WBBL Season Surge: Hobart Hurricanes look to extend winning form in Sydney

Triple Threat: Hobart Hurricanes set for crucial road matches following strong WBBL Start

HOBART, AUSTRALIA - OCTOBER 28: Heather Graham and Lizelle Lee of the Hurricanes celebrates the wicket of Hannah Darlington of the Thunder during the WBBL match between Hobart Hurricanes and Sydney Thunder at Blundstone Arena on October 28, 2024, in Hobart, Australia. (Photo by Steve Bell/Getty Images)

The Hobart Hurricanes aim to capitalise on their winning start to the WBBL season by claiming a triple treat on the road over the next four days starting with the Sydney Thunder at North Sydney Oval on Thursday.

The Hurricanes beat the Thunder by 31 runs in Hobart on Monday and hope for a repeat performance when they meet in round two.

After that, the women in purple face Brisbane Heat on Saturday and Melbourne Stars on Sunday.

Heather Graham, who scored only two runs off eight deliveries and then took 3-19 including two of Sydney’s most dangerous batters, said there was “no better way” to kick off a season than with a win.

HOBART, AUSTRALIA - OCTOBER 28: Heather Graham of the Hurricanes bowls during the WBBL match between Hobart Hurricanes and Sydney Thunder at Blundstone Arena on October 28, 2024, in Hobart, Australia. (Photo by Steve Bell/Getty Images)

“We will take some good momentum from that game and hopefully keep the ball rolling,” she said.

“It’s really important to win your home games, especially with the shortened tournament – we only have 10 games.

“Being able to win home games is a massive advantage and now we are on the road hopefully we can win at least two of those and that would get us off to a pretty good start and set us up for the back end.”

Playing Thunder twice in four days has its advantages.

“We can take some really good lessons from that game, because even though we came away with a win we’ve still got a lot of areas to improve on,” Graham said.

“We know they are going to come out firing a lot harder, especially with the bat, so it will be a nice little competition at North Sydney Oval.”

Winning the pre-season series showed the Cane Train was on track heading into the WBBL tournament.

“The girls had a really good Spring Challenge and the likes of Nic Carey really found her role batting at number three and put in some really good performances,” Graham said.

HOBART, AUSTRALIA - OCTOBER 28: Nicola Carey of the Hurricanes hits a boundary during the WBBL match between Hobart Hurricanes and Sydney Thunder at Blundstone Arena on October 28, 2024, in Hobart, Australia. (Photo by Steve Bell/Getty Images)

“Being able to win that and really well together as a team probably set us up really nicely for this WBBL.

“Hopefully we can bring home some silverware _ finally.”

Graham was a late-tournament replacement in the Australian team at the T20 World Cup in Dubai, replacing injured quick Tayla Vlaeminck.

“I watched us win a really good game against India and then unfortunately lose the semi-final, which was pretty heart-breaking,” she said.

“There were a few lessons learned from that, and also the conditions, which were quite foreign to what we get over here in Australia.”