Although the Hurricanes had a rare win of the toss – electing to bat – the pre-game warm-up was a little frantic for the ‘Canes, with star fast bowler, Riley Meredith, injuring himself during warm-up. With approximately 15 minutes remaining before the first ball, Meredith was ruled out of the match, with – thanks to the cooperation of the Thunder – Nick Winter coming in to not only take his place in the side, but also make his debut for the Hurricanes.
Stepping into Meredith’s role, also saw Winter take the first over for the game. Thunder openers Usman Khawaja and Alex Hales were seemingly in some kind of mood, as they raced away to 0-59 by the end of the seventh over. It was D’Arcy Short who put a stop to the carnage, dismissing Hales on the final ball of the seventh, for 21 off 19.
It was the breakthrough the Hurricanes needed. After dismissing both Thunder Captain, Callum Ferguson, and import Sam Billings cheaply (a run apiece) before the 10th over drinks break, the ‘Canes made the decision, to sub our Johan Botha for Mac Wright, to give themselves the best chance at a successful run chase in the second innings.
After their 20 overs, the Thunder finished on 5-167, setting the ‘Canes the target of 168 to win.
The Hurricanes got off to a healthy start with the bat, with openers Short and Ben McDermott both hitting the ball well at strike rates in excess of 100. However, when both of their wickets fell two balls apart in the fifth over, it was up to Handscomb and Dawid Malan to build a new partnership.
The experienced pair chipped away at the total, even reaching the Bash Boost target of 74 inside the 10th over, securing the ‘Canes one of the four points on offer for the match. However, the 48-run partnership came to an end in the 12th over, when Chris Green clean-bowled Malan for 20.
This was the trigger of a collapse for the ‘Canes. Handscomb – who was the Hurricanes’ top-scorer for the match with 30 runs off 24 balls – was stumped off the bowling Tanveer Sangha in the 14th over, followed by the wickets of Tim David (2), Colin Ingram (12), Wright (5) and Winter (0) in subsequent overs. At the end of their allotted time in the middle, the Hurricanes stood at 8-128 – 40 runs short of the winning total.
The Hurricanes will now have a few days to acclimatise to Perth before their next match at Optus Stadium.
The Perth Scorchers will host the Hurricanes this coming Tuesday, 12 January, with the first ball to be bowled at 4.15pm local time.