BBL09 | Hobart Hurricanes defeated Adelaide Strikers by 10 runs at Adelaide Oval
Matthew Wade forced his way back into the Test team from the wilderness, and now looking at a white-ball return after some incredible heroics.
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Matthew Wade has gone absolutely bonkers, slamming his first century in the Big Bash in a must win clash against the Adelaide Strikers.
With just two regular season games left in the BBL season, the Hobart Hurricanes needed to win to book a place in the finals, while a loss would see them miss out.
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It was just the time for Wade to go big and big he went.
The Hurricanes skipper hit his century off just 48 balls and then kept going.
It was the fourth fastest Big Bash century, beaten only by Craig Simmons (39), Luke Wright (44) and Ben McDermott (47), whule equalling Callum Ferguson.
He shared in a partnership of 203 with D’Arcy Short who was batting at a rather pedestrian 72 off 55 balls in comparison to his partner.
But the pair have again shown themselves to be the best partnership in the history of the competition, having passed 50 runs as a partnership for the 12th time.
The next best partnerships have done it seven times — the Adelaide Strikers’ Alex Carey and Jake Weatherald, and Short and Ben McDermott.
The commentators called it “carnage” as Wade went on an absolute tear, charging towards the first BBL 150.
While the final overs saw the side run out of steam, it was more than a competitive score.
It fell just short of the all-time record, which was set in Marcus Stoinis record score of 147, when he shared in a partnership of 207 with Hilton Cartwright.
In that innings of Stoinis’ he faced 79 balls — Wade finished on 130 not out off just 61 balls.
Wade now has the highest score for the Hurricanes, passing Short’s 122 from the 2018 BBL.
He has been in brutal form for the side, hitting 337 runs at 173.71, the second highest strike rate behind Brisbane Heat import Tom Banton.
In #BBL09 Wade has a higher strike rate (173.71) than anyone other than Banton and the 3rd best avg (56.16) after Wells and Stoinis. He is 13th on aggregates (337 runs) from 8 games when everyone ahead of him has played at least 12
— Daniel Brettig (@danbrettig) January 26, 2020
While he couldn’t reach Stoinis’ high bar, it’s the second best score in BBL history, 1/217 is the fourth highest total in the life of the competition and it’s the biggest BBL score at the Adelaide Oval.
Matthew Wade 130* (61)
— Fox Sports Lab (@FoxSportsLab) January 26, 2020
.42.14411142142.24111614611.4.4111166112111111616641111111241 - just 5 dot balls
2nd highest #BBL score - behind Marcus Stoinis 147*
2nd highest BBL partnership - 203 runs with D'Arcy Short
Highest BBL total at Adelaide Oval - 217#BBL09 #TasmaniasTeam pic.twitter.com/NMfxQcLfWH
It has led to fans calling for Wade to be added to the Australian T20 World Cup squad, which would complete a remarkable comeback in all three formats.
Easy to forget that Matthew Wade finished the World Cup in Australia’s squad ... and almost came into the XI for Glenn Maxwell in the semi-final. At 32 could his Test comeback roll into white-ball selection in South Africa next month?
— Sam Landsberger 🗯 (@SamLandsberger) January 26, 2020
Wade just destroyed Adelaide with 130* (61).
Both. Wade as a batsman ... Carey the find of 2019 and going nowhere ðŸ”
— Sam Landsberger 🗯 (@SamLandsberger) January 26, 2020
Too many openers performing.I think Warner and Finch is sealed. The moment you change the role or position of batsmen like Wade , Stoinis or Short I am not too sure if they can perform in the same manner. Who plays the role in the middle/finisher? Want to see Wells get a chance.
— Gaurav Sundararaman (@gaurav_sundar) January 26, 2020
Not often the Strikers get this treatment on their home pitch, Wade surely must be on the selectors mind for the T20 World Cup. https://t.co/8hc3M18Raq
— John Hunt (@JohnHunt1992) January 26, 2020
Matthew Wade hasn't played a T20I since September 2016. Surely he's back in for Australia's next match #BBL09
— Oliver Caffrey (@ollycaffrey) January 26, 2020
Wade is seeing them like beach balls. Incredible. #BBL09
— Alex Oates (@AlexJOates11) January 26, 2020
But unbelieveably, it almost wasn’t enough as Phil Salt slammed 66 off 33 balls, Travis Head whacked 47 off 37 balls and Alex Carey a 24-ball 39.
It was a great chase with the Strikers chasing at over 10 an over for most of the innings.
Regular wickets hurt the home side as they fell just short of the total, finishing on 8/207.
It books the Hurricanes a spot in the finals as the last position in the BBL09 finals comes down to the final game of the regular season.
If the Heat beat the Renegades, they will make the finals, otherwise they will miss out, meaning the Thunder will miss the finals.
Originally published as BBL09 | Hobart Hurricanes defeated Adelaide Strikers by 10 runs at Adelaide Oval