BBL 7, Match 13, Preview: Hurricanes look for revenge as they resume rivalry with Thunder

It was only a couple of nights back that Hobart Hurricanes had hosted Sydney Thunder at the Aurora Stadium and now these two teams will face each other once again in the return leg as the action shifts to the Sydney Showground Stadium, the home ground of the Thunder.

The biggest positive for the Thunder out of the last game in terms of their batting was the form of Jos Buttler. The English wicketkeeper-batsman who was struggling for rhythm earlier in the tournament finally found some timing and flow as he tonked the ball to all corners of the ground during his stroke-filled knock of 67.

However more than Buttler’s knock, what would have satisfied the skipper Shane Watson was the performance of the bowlers who defended 166 on a smallish ground and on a flat batting wicket. It was a collective and clinical bowling performance by the Thunder as all their five bowlers chipped in and each of them finished with a couple of wickets each. The three spinners, in particular, were at the top of their games as not only did they get wickets, but gave away just 61 runs off the 12 overs they bowled together.

As far as the Hurricanes are concerned, they will be really disappointed with the way they batted in the last game. Playing at home chasing a below-par total, they would have backed themselves to do the job, but as it turned out, they didn’t even get anywhere close to the target. It’s not that they are lacking ability, they have got three Australia internationals in their line-up in George Bailey, Daniel Christian and Matthew Wade along with two mighty impressive youngsters in D’Arcy Short and Ben McDermott. It’s a good batting unit on paper, but they will have to convert the potential on the ground which they haven’t been able to do so far.

In the bowling department though, there aren’t too many worries. The bowlers are doing fine with the young South African quick Jofra Archer leading the way. The 22-year old has proved to be an absolute revelation for the Hurricanes as he has cranked up good speeds on a consistent basis and has also generated a fair bit of bounce with his high arm action. The spinners Clive Rose and Cameron Boyce have also bowled well and have not leaked runs in the middle overs. The only issue is the form of form of Tymal Mills who had come into this tournament with a huge reputation but hasn’t looked penetrative enough at all. The Hurricanes would want a better show from the big left arm quick tomorrow.

Toss: Sydney Thunder won the toss and opted to field

Hobart Hurricanes (Playing XI): Alex Doolan, D’Arcy Short, Ben McDermott, George Bailey(c), Matthew Wade(w), Daniel Christian, Cameron Boyce, Clive Rose, Jofra Archer, Simon Milenko, Tymal Mills

Sydney Thunder (Playing XI): Kurtis Patterson, Jos Buttler(w), Shane Watson(c), Callum Ferguson, Ben Rohrer, Ryan Gibson, Chris Green, Arjun Nair, Fawad Ahmed, Mitchell McClenaghan, Gurinder Sandhu