With Jhye Richardson leading their bowling tie, they quickly look like the team for the cause.
Scorchers Perth 1 for 140 (Roy 74 *, Livingstone 54) beat Hurricanes Hobart 5 for 139 (Short 54, David 31 *) with nine wikis
Perth Scorchers went back years to win their fifth game on the kick, defeating Hobart Hurricanes with nine wickets at Stadus Optus to jump to third place in the BBL rankings. Superb bowling performance limited the Hurricanes to 139, with Jhye Richardson, AJ Tye and Fawad Ahmed all impressive, before a strong 123-run stand between Jason Roy and Liam Livingstone held them home with 22 balls remaining.
The Scorchers have been missing out on the finals for two years in a row after a sustained period of leadership, but are starting to look like their own seniors. They have won all four of their home games, surrendering numbers 89, 97 and 168 before tonight, with Richardson leading an impressive distance attack, as their batting line begins to click.
Their voyage came to fruition without Colin Munro as a result of a quad injury, although he is expected to return to the squad soon, with the potential for Ashton Agar to return to fitness there. time for the stage, the Scorchers are fast becoming the team for the cause.
The only hurdle for the Scorchers came in the form of an injury to Mitchell Marsh, who went through a three-ball side injury into his spell and was replaced by an X-factor under Kurtis Patterson. Adam Voges, their head coach, told Channel 7 that it was a “precautionary step” and that he expected Marsh to be available again soon, even if it was only as special batsman.
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Matt Roller is assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. He tweets at @ mroller98