BBL 11 | Matthew Wade’s captain’s knock and bowlers guide Renegades to victory past Sixers

Sydney Sixers’ two-match unbeaten run in the Big Bash League 2021-22 came to an end as they were defeated by a class performance from the Hobart Hurricanes, playing away from home at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Matthew Wade, the Hurricanes’ skipper was the star of the show with the bat, as he just missed out on what could have been one of the perfect hundreds in BBL history. Along with him, the Hobart bowlers too played an important role in the team’s huge 44 runs victory. 

Sixers, who were set a target of 214 in 20 overs initially but which was later reduced to 195 in 18 overs due to Duckworth Lewis and Stern method, had a good enough start, making 61 in the first seven overs without losing a wicket. However, Josh Philippe was the only batter that was able to strike cleanly even ss James Vince and skipper Moises Henriques tried to help him as much as possible. 

At 118-2, when Philippe finally got out after surviving four close shaves including a dropped dolly and ab easy stumping, the chances of Sixers slimmed further. With 77 needed off 19 balls, it was almost certain that the things were not moving in a direction that they should have been. The batters that came, later on, weren’t able to provide any magic either as the team could score only 151 in their 18 overs. 

Joel Paris was the pick of the bowlers for the Hurricanes as he took three wickets and gave away only 35 runs in his four-over spell. 

Earlier in the evening, after winning the toss, Hurricanes had decided to bat first and even after a slow start by D’Arcy Short, Wade kept on waging the war against the Sixers’ bowling unit. When the left-handed wicketkeeper batter got out at 93 in the 12th over, the team score was 111. 

However, it was only past Wade’s dismissal that Short started to open up. After being 16 off 22 balls at the time of Wade’s dismissal, Short went on to score 57 off the next 29 balls that he faced. He remained unbeaten at 73 off 51 balls. 

Caleb Jewell was the other batter that got among the runs and was out only in the last over after having scored 42 off 23 balls and put on a 92 run stand with Short for the second wicket.