Hobart Hurricanes vs. Northern Districts, CLT20: Scorecard and Report
Hobart Hurricanes scored a second straight victory in the Champions League Twenty20 with a convincing demolition of New Zealand's Northern Districts, winning by 86 runs in Raipur.
The Australian outfit were put in to bat first and found runs hard to come by initially, but Shoaib Malik's cameo of 45 from 22 balls and some acceleration from Aiden Blizzard, who posted 62, helped them post a strong 178-3 from their 20 overs.
In reply Ben Hilfenhaus bowled beautifully to pick up three top-order wickets and rip the heart out of the Knights' reply before it ever truly began.
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Scott Styris offered the only meaningful resistance, but his innings only prevented a hammering from being a complete annihilation.
With two wins from three, the Hurricanes will expect to progress if they beat Barbados Tridents in their final group game—but the Tridents and the Northern Districts too have their fate in their own hands for the moment.
| Batsmen | Runs | Balls | SR | 4s | 6s | |
| Ben Dunk | c Tim Southee b Scott Kuggeleijn | 12 | 17 | 70.58 | 1 | |
| Tim Paine | c Trent Boult b Ish Sodhi | 43 | 34 | 126.47 | 6 | |
| Aiden Blizzard | c Scott Styris b Tim Southee | 62 | 43 | 144.18 | 8 | |
| Shoaib Malik | NOT OUT | 45 | 22 | 204.54 | 5 | |
| Travis Birt | NOT OUT | 7 | 4 | 175.00 | 1 | |
| Extras | (w 3, b 1, lb 5) | 9 | ||||
| Bowler | O | R | W | Econ | Dots | |
| Trent Boult | 4 | 46 | 0 | 11.50 | 3 | |
| Tim Southee | 4 | 29 | 1 | 7.25 | 8 | |
| Scott Styris | 4 | 28 | 0 | 7.00 | 7 | |
| Scott Kuggeleijn | 2 | 22 | 1 | 11.00 | 4 | |
| Ish Sodhi | 4 | 31 | 1 | 7.75 | 8 | |
| Jono Boult | 2 | 16 | 0 | 8.00 | 4 |
The Knights were on a run of six straight victories after impressing in qualifying and were hoping to extract any early swing available with the new ball when they won the toss.
They succeeded to some degree—the first 50 runs for the Hurricanes came at fewer than a run a ball as scoring proved difficult.
But by only picking up the wicket of Ben Dunk, the New Zealanders left the way open for a counter-attack. Tim Paine did his best to keep the scoreboard ticking over with Blizzard struggling at first, but when the wicketkeeper was dismissed just after the halfway point of the innings for a valiant 43, Malik and Blizzard took control.
First Ish Sodhi's spin got the treatment, clubbed down the ground by Malik for six—then Styris' medium pace followed suit, this time flicked over midwicket.
Trent Boult, normally in control for club and country, found his last over pummelled for 21 runs.
Dew on the wicket affected the bowlers, but in truth they lost control—and Hilfenhaus soon proved it was possible to restrict the batsmen when he got his chance.
| Batsmen | Runs | Balls | SR | 4s | 6s |
| Anton Devcich | c Ben Laughlin b Joe Mennie | 2 | 8 | 25.00 | 0 |
| Kane Williamson | c Xavier Doherty b Ben Hilfenhaus | 3 | 8 | 37.50 | 0 |
| Daniel Flynn | b Ben Hilfenhaus | 0 | 1 | 0.00 | 0 |
| BJ Watling | lbw Ben Hilfenhaus | 9 | 14 | 64.28 | 1 |
| Daryl Mitchell | st Tim Paine b Xavier Doherty | 9 | 20 | 45.00 | 0 |
| Scott Styris | c Jonathan Wells b Joe Mennie | 37 | 27 | 137.03 | 4 |
| Scott Kuggeleijn | b Xavier Doherty | 2 | 6 | 33.33 | 0 |
| Tim Southee | c Ben Hilfenhaus b Doug Bollinger | 21 | 12 | 175.00 | 1 |
| Jono Boult | c Jonathan Wells b Doug Bollinger | 1 | 2 | 50.00 | 0 |
| Ish Sodhi | c Travis Birt b Doug Bollinger | 0 | 2 | 0.00 | 0 |
| Trent Boult | NOT OUT | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 |
| Extras | (w 4, lb 4) | 8 | |||
| Bowler | O | R | W | Econ | Dots |
| Ben Hilfenhaus | 4 | 14 | 3 | 3.50 | 15 |
| Joe Mennie | 3 | 10 | 2 | 3.33 | 13 |
| Xavier Doherty | 4 | 17 | 2 | 4.25 | 13 |
| Doug Bollinger | 2.4 | 22 | 3 | 8.25 | 9 |
| Ben Laughlin | 3 | 25 | 0 | 8.33 | 4 |
First Joe Mennie struck in the second over, removing Anton Devcich courtesy of a sensational catch by Ben Laughlin at point.
""@HashTagCricket: #RIDICUCATCH: @Benlaughlin55 takes a stunner #CLT20 #HOBvsNK https://t.co/w8eP61vFN7" #NCC #Loffers
— Netherfield CC (@NetherfieldCC) September 23, 2014"
Thereafter Hilfenhaus bagged two in two balls—the key scalps of Kane Williamson and skipper Daniel Flynn.
He bowled out for figures of 4-0-14-3, adding the wicket of BJ Watling to leave the chase in tatters at 20-4 after seven overs.
Styris batted well, but he had nothing to work with—37 from 27 balls looked lonely but for a couple of lusty blows from Tim Southee.
The defeat was inevitable—the only question was by how much. With Doug Bollinger cleaning up the tail, the answer was 86 runs, with 20 balls of the 120 unused.
If momentum proves telling, the Hurricanes look strong contenders for the semi-finals.
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