Renegades made a mess of the last seven pitches after Harper and Rossouw stood 113 runs until they were ready to post over 170
Hurricanes Hobart 4 for 161 (McDermott 89 *, Noor Ahmad 1-27) beat Melbourne Renegades 5 for 157 (Harper 66 *, Boland 2-19) with six wikis
Ben McDermott defeated the Melbourne Renegades by a sublime 89 not out of 55 balls to help Hobart Hurricanes travel to a six-wicket victory at the Bellerive Oval.
McDermott continued his elegant series of form approaching nearly a century for Australia A against India, breaking seven four-foot and five-six in a spotless display against speed and spinning. He never looked troubled and did a light work of the chase after the Hurricanes dropped to 2 for 25 in the powerlifting. The chase may have been a bit tougher although Renegades hired Noor Ahmad as a reward for good bowling on the first BBL run, with a tight lbw call on Colin Ingram not to go.
Earlier, half-centuries from Sam Harper and Rilee Rossouw saved the Renegades from trouble early after Scott Boland and James Faulkner did great damage with the new member. Boland finished with figures of 2 for 19 but the Renegades made a mess of the last seven pitches after the Harper and Rossouw stand in 113 runs to post over 170. Some good death bowling from the Hurricanes sent the load -their challenges to just 5 for 157, which was not close enough today.
Rossouw and Harper to the rescue
The two did an excellent job of getting the Renegades back on track after a disastrous start. After being put on a surface with plenty in it for the seam archers the Renegades dropped down to 2 for 4 with Shaun Marsh out to prime spot in the first inning while Jake Fraser-McGurk all at sea against Boland starting to slip during wicket maiden. Rossouw and Harper took a lovely step back. They passed the storm against the foot and swing of Faulkner and Boland and then attacked extra speed and track length Riley Meredith and Keemo Paul throwing 51 from their four four-pointers together. Rossouw ran to 50 off the 32 in a good spot of a century.
X-factor head writer
Through the partnership, the Renegades made a strange move at the 10-over mark. With the score at 2 for 69, and the power of Mohammad Nabi, Beau Webster, and Will Sutherland yet to come, the Renegades chose to send out spinner Peter Hatzoglou for batsman Mackenzie Harvey. The idea was to free Rossouw and Harper with the extra battery depth. The Power Surge was also set up for delivery early in the last 10 patches. But the plans went awry with the score at 2 for 107 after 13 goals. They got just 10 runs in over 14 to 16 without taking the Surge. Rossouw and Harper dropped player Will Willks in the 14th at a cost of just four singles. Rossouw then dropped in the 15th and Harper and Nabi scored just three singles in the 16th with Boland conceding just five runs from his three three goals. They made up for it somewhat in the Surge overs scoring 29 including five boundaries, with Harper reaching his fourth BBL half. But they failed to complete the final two goals of the innings and Harvey did not bat.
Short circuit
D’Arcy Short’s consistency has been impressive over the last three BBL seasons but it has been anything but the start of this season. He made 72 against the Strikers but also has 0 and 2 scores in the first three games. It was cleared through the gate for just 1 with Josh Lalor trying to drive upside down off the third ball of the innings. Jacks also followed his lead to the BBL. Lalor showed off his side-by-side football skills to the stumps he followed to leave Jacks very short while trying to steal one. The Hurricanes were in real trouble when 15-year-old Marsh brought out Afghan offender Noor Ahmad into the attack. He was badly beaten by Peter Handscomb and was unlucky not to pick up Ingram. He completely deceived South Africa with the wrong un, pushing him in front of his leg playing back in the emblem. The umpire felt like he was missing his leg, but ball tracking disagreed. However, if DRS had existed it would have survived as if it were a very generous umpire call.
McDermott magic
McDermott continued his remarkable form. From the moment he walked to the stage his footwork was sharp and his beat was pure. He looked in complete control and was the only Hurricane that Noor Ahmad consistently chose. He controlled the chase for the Bash Boost point and with the help of Ingram secured it with two more balls for the 10th over. McDermott then sculpted Lalor who was fighting a side issue. The 11th over cost 23 runs with two balls, two boundaries, and a raspberry six as McDermott raced to 50 off 33 balls. He finished off boundaries from Noor Ahmad and Nabi to maintain the required level and then exploded against Will Sutherland launching back-to-back balls at the back of the mountain at a deep midwicket. McDermott had enough runs to play with to reach the second generation of BBL but Tim David had other ideas breaking 21 not out of 12 to end the game with 14 balls remaining.
Alex Malcolm is a Melbourne-based freelance writer