Runaway Cane train flies into finals contention

Matthew Wade believes rival KFC BBL teams will be looking over their shoulders at the fast-finishing Hobart Hurricanes as the club surges towards a potential finals appearance with almost all their star players in tow.

The returning D'Arcy Short was pivotal in Friday evening's thumping of the Sydney Thunder despite making a second-ball duck, starring with a maiden five-wicket haul to lead the hosts to a 57-run win.

Short could have been forgiven for some rust having gone 19 days without playing a game after carrying the drinks for all three games on Australia’s Qantas ODI tour of India.

The Hurricanes thought James Faulkner might not play for the rest of the season after tearing his calf earlier this month but defied the odds to make a swift recovery, collecting the key wicket of Usman Khawaja.

The looming retirement of George Bailey at the conclusion of the season adds further fuel to the Hurricanes’ simmering urge to right the wrongs of previous seasons and claim an unlikely title following an underwhelming start to their BBL09 campaign.

Asked if other sides will be wary of them, Canes captain Wade said: "I would have thought so. We've got some high-quality players in our line-up.

"We're coming good at the right time … We've done it the other way a lot, especially last year.

"To get those two (Faulkner and Short) back, they're not only great players but it also adds a lot of energy around the group and the boys can look over and see experienced heads.

"We've had quite a few injuries to senior players and we know once we got them back, we're a quality side.

"We didn't think we'd see Jimmy again, he recovered quicker than we thought and he's vital for us in the Powerplay.

"It's a little bit bittersweet to be able to perform like that with those guys back, knowing if we could have done it a touch earlier, we wouldn't be in that position."

The only missing piece of the puzzle is tearaway Riley Meredith, who has been ruled out for the season with a side strain. But the emergence of Nathan Ellis and Scott Boland as key pace cogs, plus the return of Faulkner and his highly-valued new-ball skills, has helped offset Meredith’s absence.

Languishing in seventh spot just a week ago with just three wins from their first 11 games, last season's minor premiers were in a rut and had their season on the line heading into their final three games.

It was a far cry from their last season’s dominant campaign in which they blitzed the regular season only to be sent tumbling out by the fourth-placed Melbourne Stars in a home semi-final.

The BBL has now tweaked its finals system to give the top two sides a second chance. 

Since sinking to three-and-eight, the Hurricanes have since won two of their final three matches to rise to fifth, which for the first time in BBL history is a finals position.

That spot throws up an enormous challenge to the team that finishes there; win four games on the road in nine days to take out the title.

"It sounds daunting when you say it like that," admitted Wade. "But T20 is such a momentum game; like us last year if you get a run on with performances, you tend to find ways to win.

"We didn't absolutely belt teams last year. So if we can get some momentum in Adelaide (by beating the Strikers on Sunday), who knows in the finals.

"The best thing about finishing fifth is you've got nothing to lose, you just go out there and go for it. We've seen in a lot of the finals in BBL history, the team that's finished lower tends to go out there and play a bit freer – it's strange."

A defeat to the Strikers at Adelaide Oval on Sunday would likely see Hobart edged out of fifth spot, bringing a premature end to Bailey's illustrious BBL career.

Wade stressed the Hurricanes are desperate to ensure that does not happen, though he's not sure how they will be able to give the former Australia limited-overs captain a fitting send off when the end does finally come.

"He certainly won't let us clap him off – that will be a hard one," Wade laughed.

"It's a big motivation, we'd love to win in Adelaide and for results to go our way and play some finals.

"We'd love to send George off on a positive note and I'm sure he'd love that too."