Short and very sweet way to win

TALISMAN D’Arcy Short delivered when the Hurricanes desperately needed him most to prove he is no Big Bash onehit wonder.

Having burst onto the BBL scene last season with a scintillating half century on debut and another later in the tournament, Short knew the attention would be on him this campaign.

In the first two games he had threatened without taking the game by the scruff of the neck – 34 off 19 balls against the Melbourne Renegades and 16 from 10 on Saturday night against the Sydney Thunder, before finally cashing in last night at Spotless Stadium.

With Hobart sent in to bat – and the capitulation three days earlier fresh in mind – the visitors were screaming out for an innings of note in the rematch.

Short duly provided with a brilliant 97 from just 63 deliveries, changing gears as the overs progressed before falling agonisingly short of a well deserved Twenty20 century.

He made a cautious start with Alex Doolan, putting on 26 in the first four overs before Gurinder Sandhu produced a wicket maiden to remove Doolan and put Hobart on the back foot.

However the elevation of the experienced Matthew Wade (27) to No. 3 ensured a calmness about the situation rather than the frantic panic which set in at UTAS Stadium as wickets tumbled in the run chase.

The pair both cleared the fence in the ninth over to garner some momentum, before Short reached his half century from 37 balls.

From there he exploded, dispatching Shane Watson for 23 runs in the 13th over, launching a six deep over midwicket, a pair of superbly timed lofted cover drives and a clever ramp over third man to a short ball. Wade’s dismissal briefly slowed the run rate, but once the only Hurricane to score a BBL century Ben McDermott (49 not out from 25 balls) found his range the runs flowed freely.

“I have put a bit more pressure on myself and a bit more emphasis on my wicket, trying to bat longer and deeper into the 20 overs,” Short said.

“Finally nice to go through with it, it was good to get going.

“They started off quite well with the ball, hit their areas nicely and we tried to do what we could to get going. The last five overs I was trying to swing too hard and kept swinging myself off my feet – these things happen,” he said of missing out on the century.