Set for Hurricane hurl at Thunder spin

THE Hurricanes will embrace the challenge of blunting the Thunder’s spin trio rather than fear it, despite conditions set to further favour the slow men in tonight’s BBL rematch.

Hobart had no answers for Sydney’s crafty duo of Arjun Nair (2-17) and Fawad Ahmed (2-14) in the clash at UTAS Stadium on Saturday night, while Chris Green also pitched in with two wickets in the 57-run rout.

The two sides square off again at the Sydney Showground Stadium — a venue which has traditionally assisted spinners in the Big Bash.

Hurricanes coach Gary Kirsten concedes his batsmen must have clearer plans and better execution if the side is to quickly turn around its dismal start to the campaign, but senses an opportunity and believes his players have the tools to combat what will be thrown at them.

“I think it will be a bit slower, smaller field, slower conditions, and we are going to have to adapt to those conditions,” Kirsten said.

“[Saturday’s showing was] concerning but for every tough situation there is an opportunity.

“There is always learning out of every loss, but we need to build some confidence within the unit. We certainly are not happy with that performance, I think we have some high expectations on how we want to play this year and we haven’t lived up to that. We just have to turn it around.”

The Hurricanes are anchored to the bottom of the BBL table with a woeful net run rate of -1.77 and are facing an almost must-win match if they are to harbour any thoughts of featuring in the finals. But while he might be edging closer to the panic button, Kirsten is not yet ready to smash the glass.

“There is as many questions with not enough answers but I think for us, we know we need momentum, we know we need to win a string of games.”