BBL 2023 | Behrendorff’s four-for coupled with Hardie and Crawley fifties help Scorchers steamroll Hurricanes

BBL 2023 | Behrendorff’s four-for coupled with Hardie and Crawley fifties help Scorchers steamroll Hurricanes

SportsCafe Desk

By SportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

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Perth Scorchers justified their defending champions tag by extending their unbeaten run to three after thrashing Hobart the Hurricanes at the Optus Stadium on Wednesday. Chris Jordon’s carnage after Jason Behrendorff's four scalps was silenced by a 150-plus stand from Zak Crawley and Aaron Hardie.

‌Winning the toss and batting first didn’t fare too well for the Hobart Hurricanes as big left-arm pacer Jason Behrendorff struck twice in the second over, removing Ben McDermott and Sam Hain on back-to-back deliveries before ending Tim David’s brief burst to push the visitors on the back foot. The ‘Wild Thing’ Lance Morris, introduced after the four-over mandatory powerplay, followed up the act by drawing the outside edge of Caleb Jewell while Andrew Tye outwitted Corey Anderson in the eighth over as the Hurricanes fell like bowling pins. With the scorecard reading 47/5 after 7.4 overs, the visitors needed someone to hold the innings tight and it was the Delhi-born Nikhil Chaudhary who knit a 56-run stand with Mitchel Owen to stabilise the ship on his BBL debut. The former aggregated an impressive 31-ball 40 before Behrendorff returned to clean him up while Owen followed suit the next over to hand the advantage back to Scorchers. However, the ensuing Power Surge period was subjected to a serious onslaught from Chris Jordan (58 off 20 balls) as the English all-rounder went berserk with the willow in hand, smacking four boundaries and two maximums in the two overs. He raced to his fifty in just 17 balls, the fourth fastest in BBL history, to take the Hurricanes to an unlikely 172. 
In pursuit of the target, the Scorchers incurred an early jolt courtesy of Jordan once again as they lost the hero of last edition’s final, Cooper Connolly. However, Zak Crawley (65* off 46) and Aaron Hardie (86* off 45) joined hands to ensure no further hiccups in the chase. The pair orchestrated periodic boundaries coupled with a good rotation of strike, their lack of hesitation to take calculative risks propelling the team past the 50-run mark in just 5.1 overs. With time, the pair switched gears and countered the variety of Hurricanes bowling. Both Crawley and Hardie reached their individual fifty in quick time with the former grafting the innings in the chase. A 24-run takedown of legspinner Patrick Dooley proved to be the final nail in Hurricanes’ coffin as the tag team’s partnership remained unbeaten on 157 off just 84 with the Scorchers sealing the triumph with 22 balls to spare.

They can't believe

First game

Its crazy

their reaction

Different universe

Cooking in BBL

Well played

Good contribution

Bowling brilliance

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