David intentionally grounded his bat two meters short of the crease during the first run while trying to run two
Hobart Hurricanes 6 for 180 (McDermott 67, Wade 39, Russell 3-48) beat Melbourne Stars 9 for 156 (Clarke 52, Rogers 3-29, Meredith 3-32) by 24 runs
A desperate Hurricanes rejigged their batting, with Ben McDermott promoted to open in place of struggling D’Arcy Short. And it did the trick, with big-hitting McDermott, who normally bats at No.4, getting Hurricanes off to a flyer with fellow opener Matthew Wade. He hit the first ball of the innings from Glenn Maxwell to the boundary en route to a 14-run opening over.
Such was the belligerence of his new opening partner that Wade was uncharacteristically outpaced, although he crossed 2000 BBL runs in the process. Their 93-run stand ended in the tenth over when Wade holed out to a fine catch by Hilton Cartwright as Hurricanes resisted the temptation to elevate David, with Short instead coming to the crease.
His form struggles, however, contributed to McDermott’s loss of momentum and eventual demise for 67. Short now seems like a mile off the dynamo who was once the BBL’s best batter as he crawled to 6 off his first ten balls. He briefly rediscovered his old touch when he blasted 14 off Andre Russell in the power surge but soon fell for 26.
Hurricanes then strangely brought in Peter Handscomb instead of David, who belatedly had a chance at the death and showcased his brute strength with a massive six off Russell in the penultimate over. David made a quick fire 12-ball 22, and was also involved in a rather comical controversy; however, Hurricanes might soon need to start using him far earlier.
Full report to follow…
Tristan Lavalette is a journalist based in Perth and writes on sports for the Guardian and mailerreport
Source: ESPN Crickinfo