The Hobart Hurricanes beat Melbourne Stars on Christmas Eve after clinching a much-needed 24 run win.
Innings Story of Hobart Hurricanes
It was thanks to Ben McDermott’s elevation up in the batting order that became a vital point for the Hurricanes’ win.
He smashed 67 off 43 balls that took the team’s total to 180/6 in this clash.
He opened the innings with skipper Matthew Wade (39 from 27) after D’Arcy Short was moved to number 3.
Short, who has struggled at the top, also made an unconvincing 26 from 24 balls in which three boundaries were hit by him.
Innings Story of the Melbourne Stars
The Stars had a rocky start to their innings as they lost both Marcus Stoinis and Glenn Maxwell cheaply in their first eight overs.
They only managed 156/9 despite the last-minute heroics of English import Joe Clarke (54 from 40).
Hurricanes’ paceman and Man of the Match Nathan Ellis rattled the batting order of the Stars by taking 2-27 in his four overs and bowled some excellent overs at the death and taking the star wicket of Andre Russell (12 from 13) in the third-last over.
Russell earlier got a lifeline when the third umpire dismissed the catch taken by Short on the outfield as not out.
Another loss for the Hurricanes was when they have penalized 5 runs as Tim David failed to complete a run in the final over of his side’s innings.
He was just two meters short of the crease when he was running for the second run to retain strike.
In the first innings, McDermott and Wade put a brilliant 93 run opening stand but the skipper perished in the 10th over when Nathan Coulter-Nile took the wicket.
Coulter-Nile was impressive with the ball as he took 2-22 off his four, and the Hurricanes’ middle-order collapsed quickly.
This win put the Hurricanes in the third spot behind Perth Scorchers and Sydney Sixers. They have two wins out of five games and the same result is for the Melbourne Stars.
The loss puts the Stars in the seventh position but they are just ahead of the Renegades.
Melbourne Stars are all set to welcome back their star spinner Adam Zampa on Monday who was given rest to spend Christmas at home.
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