BBL08 Match 7: Hurricanes Weather Lamichhane Storm to Seal Big Win

The Stars are on an Australia tour while their home ground is being used for the Boxing Day Test match, and thus they have a tough road ahead if they want to stay up with the other teams while they play a number of games in a row away from home. They had their chances in this match to take the win but eventually fell short as the Hurricanes used their experience to snatch victory.

The Stars should have made much more of the third wicket partnership between Nick Larkin and Glenn Maxwell, which put on 87 runs in 9 overs to lift the team to 2/119 in the 15th over. Larkin continued his breakout season by scoring 45 off 33 deliveries, while Maxwell hit no boundaries but five sixes in his innings of 47 off 31 deliveries. The loss of both within eight balls though slowed down the momentum that had been built, and while they finished at a respectable 5/155 it looked about 20 runs short on this wicket at Blundstone Arena. Joffra Archer showed his impressive pace again to take 3/25, while D’Arcy Short bowled four overs with his chinamen in picking up bothLarkin and Dwayne Bravo to finished with 2/23 in an impressive effort.

Short and Matthew Wade got away to another fast start, with Short making 34 from 22 balls before being dismissed at 55, all achieved within the first six overs. It set the platform for the chase, which was a good thing as once the Stars introduced Sandeep Lamichhane he began to spin his influence on the match. He bowled Doolan in his first over, before returning to dismiss both Wade and McDermott to at least give the Hurricanes some food for thought. He again starred with 3/24 from his four overs and he continues to be a revelation on this tournament. It was left to George Bailey to play the finisher again, hitting two fours and a six in his 27 not out off 18 balls to win the game with almost two overs to spare.

What this match showed was that the par score in Hobart is likely to be much higher than any other ground in the BBL this season, and that the Hurricanes while lacking a frontline spinner look to be one of the favourites once again to hold the trophy aloft at season’s end.