Brody Couch to Narine, 1 run, hits the hard length once again, seaming in from off, Narine doesn't have space to free his arms as he swings and gets an inside edge onto the pads. The ball rolls to covers and they sneak in a run

Brody Couch to Roy, 1 run, dug in short once again, Roy times his pull nicely through mid-wicket. The fielder in the deep moves to his left and dives to cut it off

Brody Couch to Narine, 1 run, back of a length ball shaping in nicely, Narine clears his front leg and swipes

Brody Couch to Roy, 1 run, shortish delivery outside off, Roy pulls it to deep backward square leg to get off the mark

Roy and Narine are at the crease. Roy is on strike. Brody Couch will open the attack

The match officials and the players stride out to the middle for the National Anthem of USA.

David Miller: It’s good to get to a winning start, there’s good camaraderie in the team. Everyone knows that, there hasn’t been much chat about that, hopefully we get to a good start again today. You mix with the overseas and local players, the local boys did really well in the World Cup. In the last game, the younger guys stepping up was great. In these tournaments, you mix with overseas players and see how they operate.

Teams:

San Francisco Unicorns (Playing XI): Jake Fraser-McGurk, Finn Allen, Josh Inglis(w), Matthew Short, Corey Anderson(c), Sanjay Krishnamurthi, Brody Couch, Hassan Khan, Liam Plunkett, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed

Los Angeles Knight Riders (Playing XI): Jason Roy, Sunil Narine(c), Unmukt Chand(w), Shakib Al Hasan, Nitish Kumar, David Miller, Andre Russell, Derone Davis, Corne Dry, Spencer Johnson, Ali Khan

Sunil Narine: The weather is a bit better so hopefully we can get a good start.

San Francisco Unicorns have won the toss and have opted to field

Corey Anderson: We are having a bowl, it's our first game here so let's see how it plays out.

San Francisco Unicorns have won the toss and have opted to field

It's a lot warmer today, because it’s the same pitch, it won’t change much, 201 and 222 ft and 240m down the ground. A lot less grass, there has been a lot of rain around so there will be moisture. With the heat today, the teams will be looking to bat first. As you mentioned the wind, hitting to one side will be important and the lengths will be important.

San Francisco Unicorns had a disappointing run in the inaugural season of MLC last year as they finished second last on the table. This time around the Unicorns have made some big signings with the talismanic Pat Cummins at the helm of it. The likes of Fraser McGurk, Josh Inglis, and Sherfane Rutherford will bolster their batting lineup. Both teams have a good mixture of experience and youth. Expect a thrilling contest! Will the Unicorns begin their campaign with a bang? Or will the Knight Riders continue to impress? Stick around for the toss and team lineups...

18:35 Local Time, 23:35 GMT, 05:05 IST: Los Angeles Knight Riders have started their campaign brightly with a 12-run win over Texas Super Kings. They are back in action today as they gear up to face San Francisco Unicorns who will be playing their first game of the season. A brilliant fifty from Unmukt Chand and a breezy cameo from Nitish Kumar helped the Knight Riders to post a good total against the Super Kings. After that, a disciplined bowling performance saw the Knight Riders close off the game clinically. Ali Khan stole the limelight with the ball as he took a 4-fer for them.

Preview

San Francisco Unicorns are the only team to not feature in the second season of MLC so far. The Unicorns had a stuttering campaign last time and narrowly missed out on a final four spot following Texas Super Kings' extraordinary comeback. Changes have been made ahead of the new season with Corey Anderson taking over the leadership duties from the retired Aaron Finch.

However, it's the arrival of the Australian duo that will get them excited. Pat Cummins' stature has grown considerably over the last couple of years and he is set to make his bow in the tournament. Jake Fraser McGurk is an exciting talent who is tipped to replace David Warner in the Australian limited-overs set up. Josh Inglis and Sherfane Rutherford are expected to bolster that middle order which makes that batting unit very formidable.

They will come up against a team that missed out on the last four spot alongside them last year. But Los Angeles Knight Riders will be buoyed by the fact that they got off to a winning start. Even though Sunil Narine, Andre Russell and Jason Roy didn't fire with the bat, Knight Riders still managed to come out on top in the tournament opener and will be looking to build some early momentum with another win.

When: Sunday, July 7 at 7.30 PM local time, 6 AM IST (July 8)

Where: Grand Prairie Stadium, Dallas

What to expect: The only game at this venue so far saw LAKR post a modest 162 on the board and defend it. Pacers from both teams found success in that game.

Team Watch

San Francisco Unicorns

Unicorns will be excited by the purchase of former Pakistan U19 captain Hassan Khan, who put on an impressive show in Minor League Cricket. Cummins, Haris Rauf and Liam Plunkett could prove to be a handful at this venue.

Probable XI: Jake Fraser McGurk, Finn Allen, Josh Inglis, Corey Anderson, Sherfane Rutherford, Tajinder Singh, Hassan Khan, Liam Plunkett, Pat Cummins, Haris Rauf, Carmi Le Roux

LA Knight Riders

After that winning start, LA Knight Riders are unlikely to make any changes to their XI.

Probable XI: Jason Roy, Sunil Narine (c), Unmukt Chand (wk), Nitish Kumar, David Miller, Shakib Al Hasan, Andre Russell, Spencer Johnson, Derone Davis, Corne Dry, Ali Khan

Squads:

San Francisco Unicorns Squad: Jake Fraser-McGurk, Finn Allen, Josh Inglis(w), Corey Anderson(c), Sherfane Rutherford, Tajinder Dhillon, Hassan Khan, Liam Plunkett, Pat Cummins, Haris Rauf, Carmi le Roux, Matthew Short, Karima Gore, Wiaan Mulder, Matt Henry, Abrar Ahmed, Jahmar Hamilton, Brody Couch, Sanjay Krishnamurthi