Short, Meredith fireworks help Hobart stay unbeaten

The match in a tweet: Short and Meredith play match-winnings hands but Hurricanes get almighty scare from record last-wicket stand

The scores: Hobart Hurricanes 7-174 (Short 72, Jacks 34; Agar 2-28) defeated Adelaide Strikers 9-163 (Worrall 62*, Briggs 35*, Renshaw 33; Meredith 2-30, Botha 2-20) by 11 runs.

The scare: What begun as some fanciful tail-end slogging turned into a record last-wicket partnership that gave the Hobart Hurricanes an almighty scare.

No.8 Daniel Worrall and No.11 Danny Briggs came together with the score at 9-102 and the Adelaide Strikers needing 73 off 34 deliveries, which seemed an impossible target.

But Worrall surged to a remarkable 28-ball half-century (more on that below) as he doubled his BBL career run tally, while Danny Briggs played a series of remarkable strokes unbefitting of his spot at No.11 to see the unlikely duo drag the Strikers to the brink of an extraordinary win.

Briggs, who has a first-class century to his name in English county cricket, reverse swept D'Arcy Short twice in a row and then hit him for six (the left-hander's second) to leave them needing just 25 from the final two overs.

Death bowlers Nathan Elllis and Scott Boland held their nerves to ensure a nine-run win but not before they had made the Hurricanes seriously sweat and Worrall and Briggs had hit 61 unbeaten runs – the highest 10th wicket stand in BBL history.

The hero: After a rare duck to begin BBL10, D'Arcy Short resumed normal transmission with a superb 72 off 48 balls that fired the Hurricanes to a match-winning 5-174.

The left-hander got a life on 23 and made the Strikers pay; having cruised in hitting just 38 off his first 40 deliveries, he then exploded by hitting 6 6 4 6 2 4 and 6 (more on his onslaught against Rashid Khan below) before being dismissed by Wes Agar in the first over of the Power Surge.

It was a classic Short innings and even though he would have craved an even bigger tally, his fast finish kick-started the Canes' lower-order to see them hit 79 from their final seven overs, while his 63-run opening stand with import Will Jacks suggests the pair could be a handful this summer.

The rollercoaster: It was an incredible Adelaide Strikers debut for Daniel Worrall, who managed to bowl two successful Powerplay overs, put down a vital catch off Short, get removed from the bowling attack and make a career-high T20 score that nearly led his side to an extraordinary victory.

Traded from the Melbourne Stars over the off-season, Worrall conceded just nine runs from his opening two overs with the field up, but was soon cursing himself when he put down a straightforward chance at fine-leg off Short with the star batter on 23.

That proved a very costly miss and, after grabbing a maiden wicket in blue when he bowled Mac Wright for one, there was more pain in his final over. Aiming for the blockhole, Worrall missed his mark with a waist-high full toss, which resulted in a free-hit that Tim David hit for six.

What should have been his final ball was another over-waist ball that didn't bounce, meaning umpires banned him from the attack for dangerous bowling.

His batting innings was even more entertaining. In during the ninth over after the Strikers had lost six wickets before passing fifty, Worrall smashed a six from his fourth ball to put the Adelaide within striking distance of the Bash Boost point. With three required from the following delivery – the last of the 10th over – he could only manage a single.

He did not give up there though, smashing another couple of sixes as well as seven fours in an unlikely cameo that doubled his career BBL run tally and set a new last-wicket partnership record.

The support cast: One of the quickest bowlers in the BBL, Riley Meredith sent down four overs of hostile fast bowling and was integral in the Strikers stumbling to 6-49, effectively killing the game before the halfway point of their chase.

The speedster didn't take long to strike, trapping Jono Wells plumb lbw for a golden duck with his second ball, before sending a 152kph snorter past the helmet of his replacement, Ryan Gibson.

He then pulled off a clever bit of soccer skills to get his side another wicket in his next over; Renshaw had set off for a drop-and-run quick single, but Meredith beat Gibson down the wicket and side-footed the ball into the stumps to catch him short.

Rashid Khan skied another rapid Meredith bouncer off the very next ball that all but ensured a Hurricanes victory.

The battle: D'Arcy Short versus Rashid Khan was rightly billed as the contest to watch in this match and the two BBL stars did not disappoint in providing some box-office entertainment.

Some teams in the past have simply looked to negate Rashid's wicket-taking prowess by just nudging him around for his four overs. Short took the opposite approach, targeting the star leg-spinner when he came on for his third over.

After Colin Ingram put him on strike, Short cracked 24 runs from the remaining five deliveries against Rashid as he slog-swept him for three sixes.

While Rashid still contributed with the key wicket of Peter Handscomb and a terrific boundary-line catch, the 38 runs he conceded are more than the Strikers are accustomed to and went some way to pushing the Hurricanes to their insurmountable total.

The catch: Rashid might have had an expensive afternoon with the ball, but the Afghan spin wizard was brilliant in the field as he kept his balance in calm fashion with this boundary-line effort to see the back of Colin Ingram.

The consolation act: Matthew Renshaw had been poached from the Brisbane Heat following a breakout BBL season last summer, and the left-hander's 33 would have provided some encouragement to the Adelaide Strikers that they have recruited well.

Renshaw was on a hiding to nothing as he did his best to keep the scoring rate up while wickets tumbled all around him, hitting a pair of sixes before he too joined the procession to leave the visitors 7-78.

The ski goggles: In his first BBL game as captain, Peter Siddle also debuted some extravagant eyewear in addition to the bleach blonde hair he proudly had on display as he took to the field sans cap.

The next stop: In an odd quirk of the draw, these two teams play each other again in two days' time. Tuesday evening's game will be the first for this summer at Launceston's UTAS Stadium.

Adelaide Strikers XI: Phil Salt, Jake Weatherald, Matt Renshaw, Harry Nielsen (wk), Jon Wells, Ryan Gibson, Rashid Khan, Danny Briggs, Peter Siddle (c), Daniel Worrall, Wes Agar.

Hobart Hurricanes XI: D'Arcy Short, Will Jacks, Colin Ingram, Peter Handscomb (c) (wk), Mac Wright, Tim David, James Faulkner, Johan Botha, Nathan Ellis, Scott Boland, Riley Meredith.