George Bailey was named Man of the Match for his knock of 69
Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo
George Bailey walloped a 39-ball 69 as the Hobart Hurricanes defeated the Perth Scorchers by four wickets at the Perth Stadium.
Choosing to bowl first, the Hurricanes got their first breakthrough on the third ball of the match as Scorchers opener Cameron Bancroft was caught by Simon Milenko at point off the bowling of James Faulkner for a duck.
Faulkner struck again two balls later as Michael Klinger was trapped lbw for a golden duck.
Scorchers captain Ashton Turner became Faulkner’s third victim as he was clean bowled for one run.
With the Scorchers reeling at 7/3, Sam Whiteman and Hilton Cartwright came to the rescue with a 77-run partnership before Cartwright was caught behind off the bowling of D’Arcy Short for 29.
The Scorchers continued to lose wickets at regular intervals once Cartwright was gone, including Whiteman, who smashed a 44-ball 68, which included five boundaries and four sixes.
With Nathan Coulter-Nile and Andrew Tye smashing 31 and 25 respectively towards the end of the innings, the Scorchers finished on a high and managed to score 177/9 off their 20 overs.
Faulkner was the pick of the bowlers with three wickets, while Riley Meredith and David Moody snapped up two wickets apiece. As for Short, he chipped in with one.
Chasing 178 to win, the Hurricanes lost captain Matthew Wade early on as he was dismissed by Coulter-Nile for eight runs.
Short, who opened the batting with Wade, only made 13 runs before he was caught by Will Bosisto at cover off the bowling of Tye.
Caleb Jewell managed to score a 20-ball 32 before he was caught by Cartwright at square leg off the bowling of Aaron Hardie.
Ben McDermott mustered 16 runs before he was stumped by Bancroft off the bowling of Usman Qadir.
Milenko fell shortly after, but Bailey and Faulkner steadied things with a 57-run partnership, during which Bailey brought up his half-century.
Bailey ended up making a 39-ball 69, which included six boundaries and three sixes, before he was caught behind off the bowling of Tye.
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Despite going into the final over needing 16 runs to win, Faulkner finished things off in the first three balls as he smashed a six, four and another six.
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Faulkner concluded the match unbeaten on a 20-ball 28, which included a boundary and two sixes.
Tye and Hardie took two wickets apiece, while Coulter-Nile and Qadir claimed one wicket each.
Bailey was named Man of the Match.