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Tahir, Shamsi to play for Guyana Amazon Warriors; Kuggeleijn returns to St Lucia Kings

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Jul-2022Barbados Royals have signed up South African heavyweights Quinton de Kock and David Miller for the upcoming season of the CPL.It will be de Kock’s maiden appearance at the CPL, while for Miller, Royals will be his third franchise in the competition after stints with Jamaica Tallawahs and St Lucia Kings [earlier St Lucia Zouks]. Royals also have in their line-up Mujeeb Ur Rahman, the Afghanistan spinner who has previously played with Jamaica Tallawahs, as well as Pakistani batter Azam Khan and South African allrounder Corbin Bosch. They still have five more spots to fill at the players’ draft tomorrow.Tallawahs, meanwhile, have roped in Mohammad Amir for the upcoming season. The Pakistan fast bowler had turned out for Royals last year, when he claimed 11 wickets at an average of 13.54. Sandeep Lamichhane, Imad Wasim, Chris Green and Migael Pretorius are the other four overseas signings by Tallawahs. All four players have represented the franchise in earlier editions.Guyana Amazon Warriors have added a rich South African flavour to their set-up. They have signed up Imran Tahir, the leading bowler for the franchise with 60 wickets from 43 outings for a fifth successive season. Additionally, they have also included wristspinner Tabraiz Shamsi, batter Colin Ingram and wicketkeeper Heinrich Klaasen for the upcoming season alongside Paul Stirling, the Ireland opener.Related

• CPL 2022 – Patriots, Knight Riders the teams to beat; new-look Royals hope for turnaround

• CPL 2022 draft: Shai Hope moves to Warriors; Rahkeem Cornwall joins Royals

• CPL 2022: Russell to join Pollard, Pooran, Narine at TKR

• Hasaranga, Theekshana, Brevis set for maiden CPL stints

• Daren Sammy appointed head coach of St Lucia Kings

St Lucia Kings have brought on board New Zealand’s Scott Kuggeleijn after releasing him last year. Kings are now left with just one more overseas spot left to fill, with last year’s captain Faf du Plessis, Tim David and David Wiese in their ranks as well.Kuggeleijn, who played for Kings in 2020, was the leading wicket-taker that season. He was, however, released by the franchise last season along with the Afghanistan pair of Mohammad Nabi and Najibullah Zadran.Kings’ other big acquisition is Johnson Charles, who had represented Barbados Royals in 2021, scoring 216 runs in ten games at a strike rate of 122. Charles came on board as a pre-draft signing.Among players from the islands, Roston Chase, Kesrick Williams, Alzarri Joseph, Mark Deyal and Jeavor Royal have been retained by the franchise. Kings have seven spots left to fill now, including the one for an overseas player, and those are expected to be announced soon.The notable omissions from last year’s squad are Rahkeem Cornwall, who was recently dropped from the list of CWI’s centrally contracted players, Wahab Riaz, Andre Fletcher – who has been signed by St Kitts & Nevis Patriots – and Keemo Paul, who has returned to Guyana Amazon Warriors.Kings finished runners-up, losing to Patriots in the final, last season. That made it back-to-back final appearances for them – they had lost to Trinbago Knight Riders in 2020 – after failing to make the title round in the first seven editions of the tournament.

They join the list of high-profile owners like Lancer Capital of Manchester United FC

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Mar-2022Capri Global, a non-banking financial company based in India, has bagged one of the six franchises in the UAE T20 league, which is scheduled to be launched later this year. The acquisition is Capri Global’s maiden entry into cricket and becomes the fourth franchise owner in the UAE T20 league, which is owned by the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB).The other three firms that have already bought franchise rights comprise: Lancer Capital, the owners of Manchester United Football Club, Reliance Strategic Business Ventures Limited, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited, the owners of Mumbai Indians and GMR Group, co-owners of Delhi Capitals.Capri Global might not be a familiar name in cricket, but the company has been trying hard in recent years to get a toe-hold in the lucrative franchise cricket league, and even raised the fourth-highest bid last year for the two new IPL teams.”Our foray into sports franchising allows Capri Global to leverage on the passion that Indian audience has for cricket,” Rajesh Sharma, managing director of Capri Global, said in a media release on Wednesday.The owners of Kolkata Knight Riders as well as the Sydney Sixers, one of the teams in the BBL, are understood to be the two other parties to have expressed interest in owning the two other franchises in the UAE T20 League. The six-team league, comprising 34 matches, was originally meant to be played in the February-March bracket, but the ECB remains confident it will host the inaugural edition of the league in 2022.ESPNcricinfo understands that one probable window would be in June, immediately after the IPL which is scheduled to end on May 29.

With tours by New Zealand and Zimbabwe A postponed, the board hopes the functioning of the High Performance unit will bridge the gap between the levels of cricket in Bangladesh

Mohammad Isam11-Aug-2017Training camps and tours for the High Performance unit are ensuring that Bangladesh’s fringe players stay fit in the absence of A-team cricket. Bangladesh A have been made to wait for cricket after visits from New Zealand and Zimbabwe A were postponed last month but Akram Khan, BCB’s cricket operations chairman, has said that Ireland A are likely to tour later this year.Currently, the senior men’s team are preparing for the series against Australia, while the HP unit is being run under new head coach Simon Helmot. The Under-19 squad have also begun training for the 2018 World Cup in New Zealand. The Bangladesh A team, however, have not played a series since the tour to Zimbabwe and South Africa in October 2015.Bangladesh head coach Chandika Hathurusingha has also highlighted the importance of A-team cricket for the country.”Since we haven’t been able to keep the Bangladesh A team active, we have instead ensured that our HP unit has been training properly and touring too,” Akram said. “They have toured Australia last month and will go to England next month to play against county second XIs. We were in talks with New Zealand and Zimbabwe for A team tours but they aren’t coming. Ireland A are supposed to come later this year.”The current HP squad includes eight international players. But some of the country’s top domestic performers over the last three seasons — Shahriar Nafees, Nasir Hossain, Tushar Imran – have been waiting for a higher standard of cricket to strengthen their push for spots in the senior team.Among the ten uncapped players who were in the Bangladesh A team during tours to India, Zimbabwe and South Africa in 2015, five have made their international debuts including Mossadek Hossain, Nurul Hasan and Kamrul Islam Rabbi. Players like Mustafizur Rahman, Mehedi Hasan, Mosaddek and Taskin Ahmed have also made the senior side without much representative cricket after playing at the age-group level.Despite plenty performing players in domestic cricket, the selectors aim to pick those with the technical and mental ability to tackle the higher levels in the A side. In the previous two years in Bangladesh though, there has been a substantial gap.

Cameron White’s career-best 165 off 154 balls – among the ten highest scores in Australia’s 50-over domestic tournament – underpinned Victoria’s 111-run victory over Tasmania

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Oct-2017
ScorecardCameron White smashed 16 fours and six sixes during his 165•Getty Images

Cameron White’s career-best 165 off 154 balls – among the top ten highest scores in Australia’s 50-over domestic tournament – underpinned Victoria’s 111-run victory over Tasmania at the WACA. White’s 130-run stand for the first wicket with Marcus Harris, who contributed 75, set Victoria on the path to 325 for 6. Seamers Peter Siddle and Chris Tremain then claimed three wickets each to spark a Tasmania collapse and secure Victoria’s first win of the JLT Cup.After choosing to bat, Victoria raced to 124 for 0 in 22 overs. Andrew Fekete made the breakthrough in the next over when he had Harris caught by Charlie Wakim. White then combined with Travis Dean and added 87 in 14.1 overs, driving the side past 200. Dean and Will Pucovski fell in successive overs, but White went onto bring up his century off 120 balls. After reaching the landmark, he kicked into higher gear and smashed five sixes in six overs, before being dismissed off the penultimate ball of the innings. Fekete stood out with figures of 4 for 48 and was complemented by Jackson Bird who ended with 1 for 49. All the other Tasmania bowlers went at over six runs an over.In reply, Tasmania lost Ben Dunk and Alex Doolan to Siddle and fell to 21 for 2 at the start of the seventh over. Opener Ben McDermott (97) and captain George Bailey (52) then fashioned a recovery of sorts, adding 103 for the third wicket. However, from 124 for 2, Tasmania careened to 214 all out. McDermott and Bailey were the only batsmen to pass 20 in the chase. It was White who wrapped up the win when he bowled No. 11 Riley Meredith for 2.

Michael Lumb, the Nottinghamshire and England batsman, has been forced to retire with immediate effect because of an ankle injury.

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Jul-2017
Michael Lumb, the Nottinghamshire and England batsman, has been forced to retire with immediate effect because of an ankle injury.Lumb, who made a century on his ODI debut, against West Indies in Antigua in 2014, is one of only 11 England players to have won a global ICC trophy, following his vital role in the World T20 campaign in the Caribbean in 2010.Lumb’s opening partnership with Craig Kieswetter, who was also forced to retire early due to injury in 2014, provided the foundation of a triumphant campaign for Paul Collingwood’s squad, who beat Australia by seven wickets in the final in Barbados.Born in South Africa, Lumb began his career at Yorkshire, the county club of his father, Richard, and moved to Hampshire before relocating to Trent Bridge in 2012, where he helped Nottinghamshire to victory in the Yorkshire Bank 40 and Royal London One-Day Cup trophies in 2013 and 2017 respectively.Until his record was surpassed by his fellow opener, Alex Hales, in this year’s final at Lord’s, Lumb held the Nottinghamshire record score in List A cricket, 184 against Northamptonshire at Trent Bridge in 2016. His prowess as a hard-hitting opening batsman also earned him stints in the IPL with Rajasthan Royals and Deccan Chargers, and Australia’s Big Bash League with Sydney Sixers.”I have had the best time at Trent Bridge, in my view the most productive years of my career, and Nottinghamshire is the club I have most enjoyed playing for,” he said.”I’m extremely disappointed I’ve had to retire from cricket, particularly in the middle of the season, but I have to respect medical opinion.”I would like to thank all my team-mates, the coaching staff and everyone else at the club for making my stay at Nottinghamshire such a memorable one. Those sentiments also go to everybody at both Yorkshire and Hampshire, who have made my career so enjoyable.”Last, but by no means least, I couldn’t have achieved what I have without the total support of my wife Lizzie and all the rest of my family.”Nottinghamshire’s director of cricket, Mick Newell, said: “It’s very sad news for Michael. He’s a hugely talented batsman that has entertained cricket followers all over the world. He’s a great role model to others and a superb professional.””Michael is an immensely popular senior player in the dressing room and highly respected for what he has achieved during his career. We wish him every success and thank him for all he has contributed to the club.”In first-class cricket, Lumb amassed more than 11,000 runs in 210 matches, with his career-best 221 not out coming for Nottinghamshire against Derbyshire at Trent Bridge in 2013.Lumb’s domestic one-day career included more than 11,500 runs, including in excess of 6,500 in List A games and almost 5,000 in T20.His retirement is Nottinghamshire’s second significant injury setback in the space of a week, following the blow to the head that Luke Fletcher sustained while bowling in the T20 Blast at Edgbaston, which has resulted in him sitting out the rest of the season.

Wicketkeeper-batsman Sarfraz Ahmed will succeed the retired Misbah-ul-Haq as Pakistan’s Test captain

Danyal Rasool04-Jul-20173:59

Bazid: Sarfraz is first name on team sheet

As had been widely expected, Sarfraz Ahmed will become Pakistan’s 32nd Test captain. At a reception held at the prime minister’s residence in honour of Pakistan’s Champions Trophy victory, PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan announced he had offered the role to Sarfraz, who accepted it.Sarfraz will now lead Pakistan in all three formats. He took over the T20I captaincy after the 2016 World T20, when Shahid Afridi stepped down following Pakistan’s early exit, and became ODI captain when Azhar Ali resigned in February this year.
Tuesday’s announcement ends speculation over the identity of Misbah-ul-Haq’s successor as Test captain. Misbah, who retired at the end of Pakistan’s tour of West Indies in May, was Pakistan’s longest serving and most successful Test captain, leading them to 26 wins in 56 matches. And even though Sarfraz is unarguably Pakistan cricket’s most prized asset at the moment, Misbah’s will be a tough act to follow.This is also the first time in five years that Pakistan have had one man at the helm across formats; Misbah was the last man to lead all three sides, and he stepped down from the T20 leadership following the 2012 World Twenty20.
Sarfraz’s appointment had been expected ever since chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq expressed a desire to see one captain across all formats. And it became all but inevitable after the 30-year-old wicketkeeper batsman led Pakistan all the way to a stunning, against-the-odds triumph at the ICC Champions Trophy in June.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Sarfraz is also one of a handful of Pakistan players whose place in the starting XI is assured in all three formats. Even before he took over as Pakistan’s limited-overs captain, he had plenty of leadership experience, having led the Under-19 side to a memorable World Cup win in 2006. He has also been Quetta Gladiators’ captain in the Pakistan Super League since the tournament’s inception, and has led them to successive runners-up finishes.”It’s an honour to captain Pakistan in all three formats,” Sarfraz said at the reception. “Like we have done with ODI and T20 cricket recently, I would like us to improve our Test performances as well. I wish to thank Shahryar Khan for placing his trust in me, and we would like to ask everyone to put their trust in the Pakistan cricket team.”Sarfraz’s first Test assignment will be a ‘home’ series in the UAE against Sri Lanka, which starts on October 19 and will comprise three Tests, five ODIs and two T20Is.

India batter reflects on her 43-ball blitz on debut for Northern Superchargers, having suffered a lean patch recently in international cricket

Valkerie Baynes25-Jul-2021’It’s good to be back’ was Jemimah Rodrigues’ over-riding feeling upon delivering Northern Superchargers’ victory with an unbeaten 92 in their first match of the Hundred against Welsh Fire at Headingley.Rodrigues’ 43-ball knock contained a staggering 17 fours, struck to all areas of the ground, and one six. But, more importantly, it marked a welcome return to form for the India batter who had gone more than 18 months without an international fifty. It was a fallow patch that led to Rodrigues being overlooked for the last two of five ODIs against South Africa as well as the Test, first ODI and all three T20Is on India’s recent tour of England.”I wasn’t getting an opportunity to play,” Rodrigues said. “Then when I got that opportunity in the second ODI [against England], I put a lot of pressure on myself. I said, ‘I have to go out there, make the most of it and score runs’ and all these things.”I had to stay calm and play my game because I am good enough, that’s why I’m playing in the team. That was a slight shift that I got my mindset on, that I don’t need to put too much pressure on myself to go out and score or prove myself or make it big.”I just stuck to my game, kept things simple and played the best cricket I possibly knew. I was batting really well in the nets and that makes a lot of difference because I knew there was nothing wrong with my technique or anything it’s just going out there with a new mindset so I just worked from that.”Related

• Report: Rodrigues dazzles with 92* in Superchargers' emphatic win

Her two appearances against England leading up to this match yielded scores of just 8 and 4. But it was another innings on English soil that sprang to mind when she reflected on her latest outing for the Superchargers.Barely a year-and-and-a-half into her international career and at just 18 years of age, Rodrigues produced an unbeaten 112 off just 58 balls for Yorkshire Diamonds to defeat Southern Vipers in the now-defunct Kia Super League in 2019.”This time in was in a big stadium in front of a crowd and also coming back after a long time so this definitely did feel very special,” she said.”I know these girls, in 2019 they made me feel very comfortable. Coming back here, it really feels like coming home. I love batting in England, the wickets are more batter-friendly than in India.”It was a very good innings and a much-needed one for me personally… It’s just very good being back.”Jemimah Rodrigues was named Player of the Match for her 43-ball 92 not-out•Getty Images

During that 2019 season with the Diamonds, Rodrigues’ strength on the on-side came to the fore. On this Saturday afternoon in Leeds, her cover drive was especially productive, as shown when she brought up her fifty with back-to-back fours through the region off Nicole Harvey before making it three boundaries in a row when she deposited the next over wide long-off.But she also accessed the area through deep third to good effect with consecutive fours off Piepa Cleary.”Cricket has changed so much that you can’t stick to one shot,” Rodrigues said. “I’ve been practising a few shots, playing on the bowler’s mind. If you’re one step ahead of them it gets easier. When you have to go for it you have to go for it so you take a calculated risk.”My dad always says it’s not how much strength you have or how much power you have it’s how you use your brains and how you play out there so that’s kind of our game plan.”Rodrigues is one of three overseas players at Northern Superchargers along with South Africa’s Laura Wolvaardt and Australian Laura Kimmince and, before the tournament started, Rodrigues said she was relishing the “responsibility” that came with being international players in an overseas league.”I like that responsibility, when the team wants you to play a certain role and take up that challenge,” she said in the lead-up to the Superchargers’ opening match. “Sometimes you need that because it’s when the best comes out of you. I’m sure Wolfie and Laura Kimmince will feel the same.”Meanwhile, West Indies batter Hayley Matthews, who top-scored for Welsh Fire on Saturday with 30 from 20 balls, acknowledged Rodrigues’ contribution in “winning the match for her team”.”Losing’s never easy but, at the same time, you have to appreciate how Jemimah batted,” Matthews said.”She played a really, really good innings, and we couldn’t really do much.”Maybe we could have improved the lines we bowled and a couple of misfields. At the same time, you have to give credit to the way she batted.”

The Tasmania captain made 106 out of his side’s total of 172, on a bowlers day in Melbourne in which Tim Paine, Matthew Wade, Glenn Maxwell and Peter Handscomb were all out in single digits

Daniel Brettig13-Nov-2017Glenn Maxwell could make only four in his penultimate chance to impress the national selectors before Australia’s squad for the first Ashes Test is named, but the former international batsman George Bailey provided a reminder of his quality in compiling a lone-hand hundred on a day for bowlers at the MCG.After a pair of 60s against South Australia in the second round of the Sheffield Shield, Maxwell was this time unable to resist pushing hard at a nicely pitched away-swinger from Gabe Bell, edging behind after coming in to bat at No. 3. Bell’s sharpish swing and seam reduced the Victoria to 4 for 25 before Marcus Harris and Daniel Christian steadied the innings in the final hour.Bailey’s 106 of a Tasmania total of 172 was a masterful effort when only one other team-mate – Jordan Silk getting to 36 before playing over a full toss from Fawad Ahmed – could get past 10. This time four years ago, Bailey was about to be named to bat at No. 6 for Australia in the Ashes series, and played in all five matches of the hosts’ memorable 5-0 sweep of England.However he was dropped after the series and has drifted from international calculations in recent seasons, despite possessing an outstanding ODI record in particular and being only a few months older than Shaun Marsh, who has again been touted as a possible contender for an Ashes batting berth this summer.Bailey was fighting a rearguard action almost from the moment he came to the crease at the fall of Alex Doolan, bowled by Chris Tremain. Tasmania included both Tim Paine and Test incumbent Matthew Wade, with the former batting at No. 4 and the latter keeping the gloves. Neither was able to have much impact with the bat however, Paine lbw to Tremain for a duck and Wade spending 42 balls for five runs, taking a big swing at Peter Siddle and being bowled.

The last assignment for Justin Langer’s team before the two finalists are decided is a trip to play the Proteas in 2021

Daniel Brettig20-Jun-2018

Australia’s FTP schedule*

2015-2019
Tests 43
ODIs 58
T20Is 24
2019-2023
Tests 39
ODIs 47
T20Is 45
*excludes ICC tournaments

Australia’s hopes of reaching the inaugural Test World Championship final are set to hinge upon their ability to atone for the disgrace of this year’s tour of South Africa, with the 2021 return trip to play the Proteas looming as the last series for Justin Langer’s team before the two competing teams are decided.Currently placed third in the ICC’s Test rankings, the Australians face three away trips and three home series over the initial two-year cycle, starting with the 2019 Ashes tour of England and ending with the journey to South Africa. A visit to Bangladesh in early 2020 is the other away tour, while there are home series against Pakistan and New Zealand (2019-20) and India (2020-21). An inaugural Test against Afghanistan is also scheduled to take place at home, immediately prior to the India series.Given their present ranking and the fact that all teams will start equal going into the start of the Championship cycle, Australia are likely to be in the mix for a place in the final entering the South Africa series, providing exactly the sort of context and third-party interest among neutral nations that the game’s governing bodies and broadcasters have been seeking.James Sutherland, the Cricket Australia chief executive, said the new Future Tours Program and the Test and ODI league structures now meant that the Australian summer would effectively be limited to five home Tests a season and somewhere between eight and 12 limited-overs matches. New Zealand (2019) and South Africa (2022) are set to return to Boxing Day Tests at the MCG for the first time since 1987 and 2006 respectively.”It looks like five Test matches per summer is the staple diet of Test cricket. In terms of white-ball cricket, ODIs or T20I, there’ll be eight to 12 white ball matches per summer at home,” Sutherland said. “By natural extension, six of those matches will be ODIs as part of the one-day league, the remainder will be T20 matches.”What we are trying to do by design with T20 internationals is to play more matches when the cycle allows and when the cycle has us leading into ICC T20 events so we’re managing as best we can to increase the volume of T20 cricket in and around the World T20. Who we play against in Tests and one-day cricket there’s little flexibility now. That will be worked through in this model – when we play and how much cricket we play or how long each series is is a matter for bilateral agreement between the two countries.”Our preference is to play Tests at home in that traditional Test-cricket period which would encompass the Boxing Day and New Year’s Test matches. In 2022-23 South Africa have agreed to play Test matches over that Christmas-New Year period in Australia.”The cap of Test matches at five a summer creates a conundrum around the allocation of Tests to venues beyond the traditional centres of Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth. In the forthcoming summer there are six scheduled, with Canberra’s Manuka Oval making its five-day debut for a fixture against Sri Lanka in February. Hobart has also been a common recipient of the sixth Test of a summer, but may now find its opportunities reduced to white-ball formats.Two bilateral Tests against Afghanistan – there is also an away match in the calendar preceding Tests against Pakistan in the UAE in early 2022 – mark a significant addition to Australia’s footprint, being the first new nation they have played since Bangladesh in 2003. Sutherland explained that the 2020 match would effectively serve as a warm-up to the India series to follow, after Australia committed to a T20-heavy diet of matches around that year’s global event. The increase in T20Is in the schedule is the most noticeable change from the previous 2015-2019 cycle.”I would imagine the Afghanistan Test match would be a prelude to a warm-up if you like to that Test series against India, noting that that off-season we won’t have had any Test cricket. There’ll be a long break from Test cricket,” Sutherland said. “If you think about that summer in 2020-21 we still have only five Test matches – four against India and one against Afghanistan. It’s a big summer of cricket, and the World T20 and matches in that summer will be played at all venues. Hobart has got matches and Canberra has got matches as well – it will be shared around.”

Second-placed Thunder close the gap on league leaders Scorchers

Tristan Lavalette10-Jan-2022Sydney Thunder 1 for 140 (Hales 80*, Sangha 35*, Short 1-9) beat Hobart Hurricanes 6 for 139 (McDermott 38, McAndrew 2-31, Sandhu 2-32) by nine wickets
Alex Hales continued his resurgence to lead red-hot Sydney Thunder to their sixth straight BBL win after crushing Hobart Hurricanes by nine wickets at an almost empty MCG.The opener smashed an unbeaten 80 off 56 balls in his second straight half-century as Thunder knocked off Hurricanes’ modest 6 for 139 with 16 balls to spare.Second-placed Thunder (30 points) closed the gap on league leaders Perth Scorchers (33 points) in a game played at a neutral venue as part of the tournament shifting to a Melbourne hub to combat the Covid-19 outbreak engulfing the BBL.Hales continues resurgenceThunder made a bright start to their chase with aggressive Matthew Gilkes putting Hurricanes’ strong pace bowling attack to the sword before falling for 19. After a slow start to the season, Hales returned to form last night against Melbourne Renegades with his first half-century of the season, and he was intent here on not doing anything rash.He resisted pressing for the bonus point as Thunder went through a boundary drought much like Hurricanes’ did in their innings. But Hales and stand-in skipper Jason Sangha didn’t panic as they chipped the ball around before making their move in the 13th over,Sangha smashed spinner Tim David down the ground for the first six of the innings and Hales then notched his half-century off 44 balls – the slowest 50 in his BBL career. But it was a mature knock from the Englishman who then put the foot down in trademark fashion as Thunder cruised to victory.The return to form of Hales, who holds the highest ever BBL individual score, is a major boost for Thunder who notched the longest winning streak in their history.Hurricanes’ quicks struggleHurricanes needed early wickets and speedster Riley Meredith almost obliged first delivery with a menacing swinging yorker trapping Gilkes but it was given not out.Their quicks had limited impact in the powerplay but Hurricanes clawed back into the game through spinners D’Arcy Short and Sandeep Lamichhane who dried the runs.Short lured Gilkes out of his crease for a stumping but Hurricanes couldn’t put enough pressure on Hales and Sangha. Hurricanes returned to their ace quicks Meredith and Tom Rogers in the hope for a late twist but to no avail as Hales relished the extra pace.Quite clearly, Hurricanes will need to return to the drawing board before Thursday’s rematch.Disciplined Thunder tie down HurricanesThunder’s impressive bowling attack have swept opponents during this hot streak but faced the biggest challenge in the BBL – halting Ben McDermott. Like most teams this season, they were under siege early but never lost their composure and hit back.Nathan McAndrew got the danger man out in the 10th over before McDermott really got going and Thunder’s accurate bowlers then gained a stranglehold in the middle overs. They couldn’t quite sustain it with Hurricanes providing a late rally but Thunder were satisfied with their efforts overall.Their quicks bowled a nagging length mixed with canny slower balls to frustrate Hurricanes. Pakistani quick Mohammad Hasnain set the tone with electric bowling during the powerplay although it was surprising he didn’t bowl his full quota to finish with 0 for 15 off 3 overs.Legspinner Tanveer Sangha helped tie down Hurricanes in the middle overs and claimed the wicket of stand-in skipper Peter Handscomb.Hurricanes over reliant on McDermottWith Hurricanes skipper Matthew Wade out indefinitely due to personal reasons, the burden has increased on McDermott who again unleashed belligerent strokes early.He pulled out the ramp shot to counter probing seamer McAndrew and then smashed Sangha for a huge six down the ground as he eyed another massive score.But McDermott became tied out and on 38 miscued a slower delivery from McAndrew to deep long-on leaving Hurricanes’ shaky middle-order exposed. Handscomb has been unable to find fluency all season and even a promotion to No.3 failed to the trick with a slow 21 runs off 25 balls.Hurricanes went seven overs without a boundary as the pressure fell again on big-hitter David, who broke the drought to start the power surge in the 17th over but holed out a few balls later. They’ve resisted moving David up the order but they might need to soon to spark a batting order too reliant on McDermott.Hurricanes at least finished strong with struggling Short, who was moved down to No.5, stroking three straight boundaries in the penultimate over but their total was not nearly enough.