Washington Freedom face San Francisco Unicorns in MLC 2026 Match 19 at Knight Riders Cricket Field at Fairplex in Pomona, California on Saturday 4 July 2026, starting at 14:30 PDT (UTC-7). Knight Riders Cricket Field at Fairplex is the first franchise-owned cricket ground in MLC history, purpose-built by Los Angeles Knight Riders at the Fairplex complex. The ground holds 8,000 spectators for cricket. Major League Cricket 2026 is the tournament’s third season.

Match Overview: Washington Freedom vs San Francisco Unicorns

Washington Freedom face San Francisco Unicorns on 4 July, American Independence Day, at Knight Riders Cricket Field. The date adds cultural layering to a sporting contest: cricket on Independence Day in Los Angeles is a marker of the sport’s growing mainstream American presence. San Francisco Unicorns, as the 2023 MLC champions, are the standard that Washington Freedom are measured against in terms of franchise development.

Washington Freedom are MLC’s capital franchise, representing the Washington D.C. metro area. The region’s South Asian population, concentrated in Northern Virginia and Maryland suburbs, provides a committed fanbase. The Freedom name carries deliberate resonance with D.C.’s political identity.

San Francisco Unicorns won the inaugural MLC title in 2023, the only franchise to have won the championship. Based in the Bay Area, they draw from Silicon Valley’s South Asian diaspora, one of the most concentrated in the United States.

Key matchup: Steve Smith and Anrich Nortje for WF against Corey Anderson and Finn Allen for SFU. The Knight Riders Cricket Field’s intimate setting amplifies the quality of individual duels, with no bad seats in the ground.

What Time Is the Match in Your Timezone?

The 14:30 PDT start on 4 July 2026 converts as follows across major cricket-watching regions:

• India (IST, UTC+5:30): 3:00 IST
• UK (BST, UTC+1): 22:30 BST
• Australia/Sydney (AEST, UTC+10): 7:30 AEST
• USA/New York (EDT, UTC-4): 17:30 EDT
• USA/Los Angeles/PDT (UTC-7): 14:30 PDT

Check Los Angeles time and US time zones for live conversion.

Venue: Knight Riders Cricket Field at Fairplex, Pomona

Knight Riders Cricket Field at Fairplex in Pomona is the first purpose-built franchise-owned cricket ground in MLC. Los Angeles Knight Riders developed the facility at the LA County Fairgrounds complex, creating a dedicated cricket venue with 8,000 spectator capacity. Pomona sits approximately 45 kilometres east of downtown Los Angeles, with the greater LA metro area home to an estimated 250,000-strong South Asian community. The Southern California climate, with warm evenings and minimal dew, tends to produce consistent conditions across both innings.

Why This Venue Matters for American Cricket

A franchise investing in permanent cricket infrastructure is a signal of long-term commitment to the American market. The Knight Riders Cricket Field at Fairplex is not a converted baseball stadium or temporary setup: it is cricket-first design, reflecting confidence in MLC’s trajectory. Cricket’s 2028 LA Olympics inclusion, the first time the sport appears at the Games since 1900, makes Los Angeles a meaningful cricket city for the next decade. The 4 July date also means this is one of MLC’s highest-profile individual match opportunities for US mainstream media coverage, with national sporting attention available on a holiday.