Hobart Hurricanes has notched up a second win on Monday in this Big Bash League’s season so far after their all-round performance with the bat and a ball against Adelaide Strikers at the Bellerive Oval.
Sri Lankan veteran Kumar Sangakkara (22* off 20 balls) scored his highest score for this season. He also hit winning runs to chase down a 144-run target as Hurricanes win 8 by wickets with 14 balls to spare.
The Hobart Hurricanes’ innings got off to a decent start as the skipper of Hobart Tim Paine almost scored run a ball (41 off 42 balls) before being bowled by Travis Head.
Setting the stadium alight, the opening batsman D’Arcy Short scored a quickfire 60 off 39 balls at a strike rate of 153.85 to make the chase easy for visitors. His innings included three sixes and 7 fours before being caught by wicketkeeper Ben Dunk on the bowling of Billy Stanlake.
Short hit 101 meter six that went over the rooftop of the ground on the bowling of Nesher.
“I just go out and try to hit the ball the best I can and see how it comes off … it felt pretty good,” Short told the Ten network.
In a bid to snatch a win, Strikers used 8 bowlers to no avail.
Some things are unusual in cricket, Neser conceded 13 runs on his first legitimate delivery before finishing the same over conceding 21 runs. He bowled 1.4 overs and gave away 28 runs.
Earlier, in the 14th match of this BBL edition, host won the toss and decided to bowl first against Adelaide with their pace spearhead Shaun Tait ruled out with an elbow injury.
After an impressive bowling display by a spin-heavy bowling side, comprising of Clive Rose, Cameron Boyce, and Beau Webster; it was all-rounder Dan Christian who claimed 5 wickets for 14 runs in 3.5 overs to register the second best figures in BBL history while restricting Adelaide to 143. In 2012, Sri Lankan’s Lasith Malinga had picked 6 wickets while giving away 7 runs for the Melbourne Stars.
“It’s nice to get the figures tonight, the ball has been coming out well lately,” Christian said.
After the former Hurricanes batsman, Ben Dunk gave a blazing start while smashing 20 runs in an over of Simon Milenko before cleaning him up on 31 runs.
Milenko has been expensive in his four overs. He picked two wickets for conceding 50 runs as Strikers kept on losing the wickets at crucial junctures.
The lanky English fast bowler Stuart Broad picked 1 wicket from his four overs while conceding 17 runs.
Strikers captain Brad Hodge came to teams’ rescue while playing an impressive knock of 55 from 45 balls which included three sixes when the team was in a spot of bother.
Hobart won two matches in four games. However, Adelaide strikers have only one win out of four games which see them at the seventh position in BBL team table.
Brief Scores:
Adelaide Strikers – 143 All Out in 20 Overs
Hobart Hurricanes – 144 for 2 in 17.4 Overs Won by 8 Wickets
Hobart Hurricanes XI: Tim Paine (C), D’Arcy Short, Kumar Sangakkara, George Bailey, Daniel Christian, Jonathan Wells, Beau Webster, Simon Milenko, Cameron Boyce, Clive Rose, Stuart Broad
Adelaide Strikers XI: Brad Hodge (C), Jake Weatherald, Ben Dunk, Travis Head, Jonathon Dean, Kieron Pollard, Chris Jordan, Michael Neser, Ben Laughlin, Liam O’Connor, Billy Stanlake