CANED AGAIN
THE Cane Train has been derailed again — this time the WBBL Hobart Hurricanes losing to Sydney Thunder yesterday in Launceston.
THE Hurricanes women will wake up in a new year this morning with some serious soul searching to do after a nightmare start to the WBBL season.
Hobart crashed to a sixth straight defeat yesterday to the Sydney Thunder at UTas Stadium — a seventh in a row including last summer’s semi-final loss — to sit firmly in last place on the ladder.
The state’s WBBL and BBL teams are 0-8 combined in a woeful opening to the Twenty20 window.
While the Sydney Sixers climbed off the canvas after losing their first six games in WBBL|01 to reach the final, it is hard to imagine the Hurricanes pulling off a similar miracle without a glut of national talent in their ranks.
Coach Julia Price delivered on her promise after Saturday’s belting by making some big calls, dropping Indian recruit Veda Krishnamurthy and moving England’s Lauren Winfield down the order, with Stefanie Daffara opening the batting alongside Hayley Matthews.
Daffara made the most of her opportunity to top score with 30 and while it helped improve the batting powerplay, it made little difference to the outcome.
Hobart lost 5-10 in 17 balls to be rolled for a paltry 97, its third score this tournament under 100, as the visitors coasted to victory by eight wickets with five overs remaining.
The side is averaging just 109 runs in six innings and has lost 55 out of a possible 60 wickets, while Veronica Pyke is the only batter to be striking at better than a run a ball in the most glaring deficiency within the squad.
The Hurricanes lost arguably their three best batters from the past two tournaments, with Heather Knight unavailable because of injury management and Amy Satterthwaite (Melbourne Renegades) and Erin Burns (Sixers) moving on.
Satterthwaite has scored 148 runs at an average of 37 and strike rate of 124 this season, while aside from a duck against her former teammates in their first meeting Burns is flourishing with the defending champions in Sydney.
Captain Corinne Hall admitted the trio have left a gaping hole — both with their talent and experience.
“Amy and Heather, they are world-class names and allrounders, they open up a lot of spots in the team where you can pick a specialist batter or bowler extra,” Hall said.
“We definitely miss that allround ability in the top order. They were three of our top five batters from last year, obviously it is going to leave quite a hole, experience-wise as well as the dynamic style they play in.
“Perhaps that is a trap we have fallen into, we are trying to play a bit more like them rather than sticking to our own games.
“But we have complete faith in the team we have got — there are runs there, we just have to find them.”
Hall said the side had no choice but to dust itself off and look to kickstart 2018 in better fashion when it hosts Brisbane next weekend. “I think we are pretty happy to go into the new year now, we will look to start the competition afresh.”