BBL14: How Hurricanes, Meredith will prepare for final

Hobart Hurricanes all-rounder Nikhil Chaudhary has given an insight to the responsibility he has been given this season after re-signing with the BBL franchise.

Nikhil Chaudhary of the Hurricanes. Photo: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images.

Hobart Hurricanes all-rounder Nikhil Chaudhary says he is enjoying the responsibility of playing a key role in his side’s BBL title bid.

In his second season with the club, Chaudhary has emerged as a key batter in the middle order while he has claimed valuable wickets with his spin throughout the tournament.

Now heading into Monday’s final, Chaudhary said he is enjoying all of the big moments he is being presented with.

“I’m grateful for this opportunity,” he said on Friday.

“Last year when my manager told me I was going to be signed by the Hobart Hurricanes, I was over the moon because I’ve been working hard the last four or five years.

“It was more about not being happy in the moment when you got picked but performing at the biggest level.”

At the end of last BBL season, Chaudhary had signed a three-year deal with the club but has since extended it by a further season which will keep him with the Hurricanes until the end of BBL17.

“I’m so excited to extend with the Hurricanes, there was no question if I wanted to re-sign with the team that gave me an opportunity, and we are building something very special down here,” Chaudhary said.

“Everyone has gelled so well together this year and we are getting great performances from individuals putting their hand up each game, it’s such a positive environment to be a part of.”

The Hurricanes’ general manager of high performance Salliann Beams spoke of Chaudhary’s growth.

“Nikhil is a crucial part of what we are trying to build at the Hurricanes as he plays a key role with the bat and the ball, quality batting/spinning all-rounders are hard to find, and he has shown in such a short space of time that he is a match winner,” Beams said.

“His maturity is beyond his years as he can adjust his game to suit the needs of the team, and he can absorb pressure or clear the ropes when needed.

“His passion for playing at the Hurricanes is infectious, and I’m pumped to have him locked in until BBL17.”

Throughout the tournament, many Hurricanes players have spoken about the even contribution in the side and Chaudhary is no different.

“As a team, we are working very hard. It’s not just about the individual performances, it’s about the team performance,” he said.

“It’s a big responsibility to come in whenever the team needs you.

“I’m always in for the team.”

Chaudhary has joined Nathan Ellis, Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, and Mitch Owen in re-signing.

‘Compiled a good list’: How Hurricanes built towards BBL history

Throughout their run to the Big Bash final, players and coaches of the Hobart Hurricanes have spoken about an even contribution throughout the season.

Coach Jeff Vaughan believes it’s connection within the team which has played a key role.

“We’ve spent a lot of time on our connection and how we’ve wanted to operate as a team,” Vaughan said.

“We’ve always felt, we’ve compiled a good list and we’ve got the basis covered that we need to in a tournament.

“We knew our internationals were heading off after game six so we felt we had a pretty good strategy in place to roll out the entirety of the tournament.”

Mitch Owen, who was promoted to an opener at the start of the season, has been a revelation as one of the competition’s must players.

Tim David has rediscovered his best form in the middle order while Riley Meredith has been in a devastating form with the ball.

“We’ve had lots of contributors,” Vaughan said.

“Whilst we’ve had some impressive individual performances, we haven’t solely been reliant on one player in matches.

“We feel as if we walk off after our good performances and we’ve got seven, eight, nine, 11 players who have done something in the match.

“That will be apart of how we prepare this week.”

Vaughan also credited the team’s leaders. highlighted by skipper Nathan Ellis, for helping the Hurricanes remain in the hunt for their first BBL title.

They’ll play either the Sydney Sixers or Sydney Thunder with those two sides to face off on Friday night.

“Our leadership group has been fantastic amongst the broader group.

“We rely on a lot of the collective knowledge within our group. We have players and staff who coach in this format, the best part of 12 months of the year in different parts of the world.

“And to bring all of that knowledge together and share it amongst the group is incredibly powerful.”

Ellis: What has been key in Hurricanes’ success

A couple of big hitters have been standouts, but Hurricanes skipper Nathan Ellis wears the fact everyone has seized chances to “leave their thumbprint” on games and book a home decider as a badge of honour.

Mitch Owen and Tim David were the only Hobart stars named in Fox Cricket’s team of the tournament, and showed how devastating they can be in Tuesday’s win over Sydney Sixers in the ‘Decider’.

It secured a chance to secure a breakthrough BBL title in Monday’s finale, and Ellis said it’s an achievement accomplished by committee.

“It’s something I’ve really focused on and something I’ve said a thousand times now, you look at the runs and wicket tallies and you don’t see many Hurricanes up the top of them,” he said.

“That’s a point of pride for me. Something I speak about a lot is when players get an opportunity to put their thumbprint on a game, they take it with both hands.

“I think we’ve done that, and everyone has done that when they’ve had the opportunity.

“Team performance is an amazing thing in T20 cricket, and not relying on one or two individuals is a real pro in the Hurricanes column.”

Mitch Owen,Nathan Ellis and Ben McDermott of the Hurricanes celebrate the win. (Photo by Steve Bell/Getty Images)

Ellis is the only spearhead bowler captain in the league, and said he’s relied heavily on other leaders in the group to continue evolving since taking on the role last season.

“I feel like I’m improving and learning to be the captain I want to be, and trying to be,” he said.

“There’s definitely times when I’m the captain I don’t want to be, and have found myself needing to bring my emotions down and calm myself down a little bit.

“But I’ll harp on the leadership group we’ve got, I lean on Tim (David) and Riley (Meredith) and Wadey (predecessor Matt Wade), Chris Jordan and Ben (McDermott) a lot, and I’d be silly not to.

“We’ve got so much experience, it’s not just me leading the team. I’ll have the final say at mid off but it’s our team. It’s something I’ really passionate about is not being an autocratic leader, being collaborative and sharing the accountability as well, which is nice.”

After winning seven straight games, the Hurricanes delivered a poor game in a road loss to Melbourne Stars in their last regular season match on Sunday.

Hobart had already secured hosting rights for the finals opener beforehand, and Ellis believes it has helped them reset and refocus.

“We’ve got some guys who’ve played thousands of T20 games. It’s a rationale that anyone can beat anyone on their day in T20 cricket,” he said.

“In hindsight there was probably a benefit to the Stars game having a loss there sort of woke us up a little bit, I think.”

The Hurricanes have won all six home games this season, and will look to cap it with the one that matters to seal a first title.

“It’s been a hell of a season and we’ve spent the whole time trying not to get ahead of ourselves,” Ellis said.

“This year we’ve really prided ourselves on playing well at home, and making it a fortress. “It’s a special occasion for the team but just as importantly for Cricket Tasmania.

“To have a full stadium and produce the performance we did, it was a brilliant night.”

HOW REST HAS UNLEASHED MEREDITH

Hobart Hurricanes fast bowler Riley Meredith has hailed the decision to rest him in the final game of the Big Bash regular season as a potential key to his dominant qualifier performance.

The 28-year-old was named the man of the match after taking 2-34 as the Hurricanes booked a home decider next Monday night with a 12-run win over the Sydney Sixers.

While his figures might have looked slightly expensive, Meredith helped set up his side’s victory after claiming the early wickets of Josh Phillipe and Sixers captain Moises Henriques to have the visitors reeling at 3-5, as Cameron Gannon snared Jack Edwards.

Meredith was helped by a stunning catch from Ben McDermott to remove Henriques.

After missing Sunday’s game against the Melbourne Stars, which the Hurricanes lost, Meredith looked fresh and consistently hit speeds in the high 140km/h early in the innings.

“Probably felt a bit better missing the last one,” Meredith said.

“I guess I felt like I had to repay the faith a little bit, I just steamed in as hard as I could and hit the wicket hard.

“I think it was a pretty cramped period for us. We thought we were in the home final anyway and give it a go. Worked out pretty well.”

Hurricanes captain Nathan Ellis was quick to praise the growth of Meredith this year saying he had matured and gone to another level”.

“It’s the most professional finished product of Riley Meredith I’ve seen in a long time,” Ellis said.

“His leadership qualities are coming to the forefront this season. For me he’s starting to understand his body, he’s starting to figure out what he needs and what he doesn’t need.

“ You’ve seen that with his durability this season. In past seasons we’ve had some bad luck with quicks going down, but the way Riley’s kept fronting up and staying right for us, it’s invaluable.”

Meredith paid credit to his side’s batters for laying the platform for the win.

Mitch Owen (36 runs off 15 balls) and Tim David (25 off 10) but the Canes’ quick was equally as impressed with Caleb Jewell (40 off 41) and Ben McDermott (42 off 31) for continuing to tick the run rate over.

“It was a gutsy batting performance I thought,” he said on Channel 7.

“Jewelly and Reggie came off thinking they had done poorly but the team really needed it, scratch away for us.”

Hurricanes players celebrate a wicket. Photo: Steve Bell/Getty Images.

As the Hurricanes now chase their maiden BBL title, having previously lost two finals, Meredith has called out on supporters to come out in voice.

He said while his teammates await their opponent to be decided, they’ll play some golf at Barnbougle to wind down in the coming days.

“It’s going to be unbelievable,” he said.

“It was so loud here tonight (on Tuesday). It’s going to be big for Hobart, big for Tassie.

“It’s going to be huge.

“There was a few spots on the hill so we’ll try and cram in as many as we can.”