The Hurricanes have survived an almighty scare on a wet and wild BBL Knockout final with one veteran declaring they shouldn’t have been playing.
As rain fell over Hobart, the Hurricanes and Stars still managed to play out a game in which the Stars lost three more overs from their chase, with the defending champions holding on to win by three runs and set up a date in Sydney.
But a scary moment in the fourth over, when Riley Meredith slipped in the wet, led to ‘Canes keeper Matthew Wade’s emotional outburst.
“We’ll be putting the liability on you guys, we shouldn’t be playing in this,” he fumed as the strike bowler went down.
His outburst echoed similar comments he made on Fox Cricket during the second rain break.
“I suppose there’s good spirit but there’s also liability for the players,” Wade said.
“Everyone wants to play, no doubt, but there’s a point where if the rain keeps coming down, and guys are coming in trying to bowl 145, there has to be some common sense involved.”
It was a last over to remember for the Hurricanes players and fans with the Stars needing 26 needed.
Stars skipper Marcus Stoinis hit the first ball for six, then was caught next ball at third man which brought Hilton Cartwright to the crease.
Needing 19 from the last four balls, Cartwright put Mitch Owen to the boundary the next two balls before putting him over the deep square leg boundary onto the hill giving them just five runs required off the last ball.
It was a perfectly executed final ball by Owen, full and fifth stump with Cartwright only able to squeeze the ball to deep cover-point for a single.
It sets up a mouth watering match up at Sydney between the Hurricanes and the Sixers in the Challenger on Friday night just 12 days after their match was called off due to rain.
The Stars made a tactical sub to retire Sam Harper with two overs to go which brought in Glenn Maxwell but it didn’t quite work out as Melbourne would have liked with the ‘bigshow’ finishing not out on nine from just four balls.
INNINGS WRAP
Nikhil Chaudhary’s 24 from 11 balls very well be the match saving innings which could launch the Hobart Hurricanes into the Challenger against the Sydney Sixers on Friday.
Chaudhary came when the Hurricanes were at 3-54 and needed someone to take it to the Melbourne Stars with the all-rounder belting three big sixes while Beau Webster struggled to find the middle of the bat helping them to 5-114 from the 10 overs.
The Hurricanes all-rounders only put on 37 but it was done in quick fashion which saw Chaudhary make the Stars pay for dropping him, putting the next two balls over the rope.
Webster finally found the middle of his Gray-Nicolls in the last over, making Tom Curran’s night go from bat to worse hitting him for three sixes in the final over before being caught on 47 from 26 balls.
Hobart belted 39 from the last two overs which included 21 from the last over after experienced bowler Peter Siddle went for 11 runs in the eighth over including a delivery which saw the veteran hit 146kms.
The Hurricanes were sitting in the box seat at 2-46 from four overs before the spinner Mitch Swepson and skipper Marcus Stoinis pulled things back for the Stars just slowing things up which put pressure on Ben McDermott and Webster.
Stars quick Haris Rauf picked up 2-27 from his two overs including the big wicket of Chaudhary but could have had him three balls earlier before Curran dropped him at long off.
The rain continues to fall in Hobart but players and umpires are keen to make a game out of the Knockout.
Eyes will now turn to the Stars batting to see if they can make it three losses to the Hurricanes in Hobart this season and make it three losses in the past 14 games at Ninja Stadium.
Meanwhile, Stars skipper Marcus Stoinis has declared star teammate Glenn Maxwell’s lean summer will be forgotten if he lights up the BBL finals, and insists breaking their title drought doesn’t plague his thoughts before Wednesday’s cutthroat clash in Hobart.
The Hurricanes won their maiden title last season, leaving the Stars as the sole team yet to hoist the trophy ahead of the ‘Knockout’.
To do so they’ll likely need Maxwell to emerge from one of the bigger funks of his career.
Maxwell has scored just 67 runs at a modest strike rate of 113.55, but Stoinis is banking on the 37-year-old to cash in when it matters most.
“These things happen to everyone where you go through a rough patch, but he’s one person who comes out on top nearly every time,” Stoinis said.
“Hopefully he’s saving them for a big finals campaign. At the end of the day you can have a great five days of cricket and be the most important player in the comp, really.
“That’s how he’s looking at it and we all do.”