Briggs: Canes to rebound
HURRICANES coach Salliann Briggs is refusing to write off her side’s WBBL05 hopes despite a winless run stretching to six matches and a midweek clash with their bogey side awaiting.
After Saturday’s last-ball heartache against the Melbourne Renegades — the third final-over loss this tournament — Hobart was crushed by eight wickets in the second meeting between the sides at Junction Oval yesterday.
And the team has little time to dwell on the heavy defeat with a showdown against an Ellyse Perry-led Sydney Sixers in Launceston on Wednesday.
The Hurricanes are yet to defeat the Sixers in the history of the women’s Big Bash.
Another top-order meltdown left Hobart clawing its way to 8-108 against the Renegades, who mowed down the target in the 16th over.
It leaves the side second last moving into the second half of the tournament and fighting for survival.
“We definitely have enough time, we have definitely made things hard for ourselves, there is no doubt there,” Briggs said.
“But the group is pretty good, they are working hard.
“I believe the girls will bounce back, we’ve got a big game in Launnie on Wednesday against the Sixers.
“We are still looking to get a win over them because I know we have never beaten them in the WBBL.
“We just need to back our abilities.”
HOBART’S top-order batting fragilities in the WBBL show no signs of abating after an all too familiar horror start saw the side crash to its heaviest defeat of this year’s tournament.
A day after going down to the Melbourne Renegades on the final ball of the match, the Hurricanes were handed an eight-wicket hiding to leave their finals aspirations in tatters. Captain Corinne Hall and English import Fran Wilson dug the team out of a hole on Saturday to help post a defendable total, but another flurry of early wickets was again the undoing yesterday.
Openers Erin Fazackerley and Meg Phillips both perished in the second over to leave Hobart 2-8, and when Nicola Carey (15) and Heather Knight (20) were dismissed in the space of four balls in the 10th over all the momentum was sucked out of the innings.
The Hurricanes only clawed their way to 8-108 via a 25-run ninth-wicket partnership from Maisy Gibson and Emily Smith, but the hosts had no trouble mowing down their target with more than four overs spare, courtesy of Danni Wyatt’s unbeaten 45 and 37 from Tammy Beaumont.
“Very disappointed from today, we were just out performed,” coach Salliann Briggs said. “All the other games have been easier to swallow because they have been tight and we’ve been right in it most of the time. Today was just a really poor performance.
“It was difficult when we lost two wickets early to Molly Strano who bowled well.”
Despite the constant toporder struggles, Briggs will back the players to respond, with a meeting against the Sydney Sixers — who Hobart has never defeated — looming on Wednesday at Invermay
Park in Launceston.
“It has been a bit disappointing with our openers, we have not really got the starts we have wanted and relying too much on our middle order to score the runs,” Briggs said.
“With the change we made [Phillips for Stefanie Daffara] we still have to back our decision and keep sticking with her.
“Obviously Faz has not come off as well as we wanted her to do either.”