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Match Report:

Scorecard

Hurricanes hold their nerve to keep season alive

A brilliant final over from Nathan Ellis helps Hobart ice the Melbourne Renegades in a crazy Big Bash clash at Marvel Stadium

The match in a tweet: Nathan Ellis comes up clutch to keep the Hurricanes' slim finals hopes alive with the Renegades' miserable season soured by injuries to Harper and Marsh #BBL09

The score: Hobart Hurricanes 3-190 (Wright 70*, Wade 66; Boyce 2-27) defeated Melbourne Renegades 4-186 (Nabi 63, Marsh 56, Webster 50) by four runs

The hero: Smashed for 20 off his penultimate over to put the Renegades in the box seat in a fascinating, topsy-turvy clash, Nathan Ellis delivered a nerveless final over to keep the Hurricanes season alive.

Mohammad Nabi had exploded to hit four sixes in six balls, including two off Ellis, but the rookie Hurricanes quick removed Webster and went for just six in a brilliant, pressure-laden last six balls of the match.

It came after Mohammad Nabi and Beau Webster put on a dazzling 85-run partnership to drag the hosts back into the game.

The support cast: Matthew Wade exploded for a blink-and-you'll-miss-it spectacle with the bat that fired the Hurricanes to their best ever start to an innings.

Even more impressive than hitting 10 balls to or over the rope from his first 23 deliveries was the manner in which he did it, finding every corner of the ground with an array of cover drives, hooks, flicks, sweeps and reverse sweeps.

Wade's wild innings gets Hobart off to a flyer

The powerless Renegades bowlers coughed up 78 runs, 62 of them from Wade's blade, during the first six overs with the fielding restrictions in place for the biggest power play in the Hurricanes' history.

But after racing to a 22-ball half-century with almost three-quarters of the innings to come, Wade poked a catch to short third man to end a fearsome cameo.

The collision: Sam Harper's concerning run of concussions continued after a spectacular collision with Ellis ended with him being subbed out the game and taken to hospital.

Harper hurt after horror collision in BBL match

On six, Harper leapt to avoid colliding with Ellis as attempted a tight single but inadvertently made contact with the bowler and was flipped over Ellis's back and landed heavily, clutching at his head.

It marked his final involvement in the match as Tom Cooper became the first official concussion substitute in the BBL, but was not required to take part in the contest.

The breakout performance: Having complemented Wade cleverly during the initial burst, his opening partner Mac Wright played the perfect anchor innings the likes of which have been all too rare for the Hurricanes this season.

In just his third BBL game on the day before his 22nd birthday, Wright marked himself as one to watch by batting through the innings on the way to an unbeaten 50-ball 70.

Mac's Wright moves keep the Hurricanes rolling

With his first 34 runs coming at about a run-a-ball, the right-hander broke the shackles with a six off Beau Webster before a series of eye-catching strokes late in the piece allowed the visitors to gradually rebuild their momentum after a brief stutter sparked by Wade's exit.

His understated hand, along with some late fireworks from skipper Ben McDermott who blasted 38 off only 19 balls including three sixes, ensured the Hurricanes had too many runs for their hosts.

The hobbled veteran: The Renegades were well and truly in the wars as Shaun Marsh tweaked his right hamstring not long after Harper's head knock, though the niggle sparked the Western Australian into a kamikaze approach that briefly boosted his side's hopes of victory.

Marsh helped the Renegades keep pace with the required run rate during a fruitful power play but after suffering the injury he launched a series of uncharacteristically agricultural slogs to good effect.

When the squash ball trick goes wrong

He could only grimace after limping a single to bring up a 28-ball fifty, going onto smash his fourth six off Qais Ahmad before holing trying to dole out a repeat as he left his side with an achievable 97 runs required off the final nine overs.

The next stop: The win keeps the Hurricanes slim hopes of making the finals alive, though they will need to record victories in upcoming games against the Thunder (at Blundstone Arena on Friday) and the Strikers (at Adelaide Oval on Sunday).

The return of D'Arcy Short from ODI duties should help, with their net run-rate also requiring a significant boost.

The Renegades' season was over coming into Tuesday's game with captain Aaron Finch telling Channel Seven they can now only ruin the finals hopes of other clubs in their remaining games against the Sixers (at the SCG on Saturday) and the Heat (at Marvel Stadium on Monday). Finch and Kane Richardson will be back for those matches.

Melbourne Renegades XI: Shaun Marsh, Marcus Harris, Sam Harper (wk), Beau Webster, Will Sutherland, Dan Christian (c), Mohammad Nabi, Samit Patel, Jack Wildermuth, Cameron Boyce, Andrew Fekete

Hobart Hurricanes XI: Mac Wright, Matthew Wade (c), Jake Doran, David Miller, Ben McDermott (wk), George Bailey, Clive Rose, Tom Rogers, Nathan Ellis, Qais Ahmad, Scott Boland