Short eager to go back to country
HE is one of the Hobart Hurricanes’ favourite sons, but it will be a special homecoming for D’Arcy Short in Alice Springs today.
And the opportunity to showcase his indigenous heritage on home soil is not lost on Short as the Big Bash star embraces Hobart’s opening game of the tournament.
The Hurricanes will wear specially designed shirts for their clash against the Sydney Sixers in Alice Springs.
Born in Katherine, Short hails from the Mitakoodi people of north-western Queensland.
“It’s definitely going to be enjoyable to be back playing in what is sort of my home state,” said Short, who will have his parents, aunties and cousins making the trip to the Alice.
“It is always a proud moment to represent not only my tribe but other people’s tribes.”
HURRICANES coach Adam Griffith will go with a “gut feel” when it comes to the decision on who will partner D’Arcy Short for the team’s opening Big Bash match of the tournament.
Selectors have all but settled on their line-up for the clash against the Sydney Sixers in Alice Springs, but will keep it under wraps until the toss.
Scorching 42C temperatures await the two sides in the red centre in the home fixture Cricket Tasmania sold to its NT counterparts, with Hobart hoping the shift was worth the financial windfall to kickstart its tournament on a winning note.
A selection dilemma awaits at the top of the order, with Mac Wright and Caleb Jewell jostling to join Short as Matthew Wade’s replacement.
The only remaining decision appears whether the Canes will unleash another pace option or select spinner Clive Rose to partner Afghan whiz Qais Ahmad.
“Normally for us we talk about performance and we talk about rewarding performance, but both guys [Jewell and Wright] have done a fair bit over the last two or three months,” Griffith said.
“They’ve both made hundreds in the one-day comp, they both trained well, they have both done OK in the club practice games without one of them really grabbing hold of it.
“It will be more of a gut decision on which way we go in the morning.
“We are pretty settled and we don’t want to give too much away to the opposition, but we just have to make the decision whether we go with the extra spinner or the extra quick bowler.”
The Hurricanes trained yesterday morning and caught a glimpse of the Traeger Park pitch, with Griffith confident of a good surface. “It’s a bit hard to gauge the pace but there is decent grass coverage on it, it is not green it’s white but hopefully that will mean the pace will be up a little bit and it won’t slow down as the game goes on.”