Sydney, Dec 20
Chris Jordan smashed the joint fourth fastest BBL half-century but Hobart Hurricanes rued a top-order collapse, as Aaron Hardie and Zak Crawley relished a batting-friendly Optus Stadium surface to power Perth Scorchers to a crushing victory. In Scorchers’ home opener, Hardie and Crawley combined for a commanding 157-run partnership off 84 balls to make light work of the chase.
After crashing to 47 for 5, Hurricanes posted a seemingly competitive total through Jordan’s whirlwind 59 off 20 balls at the death. But Jordan’s clean striking foreshadowed what was ahead in perfect batting conditions. Scorchers lost Cooper Connolly, a hero in last season’s final against Brisbane Heat, to Jordan in the third over before Crawley and Hardie overwhelmed a Hurricanes attack clearly missing injured spearhead Riley Meredith. In his Scorchers debut, Crawley enjoyed the hard and bouncy pitch as he unleashed a slew of dismissive drives to the boundary. Playing against the team he represented in eight matches last season, Crawley finished unbeaten on 65 from 46 balls. He survived a nervous moment on 36 when he was adjudged caught behind off left-arm spinner Paddy Dooley, but Crawley successfully reviewed. Crawley raced to his half-century off 34 balls before being overhauled by Hardie who smashed four sixes off Dooley in the 13th over. Hardie, who has represented Australia recently in T20is and ODIs, was in awesome form and finished on 86 from 45 balls to underline why he is rated as a star of the future.
But Scorchers will be sweating on the fitness of skipper Ashton Turner, who aggravated a right knee injury that sidelined him from the Sheffield Shield last month. The day after being nabbed by Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL auction, Turner limped off after bowling his first delivery. Hurricanes elected to bat in temperatures 37 degrees at the start of play. The pitch appeared much more enticing than the adjacent surface used during the recent Perth Test match between Australia and Pakistan.
But Hurricanes’ top-order fared little better than Pakistan’s hapless line-up as their strategy in the powerplay to hit hard backfired against Scorchers’ star-studded attack. Having led Scorchers’ rout of Melbourne Stars for 101 at the MCG, in-form quick Jason Behrendorff tore apart a Hurricanes’ team that struggled to come to grips with the steep bounce. Hurricanes’ were seemingly left rattled after having to change their batting order with veteran opener Matthew Wade ruled out of the contest with a back injury. A lot of burden fell on Calen Jewell and his new opening partner Ben McDermott, who shuffled up a spot. McDermott came into the season on the back of an impressive T20I series in India after a late call-up. He started promisingly with a boundary off Behrendorff, but was undone by extra bounce on the next delivery to be caught at third man.
