BBL 2019-20 | In a Jiffy- Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but Alex Ross does the work on the night

Aakash Sivasubramaniam

ByAakash Sivasubramaniam, SportsCafe Editor

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Sydney Thunder were dominant on the night against Hobart Hurricanes and they rightly arrested their triple loss in the tournament with a big win putting them third in the league just ahead of Brisbane Heat despite the futile attempt from George Bailey in the first innings.

Match Review in a tweet:

Usman Khawaja and Alex Hales’ masterclass with the bat was enough to give the home side another victory spoiling George Bailey’s 43 in the first innings for the Hurricanes. With the win, the Thunder moved up to the third place, a point ahead of Brisbane Heat. 

Match Report in a minute: 

Despite the presence of Mathew Wade and Caleb Jewell in the team, the Hurricanes could only put 36 runs for the opening wicket partnership. Since then wickets curtailed the scoring rate as the away side went down under at 77/3. However, the golden man George Bailey resurrected the team’s fortunes with a 30-ball 43 as the Hurricanes ended their innings on 162/6. 

Usman Khawaja and Alex Hales put on an opening wicket master-class in Sydney as they piled up 96 runs for the first wicket chasing 163. A middle-order collapse arrested the run-flow giving the away side an outside chance to snatch a point away from the home side. However, all the hopes were trashed and crashed when Alex Ross decided to up the ante and with that, the game was wrapped up for the home side. 

What the teams didn’t learn:

Ben McDermott, for the second time in two games, has demoted himself to No.5 when he is arguably a better batsman than the likes of George Bailey and Simon Milenko in the Hurricanes. His numbers are not quite the right representation of what a capable batsman he is and guess what? He and only he is to be blamed for that partly due to his demotion and partly due to the team’s top order. 

Clive Rose is integral to Hobart Hurricanes set up, more than Mathew Wade and George Bailey. The all-rounder is literally knitted upright for the Hurricanes and more so, to the format- T20. As another day passes by, Rose is upping his value and proving his worth with some extraordinary hitting and more so with sharp bowling. 

What I learnt: 

"You Either Die A Hero Or You continue to keep playing till you retire,” in short George Bailey with that knock just extended his stay in the otherwise struggling Hurricanes’ middle order. With David Miller not in the best of forms, it is crucial for a Bailey to step up when the team requires him to and consistently too like he did today. 

Clive Rose needs to bat higher than David Miller and I know that’s a bold statement. Looking at Rose batting in the death overs gives me, as a neutral, more confidence than looking at his partner at the other end. Miller, at the moment, is nowhere close to his standards. If Hurricanes need to shake things up, start with Rose batting higher than what he is now. 

Slowly yet steadily, the duo of Usman Khawaja and Alex Hales are starting to click. The more I see them play right now, I feel like it is one of those matches made in heaven, which is very rare in franchise T20 cricket, more like watching Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli together. Today, they notched up yet another 50+ start, their third this season. 

Highlight in Tweets:

George Bailey upfront with the miss of the season:

Oh, he recovers well in time:

Clive with the 'Rosy' finish:

An English 'Hale'storm in Sydney:

This Ross was not on a 'break' tonight:

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