BBL 2016/17: Top 5 moments from the Hobart Hurricanes vs Sydney Thunder clash
A captain’s innings from Shane Watson and a brilliant all-round bowling effort from the pacers and spinners helped the Sydney Thunder register their second win of the BBL 2016-17, against the Hobart Hurricanes at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart today in match 20.
The thunder batsmen cantered to the target of 162 courtesy a whirlwind opening stand of 62 in less than 7 overs between youngster Kurtis Patterson and James Vince, who was playing his first match of the BBL after being flown in as a replacement for Eoin Morgan, who has left for India to captain England’s one-day and T20 teams.
Captain Shane Watson smashed his way back into form and lit up the stadium with his power hitting en route to a stroke-filled 55 of just 31 deliveries that included 5 sixes.
Earlier in the day, batting first after losing the toss, the Hurricanes got off to a nightmarish start with in-form openers Tim Paine and D’Arcy Short being dismissed inside the first 2 overs. Ben McDermott and George Bailey then consolidated the innings with a steady partnership, Bailey top scoring for his team with 69 off 54 deliveries.
Pat Cummins and Andre Russell’s replacement Carlos Brathwaite, took 2 wickets each.
Brief Scores: Hobart Hurricanes 161 for 8 in 20 overs (George Bailey 69, Carlos Brathwaite 2 for 31) lost to Sydney Thunder 162 for 4 in 16.5 overs (Shane Watson 55, Cameron Boyce 2 for 28)
Result: Sydney Thunder won by 6 wickets.
Let’s take a look at some of the best moments from the game.
#5 Bailey responds to his one-day exclusion
A day after being dropped from Australia one-day team to play Pakistan from next week, George Bailey gave the best possible reply to the selectors regarding his form, by top scoring for his team and rescuing them from a precarious situation of 2 for 10. Coming in to bat in the 2nd over of the innings, he went back unbeaten with 69 to his name.
Being the most experience batsman in the line-up today since Kumar Sangakkara was not playing, he took his time initially, scoring just 9 off 11 balls by the end of the 5th over, but after getting set, he came into his own by hitting 2 fours in the last over of the powerplay, and then carried the innings on his shoulders till the end to take his team to a fighting score of 161.