Image courtesy of: ABC

Dunk smashed 96 runs off 54 balls

The Hobart Hurricanes blew away the Sydney Thunder by 73 runs at the Bellerive Oval behind opening batsman Ben Dunk’s magnificent knock of 96.

Dunk was well supported by Ben Laughlin and Cameron Boyce, both of whom took three wickets apiece.

Hurricanes captain Tim Paine won the toss and elected to bat first.

His decision to do so did not work out so well as Paine was caught by Daniel Hughes at deep midwicket off the bowling of Ajantha Mendis for 14.

Dunk and Travis Birt made up for the early loss of Paine with a brilliant 71-run partnership, during which Dunk brought up his half-century, before Birt was caught by Mendis at point off the bowling of Gurinder Sandhu for 22.

Dunk ended up making 96 off 54 balls, which included eight boundaries and five sixes, before he was caught by Usman Khawaja at midwicket off the bowling of Sandhu.

The Hurricanes ended up reaching 167/5 at the end of the 20 overs thanks to a quickfire 15 from Aiden Blizzard and 12 from Shoaib Malik.

Sandhu was the pick of the bowlers with three wickets, while Mendis and Andrew Tye chipped in with one wicket apiece.

Chasing a tough target of 168 to win, the Thunder got off to a horrible start as their top three batsmen were back in the pavilion with only 32 runs on the board.

Khawaja managed to make 28 runs off 30 balls, which included four boundaries, before he was caught by Ben Hilfenhaus off the bowling of Laughlin.

Following Khawaja’s dismissal, Laughlin and Boyce absolutely ripped through the Thunders’ middle and lower order with relative ease.

The Thunder were eventually put out of their misery in the 17th over when they were bowled out for a disappointing 94.

Laughlin and Boyce were the most successful bowlers with three wickets apiece, while Malik picked up two and Hilfenhaus snapped up one.