Aiden Blizzard played a blistering knock as Hobart Hurricanes beat Cape Cobras by six wickets in a group league encounter of the ClT20 to keep their hopes of qualifying for the semi-final alive.
Chasing a stiff target of 184, ‘Hurricane Blizzard’ swept the Cobras away with his 48-ball-78 blitzkrieg that had four boundaries and five huge sixes as the Aussie outfit won the contest with an over to spare. He got a reprieve in the 18th over bowled by Vernon Philander, where he was caught in the deep but the bowler overstepped resulting in a ‘free-hit’ being awarded to the batting team.
The over yielded 24 runs including two huge sixes and four hit by the 30-year-old. Credit should also be given to Jonathan Wells for being the ideal foil during their unbroken 65 run stand for the fifth wicket. However credit should also be given to opener Ben Dunk, who set the stage with a 35-ball-54 for Blizzard to come and finish off the game in style.
left-handed opener Dunk started the onslaught as he hit seven boundaries in a space of nine deliveries with three of them off Vernon Philander and four in an over from left-arm slow bowler Robin Peterson. Such was Dunk’s domination in the opening partnership of 51 that his opening partner Tim Paine scored only seven when he was castled by Charl langeveldt. Dunk scored his 50 off 30 balls and was finally holed out in the deep off the bowling of Sybrand Engelbrecht, having hit 10 fours in his innings.
Brief Scores:
Cape Cobras: 184 for 6 in 20 overs (Richard levi 42, Vernon Philander 32 not out; Ben laughlin 2/31, Ben Hilfenhaus 2/49) lost to Hobart Hurricanes: 186 for 4 in 19 overs (A Blizard 78 not out, B Dunk 54; S Engelbrecht 3/20) by six wickets.