Big Bash League: Hobart Hurricanes get first win over Sydney Thunder as D'Arcy Short almost tons up
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D'Arcy Short fell agonisingly short of a century but did enough to lift the Hobart Hurricanes off the bottom of the BBL ladder in a nine-run win over the Sydney Thunder.
Short hammered 97 off 63 balls as the previously winless Hurricanes posted 3-189 at Sydney Showgrounds on Monday.
The Thunder were on track a few times in their run-chase, with Englishman Jos Buttler slamming a classy 81 off 43 balls.
However, the home side collapsed after Shane Watson (36) was dismissed in the 15th over with the score at 2-125.
The Thunder lost 6-42 after the skipper was caught at long-on.
When Buttler was run out by wicketkeeper Matthew Wade on the first ball of the final over, it signalled the end of the Thunder's run chase and they finished at 8-180.
Buttler's innings was highlighted by a daring ramp shot which cleared the fine leg boundary off Tymal Mills.
He was also given a second life when dropped by Jofra Archer on 40.
Kurtis Patterson (36 off 26) helped get the Thunder off to a flyer until he was run out by Short at the non-striker's end.
When Buttler hit a shot back down the pitch, Short managed to get a finger to the ball before it rebounded onto the stumps, catching Patterson out of his crease.
Watson cemented his spot as the competition's highest run scorer with a belligerent innings.
Not only did the triumph lift the Hurricanes above the Sydney Sixers and Melbourne Stars, it was a sharp turnaround after they were beaten by 57 runs by the Thunder in Launceston just two days earlier.
Short's innings came to an end on the second last ball as he tried to slog Watson to the boundary to bring up triple figures, but was caught at deep mid-wicket by Chris Green.
Short smashed four sixes and nine fours as he and Ben McDermott (49 off 25) put the Hurricanes on track for victory.
AAP
Topics: twenty20, cricket, sport, sydney-2000, nsw, australia, hobart-7000, tas
