Hurricanes’ sin is failing against 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 57run rout.
The two sides square off again at the Sydney Showground Stadium – a venue that 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) situation where they can make a matchwinning performance that they follow through.
“I think some indecision at certain times in the (batting) innings (was the difference). We made mistakes in our thinking, most importantly, which really cost us wickets early. And then we were always on the back foot.
“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 face an almost must-win match if they are to harbour any thoughts of featuring in the finals. However while he might be edging closer to the panic button, Kirsten is not yet ready to smash the glass. There are 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, we are aware of that.
“It is early days in the tournament and if you do get some momentum and build confidence within your group you can go on and win three, four games in a row.
“We still hold confidence in that and it is up to us to pull together as a group.”
WE HAVE SOME SKILL WITHIN THE GROUP AND HAVE SOME EXPERIENCED PLAYERS AND WE NEED TO TURN ANY CHALLENGE INTO AN OPPORTUNITY
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