Hurricane Ben hits

With the Hurricanes’ season on the line, Ben McDermott turned destroyer at Canberra’s Manuka Oval last night, clouting a breathtaking 96 to sink the Sydney Thunder

A SLASHING 96 from Ben McDermott steered the Hurricanes to a sixwicket win over the Sydney Thunder in Canberra last night, lifting Hobart to fourth place on the BBL ladder and putting them back in the hunt for the finals.

A MASTERCLASS of big hitting from Ben McDermott has left Sydney Thunder’s Big Bash season hanging by a thread.

Big Ben’s 96 from 56 balls at Manuka Oval on Monday night has turned the Big Bash season upside down.

Gutted to fall agonisingly short of a second century, the consolation for McDermott was that he led the Hurricanes to an emphatic six-wicket win to end their three match losing streak.

They are now back in the hunt for the playoffs while the Thunder’s season is on the rocks.

Top of the table just a couple of weeks ago, the Thunder are suddenly in danger of sliding down the ladder after losing four of their last five matches.

For a while they looked to have had the measure of the Hurricanes before McDermott blew them away with an astonishing display of power hitting that featured eight fours and five sixes.

His first six — off a 146km/h delivery from Nathan McAndrew — sailed right over the top of the Bob Hawke Stand and out of the ground and had to be replaced.

“I got it pretty nicely,” McDermott said. “It just came out of the middle, it was lucky. It was just nice to get the win.”

McDermott was well supported by Dawid Malan, who added a valuable 42.

The Thunder got off to a great start with Usman Khawaja (27) and Alex Hales (29) scoring at 10 an over through the first power surge before Scott Boland (4-41) put the brakes on Sydney’s scoring with three wickets in his second over. The lanky paceman went for 14 in his first over but Boland got his revenge when Nathan Ellis juggled a catch to get rid of the English import.

The Thunder slumped to 3-66 before skipper Callum Ferguson and wicketkeeper Sam Billings steadied the innings with a 68-run stand.