Time for big guns to sizzle
HURRICANES coach Julia Price has put the acid on her three imports as Hobart looks to break its WBBL duck.
The Hurricanes are winless from four games going into today’s match against the Sydney Thunder (three wins from four games) with the three imports — Hayley Matthews, Veda Krishnamurthy and Lauren Winfield — yet to fire a shot in anger.
Matthews is averaging 13.8 runs with the bat, Krishnamurthy 14 and Winfield just 10.3 for the season and all three are scoring at less than a run a ball.
“Absolutely the pressure grows on them,” Price said.
“That is the make or break in this sort of format when you get internationals into the team, they’ve got that pressure on them constantly.
“It is a good test of their character and how they get through it.
“They are obviously very aware we’ve got them over here to do a job and at the moment it hasn’t been happening.
“They are enjoying their time here, but if they want to continue to enjoy their time here they have to perform, no different to any of the locals.
“They are very aware of that, but I think it is how they are going to deal with it and they have all been very positive so far and the rest of the group has been supporting them really well.
“I’m still very confident they will come good soon.”
It will be no easy task for the Hurricanes with the Thunder boasting Australian players Rachael Haynes and former national skipper Alex Blackwell.
But in the home side’s favour is a perfect WBBL record at Launceston’s University of Tasmania Stadium.
Price said despite the slow start for the two-time WBBL semi-finalists, a top-four finish was still in her plans.
“You look at the [Sydney] Sixers a few years ago and they were 0-7 and made the finals,” she said.
“Generally seven wins, half the comp, is what you have to aim for to get into finals so we’ve still got three games up our sleeve, but hopefully we won’t leave it that tight as the Sixers did.
“It would be nice to take a bit of pressure off ourselves and get the win over the weekend, but we’ll play it by ear.”
The Hurricanes’ first game is at 2.20pm today before the men’s match, and they will take the Thunder on again in Launceston tomorrow starting at 11am.