10 things you should know about the Hobart Hurricanes

Hobart Hurricanes

1. The Hobart Hurricanes are a KFC Big Bash League (BBL) T20 franchise based in Tasmania, Australia. They were established prior to the inaugural Big Bash League (BBL) in 2011-12 and are the sole representatives of the city of Hobart in Australia’s premier domestic T20 competition.
2. They play their home matches at Bellerive Oval, Hobart, which has a total capacity of 16,200, and are currently sponsored by Blundstone – an Australian footwear manufacturer.
3. They are currently captained by George Bailey, while their head coach is former Victorian seam bowler Damien Wright. With Bailey turning out for Kings XI Punjab at the CLT20, they were be skippered by Tim Paine in the tournament.
4. They are yet to lay their hands on the coveted BBL trophy despite having come desperately close on a couple of occasions. They made the final last season before losing to Perth Scorchers at the final hurdle and were knocked out at the semi-final stage of the 2011-12 Big Bash League.
5. Having said that, they could consider themselves a bit fortunate to have qualified for the semi-finals last season. They had finished 4th at the end of the league stage, having got just 7 points from 8 games. In their semi-final against the highly fancied Melbourne Stars however, they managed to produce one of their best ever performances and qualified for the final.
6. Ben Dunk and Tim Paine, with 395 and 235 runs respectively, were the two leading run-getters for the Hurricanes in last season’s BBL.
7. Ben Laughlin and Cameron Boyce, with 14 and 10 wickets respectively, were the two highest wicket-takers for the Hurricanes last season.
8. Ricky Ponting, Doug Bollinger, Tim Paine etc. are some of the prominent Australian cricketers to have featured for the franchise in their short 3-year history.
9. The 2014 CLT20 will be their first ever participation in the CL T20, having narrowly missed out on qualification for the 2012 Champions League T20.
10. Pakistan all-rounder Shoaib Malik is their sole overseas player for the two-week tournament.