Hurricanes coach confident of keeping big-hitter David

Hobart Hurricanes coach Jeff Vaughan is confident the club will be able to keep star batter Tim David who is set to become one of the highest profile free agents following the KFC BBL|14 Final.

David is out of contract at the Hurricanes at the end of the season and is certain to draw attention from rival clubs during a 10-day Player Movement Window that begins next Tuesday.

Melbourne Stars are believed to one of the clubs interested in snapping up 28-year-old big-hitter, but they'll face fierce competition to lure him out of Hobart who are bullish that David will re-sign.

Clubs can have up to 12 players on their list for BBL|15 at the end of the Player Movement Window on February 6 but can only sign or trade players from other teams during the 10-day period, meaning Hobart will have to wait until after the contracting embargo lifts in March if they are to re-sign him.

"I just know Tim loves Tasmania," Vaughan said ahead of the BBL|14 Final, which the Hurricanes will host on Monday night.

"He's very grateful for his opportunity and to play for the Hurricanes – he shared that we were his first professional franchise (and) he performs so well with us.

"He loves being down here for six weeks every Christmas time; loves the people and I'm really confident that he'll continue his connection with the people of Tasmania."

After playing 12 games with the Scorchers as a replacement player from 2018-20, Perth native David burst onto the scene at the Hurricanes in BBL|10 before going on to take the global T20 circuit by storm.

No Australian man has scored more runs than David's 4459 since his debut for the Hurricanes in December 2020 and he's done so a rapid pace with a strike rate of better than 160 across 238 matches.

The right-hander is currently enjoying his best season with Hobart with both his average (42.33) and strike rate (177.62) the highest they have been in a single campaign during his five years at the club.

He leads the competition in Power Surge runs this season (114 striking at 285) and has got the Hurricanes over the line in run chases against the Strikers, Thunder and Renegades.

"I just know that Tim is very connected to this organisation but most importantly to our playing cohort," Vaughan said.

"They're great mates, they're connecting very well at the moment and having some success and hopefully we continue to hold the group together, which will give us a chance to have sustained success."

Vaughan said that while the Hurricanes had "always felt" over recent seasons they'd had a good enough list to win the BBL title, the connection among the playing group had been the difference in their run to their first final since losing the BBL|07 decider to Adelaide Strikers.

Captain Nathan Ellis said during the season that David had also been an "unbelievable" confidant as part of a wider Hurricanes leadership group that had helped drive a culture that was getting the best out their players.

"We've done a lot of work on our connection and our leadership group have been fantastic," Vaughan said.

"We rely on a lot of the collective knowledge within our group. We have players and staff who coach in this format the best part of 12 months of the year in different parts of the world.

"To bring all of that knowledge together and share that among the group has been incredibly powerful.

"We've had lots of contributors (and) while we've had some incredibly impressive individual performances, we've not solely been reliant on one player in matches.

"We feel as though we walk off after our good performances and we've got seven, eight, nine and (up to) 11 players who have done something in the match."

The Hurricanes have locked away the core of their squad long-term with allrounder Nikhil Chaudhary joining Ellis, Riley Meredith, Mitch Owen and Ben McDermott in signing on until at least the end of BBL|17.

Hobart will host their first BBL decider on Monday against the winner of tonight's all-Syndey Challenger between the Sixers and Thunder.

David was spotted pumping up the 13,000-strong Hobart crowd in the final over of last Tuesday's win over the Sixers to progress to the BBL|14 Final and said during the season their home fans and conditions had been crucial to their success.

"Our home support … everyone's enjoying it so far, all of our fans watching us play well this season and we're getting bigger turnouts each game so that's been awesome to be part of," David said.

"We're good in our home ground; that home ground advantage is a big thing, particularly for us at the Hurricanes.

"We know how to play here and obviously then less travel, so it's a big advantage to have home finals and that's something we're certainly aware of."

The initial tickets allocation for Monday's BBL|14 Final at Ninja Stadium were exhausted within 30 minutes of going on sale to the public, with a final limited release to go on sale here at 10am on Saturday.

Hobart Hurricanes list for BBL|15: Iain Carlisle (contracted until BBL|15), Nikhil Chaudhary (BBL|17), Nathan Ellis (BBL|17), Caleb Jewell (BBL|15), Chris Jordan (BBL|15), Ben McDermott (BBL|17), Riley Meredith (BBL|17), Mitch Owen (BBL|17), Matthew Wade (BBL|15), Mac Wright (BBL|15)

 

Out of contract: Tim David, Paddy Dooley, Jake Doran, Peter Hatzoglou, Billy Stanlake, Charlie Wakim

KFC BBL|14 finals schedule

Qualifier: Hobart Hurricanes beat Sydney Sixers by 12 runs

Knockout: Sydney Thunder beat Melbourne Stars by 21 runs (DLS)

Challenger: Sydney Sixers v Sydney Thunder, SCG (Friday, January 24, 7.15pm AEDT)

Final: Hobart Hurricanes v winner of Challenger, Ninja Stadium (Monday, January 27, 7.15pm AEDT)