Hobart Hurricanes continued their winning momentum completing a yet another professional defence against the Adelaide Strikers by 11 runs on Sunday, 13 December. While the last game saw them pick up wickets throughout the middle overs to choke the defending champions of momentum, Hobart picked early wickets today to kill the chase before it began.
Defending 175, that look below par in an amazing batting track at the Bellerive Oval, Hobart bowled as a unit to remove the entire batting strength of Adelaide Strikers, picking up 6 wickets within 9 overs.
James Faulkner was the pick among the bowlers notching up 3 wickets for just 21 runs in his four overs. Faulkner with his slightly adjusted seam position moved the ball early in the innings to dismiss Phil Salt through the gates and later returned to remove Matt Renshaw and Peter Siddle in the 12th and 14th over respectively.
Back to usual for D’Arcy Short
When the moment arrives, D’Arcy Short will retire as a bonafide legend of the Big Bash League. The fifth-highest run-getter in tournament history returned to his usual after scoring a golden duck in the first game. Starting cautiously against Strikers, Short along with Will Jacks (34 off 25) compiled 63 runs in the first 9 overs. Once the aggressor departed, Short effortlessly switched roles to pile on the misery on the bowling team who had just managed to break a big partnership.
Scoring his first 50 runs in 42 balls, Short unleashed his arsenal in the 14th over and destroyed Rashid Khan’s hard-earned reputation by scoring 25 runs off the Afghan’s over, the highest he has conceded so far in BBL.
Short was dismissed by Wes Agar trying to cut a slower bouncer in the 15th over (final Power Surge over), but he was done with the Strikers by then, scoring 72 off 58 balls.
Hobart strike back after losing momentum
When Short was dismissed in the 15th, Hurricanes looked well on their way to pile on close to 200 runs in the first innings. Some good work at the end by Peter Siddle and Wes Agar halted hurricanes momentum and kept them at 174 runs for 5 wickets, similar to what they had defended last time against Sydney Sixers.
Coming into defend, Hurricanes struck early and removed the first six of the seven batters for single digits. Barring Matt Renshaw’s 33 off 27 balls, none of the other batters survived more than eight balls.
Riley Meredith proved his credentials two games in a row making it uncomfortable for the batsmen with fierce pace and accuracy. Apart from picking up two wickets, he demonstrated fantastic footwork to run Ryan Gibson out of his own bowling.
Cricket’s romance with comeback continues…well, almost
Down and out at 109-9 in the 15th over, number 8 Daniel Worrall and number 11 Danny Briggs scripted one of BBL’s best fightbacks. Requiring 69 off 30 balls with one wicket in hand, Worrall and Briggs went berserk. Not one of them were proper cricketing shots, but were they? Considering T20 cricket. Switch-hit hating Ian Chappel might have cringed on most balls in the last five overs with Briggs forcing out boundaries at will facilitated by his reverse and slog sweeps.
The shots were effective and Strikers managed to creep into the game till the point where 26 remained from the last two overs. Both batsmen did exceedingly well to narrow down the margin and deliver a note of caution that nobody should relax even if they are just a wicket away from clinching the game.
Strikers fell short by 11 runs at the end but Worrall’s 62 off 39 and Briggs 35 off 18 will have provided them with immense confidence in a losing encounter. The unbroken 61-run stand for the tenth wicket was highest in BBL's history and the second-highest in the history of the T20 format.
Barring the death bowling, Hobart will be happy with what they did on the pitch and find themselves sitting on the second spot in the league table.
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