Tag: Hobart Hurricanes

And Then There Were Three

A look at goings on in the WBBL as that tournament approaches its climax. There are now only three teams left in the tournament. Also a huge photo gallery.

This morning saw the first of the knockout matches in the WBBL, between Sydney Thunder and Hobart Hurricanes, at the former’s home ground, the Drummoyne Oval, six kilometres or thereabouts west of Sydney city centre. This post looks at what happened today and how the KOs work in this tournament.

HOW THE KNOCKOUTS WORK IN THE WBBL

Four teams out of eight qualify for the knockout stages of the WBBL, and the system then works thus: third place take on fourth in what is termed the Knockout match, with third place having home advantage. The winners of this match then play away against the team who finished second, in what is called the Eliminator match, and finally the winners of that face up to the winners of the league stage at the latter’s home ground. In this edition of the tournament Melbourne Renegades and Brisbane Heat had 14 points each from their 10 group games, with the Renegades ahead on net run rate, while Sydney Thunder had 13, the single point coming from a washed out local derby against the Sydney Sixers, and Hobart Hurricanes had 10 points – five wins and five losses. They qualified with this modest tally through a combination of the top three all having such excellent records and the fact that having four teams in an eight team league qualify for knockout stages is over-generous (though less bad than the men’s equivalent where FIVE of the eight sides qualify, which means that there is a genuine chance of a team with an overall losing record making the KOs, which is plumb crazy).

TODAY’S MATCH

Hobart Hurricanes won the toss and chose to bat first. They did not perform well. When Heather Graham was out to the last ball of the 10th over they were languishing at 47-4 halfway through their innings. They did pick things up in the second half of their innings, with Elyse Villani ending unbeaten on 49 from 42 balls, Suzie Bates managing 17 off 17 balls, and Kathryn Bryce with 10 off 6 and Lauren Smith with 6 not out off three balls giving things a late boost. A total of 126 still looked inadequate.

For a long time however, it looked as though Hurricanes might be defending it successfully. With three overs to go Thunder needed 26 to win, and although Litchfield was batting well Anika Learoyd was, as many had on both sides, progressing very slowly. The 18th over, bowled by Heather Graham, which was also the second of the Thunder’s Power Surge, turned the course of the match – 16 runs came from it, including three boundaries, one from Litchfield, and two, off the last two balls of it, from Learoyd. Litchfield then hit the first ball of the 19th over for six. The second and fourth balls yielded singles. The off the fifth ball Litchfield was bowled, which brought Georgia Adams to the crease with two runs needed for the win. Adams cut the only ball she faced for four runs to seal victory for the Thunder with an over to spare and send them on to Allan Border Field on Friday to do battle with Brisbane Heat for the right to face Melbourne Renegades. Litchfield’s 46 off 36 in a match in which few had struck at above 100 and three catches secured her Player of the Match. Molly Strano, one of the most successful bowlers in the WBBL’s history, had figures of 4-0-8-1 for the Hurricanes, unavailing in the end, but the joint most economical figures ever in the knockout stages of a WBBL tournament. A full scorecard of this match canb be seen here.

In many ways justice was done today, although Thunder were not convincing winners by any means. They were much better than the Hurricanes in the group stages, and it is right that the winner of this tournament should come from one of the top three – for Hurricanes to have emerged victorious after qualifying for the knockouts on 10 points would have left a bad taste in the mouth – and yes this is a pom criticizing an Aussie tournament for having overly soft qualification rules, and I stick by every comment I have made along these lines.

PHOTOGRAPHS

I have a very large gallery, due to not having posted on Monday. Monday and yesterday were both sunny although cold, while today has not been sunny and is still cold…

I am

A One Woman Show in Sydney

A look back at a historic innings in the WBBL and a photo gallery.

Overnight in the Women’s Big Bash League Hobart Hurricanes played Perth Scorchers at the SCG. This was the first half of a double header, with the Sydney derby following. This post looks back at a history making performance in that match.

HURRICANE LIZELLE BLOWS SCORCHERS OFF COURSE

Perth Scorchers won the toss and put Hobart Hurricanes in to bat. Lizelle Lee, opening batter for Hobart Hurricanes, proceeded to blow Scorcher’s plans to smithereens with a display of jaw dropping brutality. The Power Play overs offered little foretaste of what was to come – Hurricanes were 34-2 after the four overs of mandatory Power Play. Hurricanes reached 50 after exactly six overs. Lee was already dominating the scoring, and she reached her own 50 off 29 balls. By the halfway stage the score had risen to 86-2, with Lee now 65*. Hurricanes took the two over Power Surge immediately on the resumption, the earliest point at which the playing conditions allow it, and 31 runs came from the two overs for no loss. Lee was now in overdrive mode, and her century arrived off her 51st ball. She was far from done. When her score reached 137 she had set the all time WBBL individual record, displacing Grace Harris. She was back on strike with three balls left in the innings and 190 on the board in total. She hit balls four and five of that 20th over for sixes to move to 149 and take Hurricanes past 200. A single off the final ball of the innings saw her to the first ever individual 150 in WBBL cricket, only nine short of the all time record in women’s professional T20 cricket, set for the Northwests by none other than Lee herself. Lee had faced 75 balls, thereby finishing with an SR of precisely 200 for the innings. Among the carnage one bowler escaped all but unscathed: 19 year old pacer Chloe Ainsworth recorded figures of 4-0-17-2, conceding no sixes and only one four. Her team mates thus had a combined 1-186 from 16 overs, an average ER of 11.625 per bowler. An average four over spell from among every bowler other than Ainsworth would have yielded 46.50 runs, so Ainsworth was either 29 or 30 runs more economical than any of her team mates would have been expected to be from a four over allocation.

After that display by Lee neither the result nor the Player of the Match award were in any significant doubt. In the event Scorchers, forced to take risks in pursuit of a huge total, lost wickets rapidly, and ended up 131 all out, beaten by 72 runs, a colossal margin in this form of the game. Heather Graham had 3-24, Lauren Smith with 4-0-11-2 was the most economical bowler on either side. Molly Strano, one of the most consistent performers across the whole ten seasons of the WBBL, also deserves a mention, recording 3-0-17-2. Ainsworth, the sole effective bowler for the Scorchers earlier on, was also top scorer for them, hitting 41 off 27 balls. Both sides now have six points, though Hurricanes have played a game more, and unsurprisingly after this match have a better net run rate.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

WBBL Logjam

A look at the WBBL table, and a bit about the latest ,match which took place earlier today between Hobart Hurricanes and Sydney Sixers. Also a photo gallery.

After today’s WBBL match between Hobart Hurricanes and Sydney Sixers the WBBL10 table is more congested than London during rush hour. This post looks both at today’s match and at the competition as a whole.

THE TABLE

Women’s Big Bash League

TeamMWLPTNRR
ST-W32141.158
MS-W32140.775
PS-W32140.352
BH-W42240.133
MR-W4224-0.156
HH-W5234-0.227
SS-W4224-0.407
AS-W4132-0.900

The above table is courtesy of cricinfo, and a more detailed version can be viewed here.

With the exception of the Strikers, with one win and three losses, every team has four points, and only the Hurricanes, having played a game more than all their rivals are noticeably worse off, while the Scorchers, with a game in hand on everyone and two in hand on the Hurricanes are probably best placed of the sides to progress. Each side plays ten group matches, and at the moment it looks like most, if not all, will have some sort of qualification chance as the competition reaches its business end.

TODAY’S MATCH

Today’s game was largely dominated by one single performance. In a match in no other batter got past 30 (two Englishwomen, Hollie Armitage for the Sixers and Danni Wyatt-Hodge for the Hurricanes scored exactly this number) Ellyse Perry, already the tournament’s leading run scorer heading into this match, scored 86 off 62 balls. Sixers 155-7 proved enough to win by six runs. Perry cemented an already fairly undeniable claim to the POTM award by adding two catches to her 86 runs. Most notable among the Sixers bowlers were Ecclestone, approaching her best form for the first time in this tournament, with 4-0-22-2, and the youngster Caoimhe Bray with 3-0-13-2. Bray has more in common with her idol, Perry, than merely being a pace bowling all rounder: Perry scored a world cup goal for the Matildas, and although Bray has not yet featured in a full squad for the football side, she has played age group internationals in that sport. As is often the case when she is at or near peak form no opposition batter ever looked remotely comfortable facing Ecclestone. The Hurricanes best bowler on the day was leg spinner Amy Smith, with 1-20 from three overs.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Deeply irresponsible by whoever set a fire here, so close to trees…
…and they did it again a day later/
A muntjac paddling in Bawsey Drain.

Thunder Blown Away by Hurricanes

An account of today’s WBBL match (Hobart Hurricanes v Sydney Thunder) and a photo gallery.

Today’s match in the WBBL was between Hobart Hurricanes and Sydney Thunder.

THE HURRICANES INNINGS

Sydney Thunder won the bat flip and put Hobart Hurricanes in to bat. Lizelle Lee was out cheaply, but Danni Wyatt-Hodge and Nicola Carey had a good partnership for the second wicket, and then Elyse Villani offered Carey further support. At the halfway stage of their innings the Hurricanes were 64-2 and looking set for a big score. They took the Power Surge (in this competition sides get four overs of standard Power Play at the start of the innings and a two over Power Surge which must be taken in the second half of the innings) immediately, and scored 28 runs from the two overs. At 92-2 after 12 overs 170 looked to be possible and 160 to be no mare than par. Then came a horrendous collapse which started with the dismissal of Carey for a fine 52 and saw four wickets tumble for just 12 runs. Tabatha Saville batted well at number seven, and found some useful late support from Molly Strano, who scored 9 not out off just five balls. The spinners had fared far better than the seamers. Shabnim Ismail’s pace was ineffective, leaving her with 0-30 from four overs, while Hannah Darlington, thad a disastrous 2-0-28-0, although veteran Sammy-Jo Johnson went for just 19 from her four overs and took a wicket. Pick of the Thunder bowlers was left arm spinner Samantha Bates who had 3-20. Hurricanes had amassed 141-7 by the end of their innings, 92-2 off the first 12 overs and 49-5 off the last eight overs.

THE THUNDER REPLY

There are few better options when spin is going to be key than Molly Strano, and the Hurricanes entrusted her with the first over of the innings. The very first ball of the Thunder innings pinned Sri Lankan ace Chamari Athatpaththu who had earlier claimed 2-26 from four overs of off spin plumb LBW. Athapaththu was somewhat slow to leave the crease, but it was one of the plumbest LBWs you could ever see. Phoebe Litchfield survived the remaining five balls of the over, but was not able to score off any of them, thus giving Strano the first maiden of this year’s tournament. Kathryn Bryce, the Scottish all rounder who bowls medium pace, was given the second over and conceded 14, which ended her participation as a bowler. The third over was Strano’s second, and six runs accrued from it. Lauren Smith, another off spinner, bowled the fourth over, and Georgia Voll was dismissed, holing out to Chloe Tryon in the deep to make it 24-2. Tahlia Wilson and Georgia Adams fell for 3 a piece, off four and six balls respectively and it was 38-4 in the seventh over. Anika Learoyd now offered Litchfield, who was playing beautifully after her slow start, the only serious support she would enjoy all innings. Litchfield reached a magnificent 50 off 36 balls, but then suffered a remarkable dismissal – Heather Graham, a medium pacer, fired one wide of the stumps and Lizelle Lee executed a smart stumping. The delivery was signalled wide, but one can be stumped off a wide, and Litchfield had to go, making the score 91-5. Sammy-Jo Johnson, a big hitter on her day, fell cheaply to make it 96-6. Two runs later Nicola Carey effectively ended the contest by bowling Learoyd for 29 to make it 98-7. 44 runs of 5.4 overs is not difficult if you have front line batters available to score them, but when you down to numbers 8,9,10 and 11 it is a major ask. Ella Briscoe and Hannah Darlington added 10 runs together for the eighth wicket before Heather Graham ended what had been a horror day for Darlington by bowling her for four. That was 108-8, which immediately became 108-9 when a mix-up between Ismail and Briscoe saw Ismail suffer that rarity, a zero ball duck (run out 0, having not faced a ball). By this stage were Thunder were a long way behind the required run rate as well. Samantha Bates who had earlier bowled so well got a single, and Briscoe also added a single to her score before the last ball of the 18th over, bowled by Tryon with her left arm spin, clean bowled Bates to make 110 all out and victory to the Hurricanes by 31 runs. Other than Bryce’s single expensive over the most expensive Hurricanes bowler was Tryon with 2-19 from three overs for an ER of 6.33. Heather Graham had 3-19 from her full four overs. Nicola Carey, one of the two half centurions in the match and also the possessor of figures of 3-0-18-1, was named Player of the Match.

After the first 12 overs of this match had yielded 92-2 the last 26 produced a combined 159-15. Bryce in that one over apart the Hurricanes seamers had realized that pace on the ball on this pitch just asked to be hit and deliberately slowed themselves down.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Woeful Webster

A look at the BBL match between Melbourne Stars and Hobart Hurricanes, with particular focus on one of the worst major T20 innings ever played by anyone, an effort from Beau Webster than unquestionably cost his side the match. Also a photo gallery.

While listening to commentary from the Australian Open tennis this morning I had a cricinfo tab open to enable myself to keep an eye on goings on in the BBL match between Melbourne Stars and Hobart Hurricanes to decide fifth and six spots in the table.

THE HURRICANES INNINGS

Ben McDermott and Matthew Wade led the way for the Hurricanes after Melbourne Stars put them in to bat. A late flurry from Nathan Ellis, 16 off five balls including two sixes gave Hurricanes 187 to defend, a good but not invincible total.

THE STARS RESPONSE

Glenn Maxwell (32 off 18), Marcus Stoinis (48 off 32) and Hilton Cartwright (14* off eight) all batted well for the Stars, yet in spite of these three doing what is required when chasing a big target Stars never at any stage of the chase looked like favourites. The reason for this was the innings played by Beau Webster. Even with a six off the last ball of the match, by when it was already lost, Webster only boosted his score to 55* off 43 balls. For the majority of his innings his SR was actually less than 100. The result of this piece of stat padding by Mr Webster was that although only four Stars wickets fell in the course of their 20 overs they were beaten by seven runs, to end up sixth in the table. Nathan Ellis, whose late cameo had given the Hurricanes total what proved to be a vital boost, was also the pick of the bowlers, taking 2-29 from his four overs, and was deservedly named Player of the Match. Webster meanwhile has to be regarded as the antithesis of the Player of the Match – his innings cost his side the match. A full scorecard of the match can be viewed here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Brisbane Heat v Hobart Hurricanes

An account of a thrilling BBL encounter between Brisbane Heat and Hobart Hurricanes, plus a photo gallery.

At 8:15 this morning UK time the Big Bash League encounter between Brisbane Heat and Hobart Hurricanes got underway. This post looks back at the match.

THE BRISBANE HEAT INNINGS

Hobart Hurricanes won the bat flip and put Brisbane Heat into bat. Josh Brown and Colin Munro opened the batting for Heat, while Riley Meredith took the new ball for Hobart Hurricanes. A very fine over was marred by the last delivery, which was hit for four to make Heat 6-0. Corey Anderson bowled the second over, and it was a poor one – he bowled two wides, and conceded nine runs in total, four of them off the eighth delivery, necessitated by the bowling of the wides. Nathan Ellis, the Hurricanes captain, and veteran medium pacer Chris Jordan bowled the fourth over of the opening Power Play. Both bowled well, especially Jordan, and Heat were 22-0 after four overs. The fifth over, bowled by left arm wrist spinner Patrick Dooley, should have produced the first wicket but Tim David dropped an absolute sitter. Hurricanes continued to ring the changes, with the sixth over being bowled by a sixth different bowler, Nikhil Chaudhary. This over yielded eight runs including a four, but also a wicket of the sixth ball, Josh Brown, caught by Macallister Wright to make it 35-1. The seventh over finally saw someone bowl a second over, Riley Meredith. This over yielded a mere four runs and Heat were 39-1. Chaudhary bowled the eighth over, and it seemed to have ignited the Heat innings, Munro taking 20 from it, including two sixes and a four, 59-1. Dooley bowled the ninth over, and after five excellent deliveries he conceded a four off the last ball of it to make it 67-1. Ellis bowled the tenth over, conceding seven runs, but also trapping Heat’s number three, McSweeney, LBW. Heat were 74-2 at the halfway stage of their innings. Heat messed up the second half of their innings. They were overcautious about the Power Surge, and lost Munro for a well made half century before they got round to taking it. They then panicked and took it with two new batters together at the crease and made an utter hash of it, scoring 8-1 from those two overs. That left them at 112-5 from 17 overs. The last three overs were bowled by Jordan, Ellis, and then Jordan, and although Paul Walter made a brave effort to increase the total the two experienced bowlers restricted the damage from this last three overs to 20 runs, while two wickets fell. Ellis had 2-23 from his four overs, Jordan 3-19 from his four, and the most economical of all had been Meredith, conceding just 15 from his four.

THE HOBART HURRICANES INNINGS

With such a poor total to defend Heat needed early wickets to have any chance of success, and they got them, Michael Neser claiming one in the first over, and then Xavier Bartlett striking three times in quick succession to account for Wright, Sam Hain and Anderson. Hurricanes ended their four overs of Power Play reeling at 25-4. After 4.4 overs, two balls short of constituting a match, rain came down and the players left the field. The interruption was not a massive one, but enough to reduce the length of the Hurricanes innings to 16 overs, their target to 118 and their Power Surge from two overs to one. Hurricanes fought hard, with Chaudhary and David batting well. They like Heat were guilty of overcaution about the Power Surge, but fortune favoured them, and Chaudhary and David were still together when they finally took it. They may have mistimed taking it, but once they did take it they made decent use of their Power Surge, taking 12 runs off it. This left them needing 20 off the last two overs. In the next over David was dismissed, but Chaudhary did manage to get on strike for the start of the final over, with 13 needed to win. Paul Walter, the tall left arm medium pacer from Essex, bowled this over. Chaudhary hit the first ball for six to bring up a fine fifty, and when he added two more off the second ball the target was down to five off four balls. However, just when it seemed like he was set to be the matchwinner for his side Chaudhary then edged the next delivery through to Billings, and it was five needed off three balls with only tailenders left. Singles came off the next two deliveries, and Hurricanes needed three off one ball to win. They managed only one, with Dooley being run out going for a second. This meant that Heat had hung on to win by one run on the DLS method. Xavier Bartlett, whose three early wickets had given Heat the chance to defend a very modest total, was named Player of the Match, quite correctly in my view. Full scorecard here.

BRIEF FURTHER THOUGHTS

Neither side distinguished themselves when it came to the use of the Power Surge – Heat had two got opportunities to take it with Munro at the crease and going well and neglected both, allowing the perfect to be the enemy of the good, and ending up having to use those overs without Munro to exploit them, while Hurricanes left it at least one, possibly two overs longer than they should to claim theirs, and were rather fortunate after delaying like that to still have both Chaudhary and David at the crease to use it. Hurricanes dropped two easy chances in the field, and Chaudhary panicked just when it seemed that he was winning them the match. Heat finding a way to defend such a low total illustrated why they are ensconced at the top of the table.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Power Surges

A look at the Big Bash League’s great innovation, the Power Surge and how best to use it, with a couple of classic examples of it being misused on successive days.

With the Big Bash League now in full swing this post is dedicated to that competition’s great innovation, the Power Surge (they had two others but have binned both the ‘supersub’ and the ‘Bash Boost Point’). I am writing it because yesterday and today I saw two classic examples of mistiming the Power Surge, whereas in the WBBL earlier this year the sides were nearly all excellent at judging when to go for it.

WHAT IS A POWER SURGE?

Most T20 innings around the world begin with six overs of ‘Power Play’, when only two fielders are allowed to be posted more than 30 yards from the bat and then have 14 overs of regular play when up to five fielders can be outside that 30 yard radius. The Power Surge variation, which I am a huge supporter of, has the innings start with four overs of Power Play, with the remaining two to be taken at the batting side’s discretion at any point after the end of the 10th over.

WHEN SHOULD THE POWER SURGE BE TAKEN?

There are a range of good answers depending on exact circumstances but the key thing to remember is that a successful Power Surge is not just about how many runs you score from those overs, it is about how many more runs you score from those overs than you would have done in regular play. Therefore using it in the ‘death overs’, when you would be scoring very fast anyway is not making full use of it. Ideally you would want both batters to have faced at least a few balls by calling for the Power Surge but if by the end of the 15th over you have not found a really suitable time to take it then take it for overs 16-17 irrespective of anything else, as a launchpad into the death overs.

POWER SURGE FAIL 1: JIMMY PEIRSON (BRISBANE HEAT)

Brisbane Heat made an awful start to yesterday’s match against Melbourne Renegades, losing three early wickets. However at the end of the 10th over, the fourth wicket partnership was still going, and this represented the golden opportunity to take the Power Surge with two set batters there to make use of it. Both batters fell in the 11th over, meaning a spot of retrenchment was needed. At the end of the 14th over the sixth wicket stand was still going, both batters had faced a reasonable number of balls, and this represented what will call the silver opportunity to take the Power Surge – both batters in to an extent, and enough overs left for the Surge to act as a good launch pad. Peirson neglected to call for it, and the partnership was broken in the 15th over. Peirson dithered and delayed over the Power Surge, and only took it when obliged to for the last two overs of the innings. Those two overs did yield a respectable number of runs, but not in my opinion any more than overs 19 and 20 would with regular field placements. Heat finished with 137-8. This looked a good total when Renegades were 9-4 in response, but Andre Russell and Akeal Hosein played excellent innings, while Finch anchored the innings at the other end. Renegades timed their Power Surge better than Heat, and Finch after playing second fiddle to Russell and Hosein stepped up at the death to see his side to a deserved victory.

POWER SURGE FAIL 2: MATT WADE (HURRICANES)

Today’s match (Sydney Sixers v Hobart Hurricanes) was complicated by a long rain delay, which reduced it to a 14 overs per side contest, and reduced the Power Play and Power Surge allocations to three and one overs respectively. Sixers won the toss, batted first, and although they missed a golden opportunity, when both openers were still there at the end of the seventh over, they did take a silver opportunity, taking it for the 11th over of their innings. They finished with 137-6 from their 14 overs. Hurricanes dropped behind the rate from the start of their innings, but were incredibly reluctant to use their Surge over. Eventually, they claimed it for the 13th over, but by then they needed 45 off two overs, and although Asif Ali made good use of that Surge Over, 21 were still needed off the final over. When an excellent boundary catch by Jordan Silk put a stop to Ali’s antics early in the final over the writing was on the wall, and only a six off the last ball of the match with it already lost restricted the final margin to six runs. Again the criticism of the Hurricanes approach is that Ali could easily have gone crazy in the penultimate over of the match against regular field placings, and had they taken the Power Surge earlier they may have been in a position when a big penultimate over would actually have put them in charge.

AN ALL TIME FRANCHISE XI

Since I am writing about franchise cricket, which I don’t do all that often I end with a challenge and an example answer: Using your own country as the home country and IPL overseas player rules (i.e. up to four in an XI) name your franchise XI made up exclusively of players from before the franchise era.

Thomas’ sample answer:

Home Country: England

XI in batting order:

  1. G St A Sobers (West Indies, left handed batter, left arm bowler of every type known to cricket, gun fielder)
  2. G L Jessop (Right handed batter, right arm fast bowler, gun fielder)
  3. F E Woolley (Left handed batter, left arm orthodox spinner, excellent close fielder).
  4. D C S Compton (Right handed batter, left arm wrist spinner)
  5. *K R Miller (Australia, right handed batter, right arm fast bowler, gun fielder, captain)
  6. +L E G Ames (right handed batter, keeper)
  7. G H Hirst (right handed batter, left arm fast medium bowler, gun fielder)
  8. J B King (United States, right arm fast bowler, right handed batter)
  9. J C Laker (off spinner, right handed batter)
  10. A Shaw (right arm slow/medium bowler, right handed batter)
  11. C V Grimmett (Australia, leg spinner, right handed batter)

Feel free to comment with your own XIs.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Time for my usual sign off…

The Long and Short of Cricket

A look back at the recent Australia v India test match, and at today’s amazing BBL game between Hobart Hurricanes and Brisbane Heat, plus some thoughts on the BBL’s innovations for this year.

No, on this occasion my title does not refer to Mohammad Irfan and Poonam Yadav, though in another context it could! Instead I refer to the longest and shortest formats of top level cricket – 5-day test cricket and T20.

INDIA MAKE IT 1-1 WITH VICTORY AT MELBOURNE

India had lost the first match of the series at Adelaide after being bowled out for 36 in their second innings (see this post for more on that game), and Kohli had departed from the squad to be present at the birth of his child. Australia batted first, and with Bumrah and Ashwin featuring prominently, were dismissed for 195, no one managing to reach 50. India responded with a determined batting effort led by stand-in skipper Rahane who redeemed himself for running out Kohli in Adelaide by reaching a gritty century, while Ravindra Jadeja, one of the finest of contemporary all-rounders and a brilliant fielder to boot, contributed 62 to the cause, and India built a first innings lead of 131. At one point it looked like they might not have to bat again, but young Cameron Green and Pat Cummins resisted stoutly to take Australia into credit and the game into a fourth day. Green and Cummins continued their partnership on the fourth morning, but once they were separated resistance was limited. For the second time in the match no Aussie managed a fifty, but they did just reach 200 before Hazlewood shouldered arms to a straight one and was bowled to end the innings. Low totals have sometimes been defended, but very rarely as low as 70, and India lost only two wickets in reaching their goal.

Steve Smith failed twice, Labuschagne managed some resistance in the first innings but not a substantial score, and Cameron Green’s promise aside there do not appear to many sources of runs for Australia at the moment, and bowlers, even such fine ones as Australia possess, cannot win matches if they don’t have anything to defend. David Warner returns for the next match at the SCG, with presumably the shockingly out of form and lacking in confidence Joe Burns dropping out. Also waiting in the wings, though currently not fully fit for action, is Will Pucovski who has produced some Ponsfordesque scores for Victoria. Travis Head in the Aussie middle order has what appears to be a respectable batting average, but what his average does not show is the fact that he has a severe case of ‘Watsonitis’ – he scores runs, but never seems able to turn a good start into a really major innings.

India meanwhile are strengthened by the return from injury of Rohit Sharma, who will presumably resume his opening berth alongside Agarwal.

BBL THOUGHTS

This section is provoked by today’s astonishing game between Hobart Hurricanes and Brisbane Heat (the Hurricanes were nominally the home team, even though the match was taking place at the Gabba!)

Hurricanes batted first, and after 10 overs were 65-3 with Malan going well and Ingram newly arrived at the other end. Malan fell not long after, bringing Colin Ingram and Tim David together. They shared a good partnership, but Hurricanes failed to take advantage of the opportunity to claim the Power Surge with two destructive hitters together at the crease. After 18 overs they were 140-6, and had to take the Power Surge. Mujeeb Ur Rahman, on of three Afghan spinners (Rashid Khan, leg spin, and Zahir Khan, left arm wrist spin, being the others) to have BBL contracts bowled the 19th, and it was a quite superb over, not only going for only one run, but also yielding three wickets, giving Mujeeb 5-15 from his four overs. The 20th over was better for the Hurricanes, although they only lasted four balls of it, that was enough to boost their total by nine. That gave them precisely 150 to defend, a fairly modest total by BBL standards.

However, the Hurricanes were as brilliant at the start of their bowling innings as they had been poor in the second half of their batting innings, and the Heat were 8-3 early on and looking in some trouble. Then Max Bryant and Lewis Gregory shared an excellent partnership and seemed to have at least secured their side the Bash Boost bonus point for being ahead after 10 overs. Bryant was out to the penultimate ball of the ninth, making it 60-4, six need for the Bash Boost point. However, a combination of good bowling and tentative batting saw them just miss out. Gregory’s dismissal in the 11th over made it 66-5, and brought Bazley into join Peirson. They were still together at the end of the 14th, at which point Heat took the Power Surge. Overall these two overs were good for the Heat, the loss of Peirson not withstanding, and Heat needed 31 from 24 balls for the win. With Bazley going well and Steketee connecting with a couple of decent blows that came down to 15 off 12 balls. The 19th started with two dots, but then Bazley hit a six to reduce the task to nine off nine balls. The over ended with Heat needing seven to win. That came down to four off two balls with Steketee on strike. Steketee got two off the penultimate ball, and that meant two needed off one ball, or one to take it to a Super Over. Steketee went for the tying run off that final ball, but it was judged that although his bat was over the line before the bails were dislodged it was also in the air, and he was given run out, to make it 149-8 and victory for the Hurricanes by one run.

It was a magnificent game, but I would have preferred the Heat to win so that the Hurricanes got properly punished for mishandling the second half of their batting innings.

ON #BBL10’S INNOVATIONS

There have been three innovations to this year’s BBL, two which had their own impact on today’s game. They are: the Bash Boost point for the team who are ahead at the ten over mark, the Power Surge (instead of six overs of power play restrictions at the start of the innings there are four, with two more to be claimed at any time after the tenth over by the batting side) and the ‘x-factor sub’, whereby after 10 overs of the first innings a player who has a) not batted and b) bowled no more than one over can be replaced by a designated ‘x-factor’ sub.

I am a huge fan of the Bash Boost point, it has created points of interest in games which would otherwise have been dead, and today it was very closely fought.

I like the concept of the Power Surge, but it requires flexibility of thought, and not many sides have thus far shown that. I would say that all things being equal the ideal time to take it would be at the end of the 15th, using it as a launch pad for the final quarter of the innings. One might go earlier in two situations: the openers are still together after 10 overs and you want to use the Power Surge to launch you towards a really huge total, and also if you have lost a few wickets, your innings needs a shot in the arm and/or you want to ensure that you have two decent batters to use the Power Surge. I can see no case for delaying it right to the end, and I think the Hurricanes stuffed up big time, for all that it did not end up costing them, in their own innings – they should have taken the Power Surge while Ingram, who could really have cashed in on it was still there.

As for the ‘x-factor sub’, that belongs in the circular file. I fully understand the need for ‘concussion protocol subs’, but basically I remain convinced that teams should finish the match containing the same players who started it.

A final recommendation for the BBL: for goodness sake use the DRS – unlike football with the disastrous VAR we actually have a method of using technology to help with decisions that usually works, and it should be automatic to use it.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…