In their last two meetings, Perth Scorchers have literally muscled their way past Hobart Hurricanes to climb to the top of the Big Bash League’s points table. In their recent meeting which took place on December 20, Monday, the Scorchers beat Hurricanes by a huge margin of 42 runs.
Kurtis Patterson and Ashton Agar were the heroes for Scorchers as Patterson scored a brilliant fifty with the bat while Agar scored a quick thirty and also picked two crucial wickets.
Chasing a target of 168, the Hurricanes didn’t get a good enough start as any of its top batters were able to get a flying start and could not convert their slow starts into a big score either and by the end of the first half of their innings, the men in purple were reeling under pressure at 58-5. Soon they were reduced to 83-8.
But, before they could be bowled out for under 100, Wil Parker, who came to bat number 10 and was the top scorer for the Hurricanes with his efforts of unbeaten 25, managed to provide some respectability to the dwindling scorecard. Apart from Parker, Nathan Ellis scored 20 off 15 balls as Hurricanes reached 125-9 at the end of their 20 overs.
Earlier in the evening, after winning the toss and deciding to bat first at the Optus Stadium in Perth, the Scorchers had a very troublesome start as they lost Josh Inglis in the very first over. However, Patterson was on a roll and had a 71 run stand with Micthell Marsh in which Marsh could score only 21 runs.
Even as Marsh got out, the 28-year-old carried on, scoring 78 off just 48 balls. He hit six fours and five sixes before being eventually trapped by Jordan Thompson. Agar, who came to bat at number seven was the second-highest run-scorer with 30 unbeaten off just 11 balls, hitting three fours and two sixes to take his team past 150 and eventually to 167.