Hurricanes overpower Thunder despite Warner’s 88 not-out | BBL

The Hobart Hurricanes defeated the Sydney Thunder by six wickets on Friday night in Hobart despite a brilliant 88 not-out for David Warner on the losing side.

The knock was Warner’s third half-century in a row, with scores of 86 not-out, 49, 50 and 88 not-out over his last four innings.

However, it was a rapid-fire 68 not-out from 38 balls by Hobart’s Tim David that secured the home side victory, with the Singaporean-Australian seeing the Hurricanes over the line with 19 balls remaining.

Big Bash bookmakers had Hobart as $1.62 favourites heading into the match, and they looked on top of the game when the Hurricanes’ pacers kept the visitors boundaryless across the opening powerplay.

Sam Konstas (4 from 9) and Matthew Gilkes (9 from 7) both fell in single digits, but Warner chipped away at the other end, taking Sydney to a comfortable 2/82 before Oliver Davies fell for a run-a-ball 17.

Sam Billings (28 from 15) then had an excellent cameo while Warner continued to play an anchoring role.

Steady wickets over the final two overs meant that the Thunder were kept to a modest total of 6/164, which it turns out was nowhere near enough to keep the Hurricanes at bay.

Mitchell Owen (13 from 6) and Matthew Wade (13 from 5) came out possessed, plunder 28 runs from the opening nine balls of the chase.

Both exited soon after, and the game sat in the balance as the Hurricanes moved through to 4/100 from 12.1 overs thanks to Charlie Wakim (16 from 16) and Nikhil Chaudhary (29 from 23).

From that point onwards, however, it was all Hobart.

David and Chris Jordan (18 from 13) combined for an unbeaten 65-run partnership, with the former crushing six sixes – three of which came in a 38-run Power Surge in overs 14 and 15.

That knocked off the lion’s share of the chase, and a pair of maximums to David in the 17th over sealed the victory.

“Rare air for me,” David said in his post-match interview, after winning player of the match.

“I’m usually sitting watching the boys score the runs.

“It’s nice to get a few for a change.

“It was great to get them at a canter in the end.

“It’s great for our net run-rate.”

The Hurricanes now sit top of the BBL standings and have eclipsed the Sydney Sixers as the favourite to win the title this season across the top bookmakers.

Picklebet pays $3.20 for Hobart to claim their maiden BBL title, ahead of the Sixers ($4) and Thunder ($5.50).

Next up, the Hurricanes face the Melbourne Renegades on Tuesday, January 14, while the Thunder take on the Perth Scorchers on Monday, January 13.

Cricket betting sites are yet to release odds for either match as the Renegades and Scorchers are in action this weekend against the Sixers and Stars respectively.

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