BBL 07, Semi-final 1, Review: Hurricanes trounce Scorchers to enter the final in style

Hobart Hurricanes and Perth Scorchers locked horns in the first semifinal of the ongoing Big Bash League (BBL) at the brand new Optus Stadium. The hosts had earned the home finals as they topped the points table after the league stages. Their opponents though had just sneaked into the knockouts and stood fourth after playing 10 matches. However, the defending champions succumbed to the pressure and the visitors stormed into the finals of the tournament in style.

Scorchers won the toss and opted to bowl first on a surprisingly green wicket. Both the teams made a few changes to their line-ups and brought in the players who were released from their national commitments as well. The opening duo of Matthew Wade and Tim Paine strode out to the middle as the former went berserk from the word go. Paine failed to match him as he was dismissed by Matthew Kelly in the fifth over on 5. The skipper George Bailey too was sent back for 17.

Wade and McDermott leads the way

Hurricanes were off to a flyer after the 10th over as Wade continued to punish the bowlers of Scorchers. He scored a magnificent 71 off just 45 deliveries before being dismissed in the 14th over by Tim Bresnan. The home side would’ve thought to restrict Hurricanes under 170 after that but what followed next was an absolute carnage.  Ben McDermott and Daniel Christian batted amazingly well and smashed the bowlers all around the park. While the former remained unbeaten on 67 off just 30 cherries, Christian scored a quickfire 37.

Eventually, Hurricanes posted a mammoth total of 210 runs for the loss of 4 wickets after 20 overs. All the bowlers of the hosts went for a lot of runs as Bresnan and Kelly were the only wicket-takers.

Scorchers succumb in the chase

Perth Scorchers needed a herculean effort from their batsmen to chase down the huge total. But they never looked like threatening the score and the procession continued until they were bowled out in the 18th over. Only four of their batsmen could cross the double figures with the visitors refusing to relent any sort of pressure. Bresnan was the best batsman for them scoring 43 off just 26 balls with 4 fours and a solitary six. Shaun Marsh also scored 30 but to no avail as they were skittled out for 139 runs.

Thomas Rogers was amazing with the ball in hand as he scalped the top three of the hosts’ batting line-up and broke the back of their chase. Daniel Christian cleaned up the tail and finished with the figures of 4/17 to support Rogers who ended with 3/31. Hurricanes entered the final of the BBL in style by defeating the defending champions by a whopping 71 runs and would be awaiting their opponents on Sunday now.

Brief Scores

Hobart Hurricanes 210/4 after 20 overs (M Wade 71, B McDermott 67*; T Bresnan 2/40)

Perth Scorchers 139 after 17.5 overs (T Bresnan 43; D Christian 4/17, T Rogers 3/31)

Result: Hobart Hurricanes won by 71 runs

Man of the Match: Matthew Wade

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