Cricket is a game that has more than its fair share of oddities and rare occurrences, and today’s match between Hobart Hurricanes and Adelaide Strikers was singular in the way it unfolded. The Hurricanes came into this with a win, and this time around not only did they grab another W, but also earned that important Bash Boost point, putting them hot on the heels of league leaders Melbourne Stars. The Strikers would definitely have wanted their first game to go differently, but it could have gone much, much worse and at least they’re in fifth place because of net run rate. Some hope-kindling, some interesting, and some amusing things in our 5 talking points from Adelaide Strikers vs Hobart Hurricanes.
1. D’Arcy Short - arriving at last
After multiple failures in the ODI series versus India, as well as a duck in his first BBL match this year, Short has finally come in with a bang. He scored a fast, commanding 72 off 48 that not only laid the foundation for his fellow batsmen, but made up a large portion of his team’s runs. It’s always good to see a struggling player come back to form, and we can only hope that this is the first of many from Short.
2. The 3 cameos that ultimately gave Hobart the win
Given the nature of the T20 format, big innings aren’t everything as long as you score fast enough. The 34 from Will Jacks, 25 from Colin Ingram, and 21 from Tim David helped the team take the score past 170, and while Short was the main man of the inning, these little cameos were what put Hobart beyond touching distance.
3. The horrific collapse of Adelaide’s top order
It’s bad enough to have a batting collapse in the first inning, but when it happens on the chase, it can lead to an irrevocably lost situation. So many players failing at the same time is a lot more common in T20s than other formats, but it’s still an unfortunate, sorry sight when it unfolds. In total, Adelaide had 8 single-digit scores in their batting. The obvious exceptions were Matt Renshaw, and the following two people.
4. Worrall and Briggs: What on Earth?
Now, it’s not something unprecedented to see two tailenders take a stand with the bat, but you very rarely see them smash their way to add 97 between them off a total of 57 deliveries when almost every other batsman for the side has failed miserably. The number 8 and number 11 scored 62 and 35 respectively, and gave Hobart Hurricanes the fright of their lives when they brought it down to 26 needed from 2 overs. A couple of tight overs at the death saved the home side, but it was no cakewalk! This feat becomes extra awe-inspiring when you realize that Daniel Worrall had 55 runs from 10 innings in his entire T20 career until today, while Danny Briggs had 100 runs from 25 innings. Absolutely incredible attempt, and one their teammates can learn from.
5. James Faulkner, is your cricket board watching?
When Australia were playing T20Is against India a few days ago and several of their key players were out, they brought in youngsters like Sean Abbott, Daniel Sams, and Andrew Tye. We mentioned at the time that it’s strange that there aren’t other better hands available, and now we’re wondering why Cricket Australia didn’t pick James Faulkner for those matches. The speedster has been excellent in the first two games - picking up 5 wickets and only giving away 43 total runs, and both he and Nathan Coulter-Nile would have, in our opinion, made better picks.
What’s next for these two teams?
At 7 points, Hobart will be pretty happy with themselves and looking towards overtaking Melbourne Stars. The next match for both these teams, bizarrely, will be the return fixture of this very match at the Aurora Stadium in Launceston at 1:45PM IST on Tuesday, December 15.
How our predictions went
It’s always nice to get the two main predictions right. As we guessed, Adelaide Strikers won the toss, but Hobart Hurricanes won the match.
As for the other predictions, James Faulkner got the most wickets for his team. To be fair, it would have taken a madman or a psychic to predict that Daniel Worrall would top score for his team. As for the boundaries, we were once again spot on as AS had the most fours and HH had the most sixes. Join us next time as we review the match between Sydney Sixers and Melbourne Renegades.
