All-rounders and bowlers could become focus as Hobart continues to bomb out with overseas bats
The Hurricanes’ history is littered with international signings who have failed to have any impact on the tournament with the bat. SEE THE FULL LIST + Read how the team is looking to change their tactics >>
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THE Hurricanes will consider scouting solely for all-rounders and bowlers for future overseas imports after another underwhelming Big Bash campaign from its batsmen.
Hobart’s history is littered with international signings who have failed to have any impact on the tournament with the bat.
Will Jacks, considered one of England’s brightest prospects, joined the list in BBL|10 after managing just 79 runs in eight innings at an average of less than 10 as the side missed finals for the first time in four years.
However he is far from a lone ranger, with Sri Lankan superstar Kumar Sangakkara, last season’s import David Miller and even Alex Hales — this year’s leading run scorer — all failing to fire in purple.
Englishman Dawid Malan entered this summer as the No. 1 ranked T20 batsman in the world but struggled to live up to the hype with 265 runs at an average of 26.5 and strike rate of 113, while surprisingly Colin Ingram, who featured in the same number of matches as Malan, scored seven less runs despite being considered the best of the batting trio.
While believing the quality of the competition and Australian conditions are a factor in overseas batsmen struggling, Hurricanes coach Adam Griffith conceded he could possibly move in a different direction when assembling his squad.
“Whether we change tack a little bit and think about domestic batters and overseas all-rounders and bowlers I’m not sure, it’s something that we’ll have a chat about,” Griffith said.
“It’s a really hard one for batters to come into this tournament because the level is so high and the conditions are pretty different to potentially what they’ve had in the past.
“You look at the Scorchers now with their three guys up front, [Liam] Livingston’s been there a little bit of time now, [Colin] Munro [is from] New Zealand so he understands the conditions pretty well and [Jason] Roy is a world class player.
“I mean that’s probably why Colin did reasonably well for us, he’s played in the comp before.
“We just couldn’t quite get going with the bat, but it wasn’t just the overseas batters, plenty of our local guys probably didn’t quite have a seasons they would have liked either.”
Owais Shah is the only international specialist batsman from eight signings to have delivered for Hobart, scoring 282 runs at 70.5 and a strike rate of just under 150 in the inaugural BBL.
However by the third edition of the tournament he had been dropped, a fate Sangakkara also experienced in his second season as a Hurricane in BBL|06.
All-rounders Darren Sammy, Tim Bresnan and Scott Styris also had minimal impact with the willow during their Hurricanes’ tenures, albeit from less opportunity lower in the order.
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