Freedom and the San Francisco Unicorns ended up with similar records during the league phase of the tournament. Wins - 5, Losses - 1, NR - 1. They were only separated by net run-rate and were clearly the best two teams of the #MLC24. They've been well led by their respective captains, Steven Smith and Corey Anderson, and both boast of a squad that has all-round depth. The Unicorns did beat Freedom in their league meet, but that was a game which carried no real value with both teams having already confirmed their top-2 finishes. Needless to say, the winner of tonight's encounter will have a direct passage to the final while the loser will face off against the Super Kings in tomorrow's challenger. Toss and team sheets coming up shortly..
Squads:
San Francisco Unicorns Squad: Finn Allen, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Sanjay Krishnamurthi, Josh Inglis(w), Sherfane Rutherford, Hassan Khan, Corey Anderson(c), Tajinder Dhillon, Juanoy Drysdale, Matt Henry, Haris Rauf, Matthew Short, Pat Cummins, Carmi le Roux, Brody Couch, Jahmar Hamilton, Abrar Ahmed, Karima Gore
Washington Freedom Squad: Travis Head, Steven Smith(c), Andries Gous(w), Rachin Ravindra, Mukhtar Ahmed, Jack Edwards, Obus Pienaar, Justin Dill, Akeal Hosein, Andrew Tye, Saurabh Netravalkar, Glenn Maxwell, Marco Jansen, Amila Aponso, Ian Holland, Lockie Ferguson, Lahiru Milantha, Jasdeep Singh, Yasir Mohammad, Bodugum Akhilesh Reddy