BBL 2019-20: Eliminator, Hobart Hurricanes vs Sydney Thunder – A big defeat for Hurricanes at home, Thunder's rare win in Hobart, Hales' hat-trick over Hurricanes and more stats

Hobart Hurricanes knocked out of the BBL 2019-20 after losing the Eliminator at home against the Sydney Thunder by a huge 57-run margin. Thunder’s opening pair of Usman Khawaja (54 off 34) and Alex Hales (60 off 37) shared a 103-run stand in 9.5 overs.

A mediocre second half saw the Sydney franchise restricted to 197/5. Hurricanes made a decent start in the chase scoring 55/1 in the first six overs but fell apart once the field restrictions were completed. Jonathan Cook bagged four wickets to see the Hurricanes bowled out for 140.

All the statistical highlights from Sydney Thunder’s thumping win against the Hobart Hurricanes:

A rare win in Hobart for the Thunder:

6-2 – Only the 2nd time that the Hobart Hurricanes have lost a BBL game at the Bellerive Oval against the Sydney Thunder across eight meetings. Other defeat came in the 2016-17 season by a 6-wicket margin. However, the Hurricanes won six matches against the Thunder at the venue; the most number of wins for them against any opponent here.

57 – Hurricanes’ 57-run defeat in this match is their 2nd biggest defeat in terms of runs at the Bellerive Oval. They lost to the Perth Scorchers by 77 runs earlier this season as they were bowled out for 98 while chasing 176.

Alex Hales’ dominance over the Hurricanes:

3 – Alex Hales scored fifty-plus runs in all the three matches against the Hobart Hurricanes in this season – 60, 63 and 55. He is now the first player with three 50+ scores against an opponent in a BBL edition.

509 – Hales became the first player to aggregate 500 runs in a BBL season for the Sydney Thunder. Callum Ferguson’s 442 runs in the 2018-19 edition are the only other instance of a Thunder batsman scoring 400+ runs in a BBL season.

Hales struck five fifties across the 15 matches in this season which makes him the first Sydney Thunder batsman with as many fifty-plus scores in an edition of the BBL.

Maiden 4-fer for Jonathan Cook:

4/21 – Jonathan Cook’s 4/21 are now the 3rd best bowling figures and only the 6th 4-wicket haul in the Big Bash League for the Sydney Thunder. Fawad Ahmed took 4/14 against Sydney Sixers in 2016-17 while Dirk Nannes had figures of 4/17 against Adelaide Strikers in 2012-13.

Daniel Sams moves to the top of Thunder’s charts:

42 – Number of wickets for Daniel Sams in the BBL while playing for the Sydney Thunder. He is now the leading wicket-taker in the BBL for Thunder going past Gurinder Sandhu’s 41 wickets. Sams picked up 27 wickets alone in this series; three wickets more than any player in a BBL edition.

Usman Khawaja – The big match player:

3 – Usman Khawaja recorded fifty-plus scores in all the three knockout matches he featured in the Big Bash League. Khawaja scored an unbeaten 104 in the semi-final of the 2015-16 season against Adelaide Strikers and followed it with a 70-run knock in the 2015-16 final against the Melbourne Stars.

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