After years of disappointments, Hobart are on a four-game winning streak with a chance to go to the top of BBL|14 on Wednesday
Hurricanes 'hungry' to make up for lost time after fast start
A "hunger" to make amends for the disappointment of previous seasons is driving the Hobart Hurricanes to capitalise on their hot start to KFC BBL|14.
One of two clubs yet to lift the men's or women's Big Bash League trophy, the Hurricanes have won their past four matches since being rolled for 74 in their BBL|14 season opener against Melbourne Renegades in Geelong.
Currently sitting third with a 4-1 record, Nathan Ellis' side can go to the top of the standings on Wednesday night with a win over the Thunder in Sydney.
The Hurricanes have finished one spot out of the finals in each of the past two seasons (fifth in BBL|13 and sixth in BBL|12 when it was a top five), where contrastingly to the current campaign, they lost three of their opening five games and left their run too late.
Those disappointments have left a sour taste among Hobart's senior core, who along with many external commentators, have felt they've had the list to go all the way.
The Hurricanes have kept a relatively similar local squad with 11 of 15 players featuring in each of the past three seasons, and English recruit Chris Jordan returning for a second straight year.
"It's come out of a bit of hunger from our lacklustre-ness over the last few seasons," said Tim David on Fox Cricket, after bludgeoning 62 not out from 28 against Adelaide Strikers on Sunday to take their winning streak to four games.
"There's a senior group of players (and) we've been here for a while now, we've had the same list, and we've not been playing our best.
"We've (got) some great leadership from our coaches, from our management, and also from Nathan – you probably saw him (on Sunday), he was cramping because he'd been running around like a madman after being sick.
"It's really thrilling to be able to play so well this early in the season.
"But we're five games in. It's a 10-match season plus finals, so we're really hungry to have some success and that's not guaranteed, so we've got to keep it going."
Hurricanes squad v Thunder: Nathan Ellis (c), Nikhil Chaudhary, Tim David, Paddy Dooley, Peter Hatzoglou, Shai Hope (West Indies), Chris Jordan (England), Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, Mitch Owen, Waqar Salamkheil (Afghanistan), Billy Stanlake, Matthew Wade, Charlie Wakim
In: Paddy Dooley. Out: Caleb Jewell
Perhaps the biggest difference so far this summer compared to the two previous has been an even spread of contributors across the Hurricanes squad, especially from their overseas recruits.
Last season, draft pick Sam Hain was dropped towards the end of campaign and Corey Anderson's batting strike rate was less than a run-a-ball and he only bowled 8.3 overs for the tournament.
A year earlier Pakistan recruits Asif Ali and Faheem Ashraf also struggled for impact, with Ali finishing a 10-match stint with a batting average of 9.87.
This season however, Afghanistan spinner Waqar Salamkheil is currently their joint leading wicket-taker with six and star West Indies batter Shai Hope provided crucial knocks in their first two wins.
Jordan has also been excellent again with bat and ball and like Salamkheil has six wickets this season, complementing their star-studded local pace attack of Ellis, Riley Meredith and Billy Stanlake.
Five batters are also averaging more than 30 in BBL|14 so far compared to only two in each of the past two seasons.
It's meant David, batting at No.6, has faced just 52 balls in the first half of the season, with more than half of those in their most recent match.
"Batting down the order, especially in this team with how we've been playing so far this season, sometimes I might not get a lot of chances. So, when the team needed me, I was just stoked to be able to step up," he said.
Ellis admits he was nervous for how their season would pan out when they were thrashed in inside 10 overs in their first game of BBL|14. He praised the group for being able to immediately put it behind them and bounce back with four wins in a row.
"Obviously, it didn't click game one, we lost the toss on a tough wicket, and you start to think the worst is coming from there," he told cricket.com.au.
"But I was really big on us leaving that there.
"It goes to show the environment and the culture we've created to just trust and have faith in our abilities.
"The core group of leaders, we've been big on trying to drive a really enjoyable and fun culture while also getting the best out of ourselves and trying to enjoy it while we do it.
"I can't compliment the leadership group in Riley (Meredith), Ben (McDermott), Tim (David) and 'Wadey' (Matthew Wade) enough to be honest, they've been unbelievable this year and it's no coincidence that some of our best cricket has been on show."
With five games remaining – the most of any team – another two wins should be enough to see the Hurricanes safely entrenched inside the top four. If they win more, they'll be challenging for top spot and the added benefit of hosting the Qualifier where the winner earns direct passage to and hosting rights of the BBL|14 Final.
But they'll have to do it without Hope and Salamkheil in their final four games as the pair depart the Hurricanes to play in the UAE's T20 franchise tournament.
KFC BBL|14 standings
| Team | M | W | L | T | N/R | NRR | Ded. | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1
SIX
|
6 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.228 | 0 | 9 |
|
2
THU
|
6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.167 | 0 | 8 |
|
3
HUR
|
5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | -0.154 | 0 | 8 |
|
4
HEA
|
7 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | -0.518 | 0 | 7 |
|
5
SCO
|
7 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.624 | 0 | 6 |
|
6
REN
|
7 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.392 | 0 | 6 |
|
7
STR
|
7 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | -0.299 | 0 | 4 |
|
8
STA
|
7 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | -0.531 | 0 | 4 |
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
PTS: Total points