Barbados Tridents vs. Hobart Hurricanes, CLT20: Highlights, Scorecard and Report

Hobart Hurricanes (117/4) did what they had to do on Sunday, beating Barbados Tridents (113) by six wickets to book their spot in the Champions League Twenty20 semi-finals. 

Tridents came out to bat first and struggled tremendously during the opening overs, as Hobart's talented group of bowlers took full advantage of Mohali's bowling-friendly surface.

Dilshan Munaweera scored 18 runs from 16 balls and Jonathan Carter added a solid 42 from 34, but their teammates failed to keep up with the pace. According to Bleacher Report's Freddie Wilde, Hurricanes' bowling did what they did best:

Xavier Doherty led the charge with four wickets, surrendering 27 runs in four overs. Ben Hilfenhaus conceded just 14 in four, taking a wicket of his own.

BATSMEN		RUNS	BALLS	SR	4S	6S
BOWLER	O	R	W	ECON	DOTS
Dilshan Munaweera	c Aiden Blizzard b Ben Hilfenhaus	18	16	112.50	4	0
Neil McKenzie	c Tim Paine b Doug Bollinger	0	3	0.00	0	0
Raymon Reifer	c Tim Paine b Ben Hilfenhaus	6	10	60.00	1	0
Jonathan Carter	c Doug Bollinger b Xavier Doherty	42	34	123.52	3	2
James Franklin	b Xavier Doherty	12	13	92.30	2	0
Jason Holder	c Ben Laughlin b Xavier Doherty	5	10	50.00	0	0
Akeal Hosein	c Shoaib Malik b Doug Bollinger	12	10	120.00	1	1
Ashley Nurse	lbw Xavier Doherty	1	2	50.00	0	0
Kyle Mayers	NOT OUT	5	8	62.50	0	0
Rayad Emrit	run out (Travis Birt)	2	5	40.00	0	0
Ravi Rampaul	run out (Evan Gulbis)	5	7	71.42	0	0
EXTRAS	(w 4, lb 1)	5
TOTAL	(All out; 19.4 overs)	113
Ben Hilfenhaus	4	14	2	3.50	16
Doug Bollinger	4	27	2	6.75	13
Evan Gulbis	1	2	0	2.00	5
Shoaib Malik	3	20	0	6.66	8
Ben Laughlin	3.4	22	0	6.00	11
Xavier Doherty	4	27	4	6.75	9

Barbados' run rate stalled completely in the final overs, as the team's last four batsmen managed just 13 runs combined. A target of 114 looked like an easy one, even on Mohali's pitch.

Ben Dunk was dismissed with the fourth delivery he faced, failing to contribute a single run, but the duo of Tim Paine (18 from 20) and Aiden Blizzard (21 from 24) soon laid the foundation for the middle overs.

BATSMEN		RUNS	BALLS	SR	4S	6S
BOWLER	O	R	W	ECON	DOTS
Ben Dunk	c Neil McKenzie b Kyle Mayers	0	4	0.00	0	0
Tim Paine	lbw Akeal Hosein	18	20	90.00	3	0
Aiden Blizzard	c Neil McKenzie b Dilshan Munaweera	21	24	87.50	3	0
Shoaib Malik	NOT OUT	39	35	111.42	3	0
Travis Birt	b Akeal Hosein	9	11	81.81	1	0
Jonathan Wells	NOT OUT	23	17	135.29	1	1
EXTRAS	(nb 1, w 6)	7
TOTAL	(4 wickets; 18.2 overs)	117		TOTAL	(4 wickets; 18.2 overs)	117
Kyle Mayers	1	9	1	9.00	4
Ravi Rampaul	4	25	0	6.25	13
Ashley Nurse	3	16	0	5.33	10
Dilshan Munaweera	2	11	1	5.50	6
Akeal Hosein	4	25	2	6.25	10
Rayad Emrit	2.2	19	0	8.14	4
Jason Holder	2	12	0	6.00	3

Tridents' bowlers did a solid job of limiting Hobart's opportunities to find the boundary, but entering the middle overs, another Australian win appeared inevitable. Freddie Wilde didn't like that prospect from the event organisers' point of view:

And while Hobart remained on course to complete the chase throughout the middle overs, their batting output fell short of what the IPL sides have shown so far during the tournament. Wilde was a little worried:

Hobart's inability to find the boundary with any consistency soon became concerning. Shoaib Malik's solid play (39 from 35) kept the chase on pace, but it wasn't until Jonathan Wells' introduction and his big six in the 16th over that fans could breathe a sigh of relief.

Back-to-back fours from Malik in the 19th over gave the win to the Aussies, securing qualification for the CLT20 play-offs and eliminating the Tridents, Northern Districts and Cape Cobras in the process.

Akeal Hosein bowled four overs and surrendered just 25 runs with two wickets, but the target of 114 was just too small to defend for Tridents.

Malik told ESPN Cricinfo the pitch was very difficult to play on and someone had to step up for Hobart:

"One thing was in my mind that in this slow pitch, someone had to bat through. If they had taken those catches, things could have been different. But credit must go to our bowlers."

For video highlights, visit the event's official website by clicking here.

Hurricanes will have to wait on the final results in Group A to know which team they'll face in the semi-finals. Kolkata Knight Riders have already qualified and, barring a big win from Lahore Lions over Perth Scorchers, Chennai Super Kings will likely join their IPL colleagues in the play-offs.

Super Kings and Knight Riders have the advantage of regularly playing on the Indian pitches, and in Ashish Nehra and Sunil Narine, they are led by two of the best bowlers in all of T20 cricket. Hobart will need to significantly improve their scoring output to have any chance in the play-offs, because against the IPL's top sides, their bowling alone won't save them.

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