BBL|13 review: Hurricanes look inward after 'frustrating' season

Hobart Hurricanes are ‘looking inwardly’ as to why some big-name players failed to perform in KFC BBL|13, as the club missed out on finals action for a third time in four seasons.

In a campaign that saw first-time captain Nathan Ellis take the reins, Australia T20 batter Tim David and draft picks Sam Hain and Corey Anderson failed to fire for the Hurricanes, in what Cricket Tasmania high performance manager Salliann Beams has called a “frustrating” summer.

Despite boasting a list they believed could go deep into the competition, the Hurricanes slumped to 1-3 early in the campaign and couldn’t claw things back, finishing in fifth with four wins and six defeats.

“Like with every club, the amount of work you put in to try and create a list that is finals-worthy; we invested a significant amount of time in that process. So to finish outside of the finals was very disappointing for us,” Beams told cricket.com.au.

Given his exploits in the world’s best T20 leagues, David had a below-par season, scoring just 112 runs with a top score of 27 across nine innings.

Beams said the club’s brains trust would spend the off-season reflecting on what they could have done better with top-end talent.

“We’re now looking inwardly, actually, as to why we’re not able to get the best out of these players, some of whom have performed on the world stage and done incredibly well.”

Hobart’s only wins throughout the season came against fellow bottom four clubs; twice against Melbourne Renegades, and once each against Melbourne Stars and Sydney Thunder.

More positively, Ellis shone in his first season as captain, bowling the difficult death overs and leading the Hurricanes’ wickets tally.

After a lean BBL|12, Ben McDermott returned to his best, comfortably finishing as the club’s highest run-scorer.

The club also unearthed India-born, Brisbane-based Nikhil Chaudhary, who proved a more-than-handy addition with bat and ball and has now signed on for three more seasons.

BBL|13 result: Fifth (4 wins, 6 losses)

 

Most runs: Ben McDermott (261)

 

Best strike rate (min 50 runs): Chris Jordan (164.19)

 

Most wickets: Nathan Ellis (12)

 

Best economy (min 10 overs): Nikhil Chaudhary (7.21)

 

Contracted for BBL|14: Nikhil Chaudhary (contracted until the end of BBL|16), Tim David (BBL14), Paddy Dooley (BBL14), Nathan Ellis (BBL15), Peter Hatzoglou (BBL14), Caleb Jewell (BBL15), Ben McDermott (BBL15), Riley Meredith (BBL14), Mitch Owen (BBL14), Matthew Wade (BBL15)

 

Out of contract: Iain Carlisle, Liam Guthrie, Sam Heazlett, Billy Stanlake, Mac Wright

International impact

English veteran Chris Jordan performed consistently throughout BBL|13 for the Hurricanes, not only bowling the tricky overs that they’d signed him for, but chipping in with the bat, too. Only McDermott and Mac Wright (12) cleared the rope more times than Jordan (10) for Hobart, as he finished with a strike rate north of 160. His 17-ball half-century against the Scorchers was one of the Hurricanes' season highlights, and was the fastest ever fifty in the club’s history.

Gold Coast-raised Sam Hain, who debuted for England’s ODI team last September and was impressive for the Heat in BBL|12, struggled to get going this season. Aside from a match-winning half-century against the Renegades, Hain scored 28 runs across his other six innings, and recorded three ducks. Veteran allrounder Corey Anderson also struggled throughout the campaign, with 110 runs across nine innings in BBL|13. Perhaps more surprisingly, Anderson’s big-hitting reputation was rarely realised, scoring his runs at a strike rate of just 92.43.

Season recap with High Performance GM Salliann Beams

Not getting the best out of players

“It’s been a frustrating year for everyone involved, really, because like with every club the amount of work you put in to try and create a list that is finals-worthy; we invested a significant amount of time in that process. So to finish outside of the finals was very disappointing for us. We certainly feel that we’ve got the capability and a really good list. We’re now looking inwardly, actually, as to why we’re not able to get the best out of these players, some of whom have performed on the world stage and done incredibly well.”

On Tim David’s campaign

“First of all – that’s cricket. That seems to happen, you fail more than you succeed, and his stats up until this year have been incredibly good. Part of it is that ‘this happens, how can we get you out of it’, but also (we ask ourselves) was there anything else we could have done, that potentially continued the poor form throughout the season. The biggest thing here is he’s incredible hard on himself and he loves playing for the Hurricanes. You want it to be a collective group of action, not just him being solely disappointed feeling like he’s let people down, etc. We want to work with him and just reassure him of how good he is.”

Spin struggles

“The other thing for us to look into is how we create a list that can combat spin. We’ve certainly got players who can play spin, but the biggest different for us is that we didn’t negate spin well enough at key points in the game, and that was when we shifted momentum back to the opposition … (a case of) let’s really look deep into the stats of how to play spin, who are those players who have proven consistent records that can cope against different types of spin, particularly those unorthodox spinners in particular, would certainly be a key focus.”

First-year captain instils confidence

“I was really impressed with Nathan (Ellis). He oozes confidence – whenever he spoke, he made me feel confident about what he wanted to do with this team. And the reason for that is he’s incredibly prepared, he’s incredibly considered, he’s willing to put himself on the line for every player in that team. He does his work from an opposition analysis perspective, you know he’s going to give absolutely everything, so he’s that ultimate role model. For us we’ve just got to work with him to release the pressure and not think everything is on his shoulders, which as a first-year captain I understand why you fall into that trap. I thought he was incredible … he’s the type of captain we want to be keeping hold of.”

Ben McDermott’s turnaround

“He went through (a form slump) last year, so for him to come back and perform the way he did – he had concussion at one stage, which saw him miss a couple of games. He played in a different role as well, from middle order to opening, and he did well. I was really pleased for him in particular, to showcase how good he actually is after coming off a disappointing BBL|12.”

Chris Jordan’s investment in the club

“When you recruit an overseas player you want to make sure they not only contribute on the pitch but you want them to be able to work with the players off the pitch, especially the young players, and share their knowledge and expertise to develop them. The amount of time I saw Chris Jordan working with our players on the fringe, I just thought that's the type of person we want in our organisation, that are not only passionate about their performance, but also giving back.”

Looking ahead

“We’ve got a good bowling unit with a bit of depth now; with Paddy (Dooley), (Peter) Hatzoglou, Nikhil (Chaudhary) and then we’ve got Ellis, (Riley) Meredith, Chris Jordan and we’ve also got Billy Stanlake waiting in the wings. I feel that we’ve got that balance right, it’s about making sure we put the runs on the board. And if you look at our team individually, stats will say that they’ve got great records. What’s interesting to me is that we haven’t been able to get them to do it at the same time.”