- Tom Curran scared by sideline flame display
- Ricky Ponting delighted by the bizarre incident
- Sydney Sixers beat the Hobart Hurricanes
Ricky Ponting and his fellow commentators have poked fun at English Sydney Sixers import Tom Curran after he was scared silly by a flame display during the Big Bash match against the Hobart Hurricanes.
An unbeaten 60 from Steve Smith’s replacement Daniel Hughes has guided the Sixers to victory over the Hurricanes in Launceston on Monday night.
The mighty magenta, who are 2-0 to start the BBL season, chased down the Hurricanes’ 8-135 with four balls to spare and six wickets in hand.
It was mostly smooth sailing for the Sixers, but all-rounder Curran had a hairy moment in the field while retrieving a ball when a flame display gave him the shock of his life.
Curran flinched visibly as the flames belched from the boundary, leaving the commentary team in stitches.
Ricky Ponting and the commentary team found Curran’s reaction entertaining
‘Have a look at Tom Curran, boys watch this,’ laughed Ponting.
‘He got the eyebrows singed picking up the ball out of the boundary.
‘It’s a bit close for comfort, that.
‘Have a look at this, watch him jump.’
Hughes top scored with the 50-ball knock after being called up for Smith who left the squad ahead of Thursday’s first Test against Pakistan.
He shared a 47-run partnership with Moises Henriques (20 from 24) to iron out a decent chunk of the chase.
With Sydney needing seven from six deliveries, Hughes levelled the scores with towering leg-side maximum off Nathan Ellis.
Tom Curran then sealed the game with a boundary through the covers.
The Sixers chased down the Hurricanes’ 8-135 with four balls to spare and six wickets in hand
The Sixers took all their chances to improve to 2-0 in the BBL campaign
‘Those small little totals can be tricky. But it was only ever 7.5 (runs per) over (required),’ Hughes told Channel 7.
‘It was hit the gaps and run hard. It was good to get the job done.’
Hobart copped a blow when Meredith pulled up sore gesturing to his side halfway through the third over of the chase after sending down a 152km/h delivery.
Riley Meredith pulled up after bowling nine balls on his return to action after three months out.
It was his first game back at domestic level since suffering a side strain in a one-day cup match for Tasmania in September.
Hurricanes coach Jeff Vaughan said Meredith would have scans on Tuesday.
‘It a real shame for him. He hasn’t had much luck recently. Hopefully it’s not too bad and we get him (back) as quickly as we can,’ Hobart opener Caleb Jewell said.
Jewell (42 from 24) earlier got his side off to a flyer before the wheels fell off after the powerplay.
The Hurricanes got off to an explosive start but gave away easy wickets
Curran (3-19) started the damage when he had Jewell caught at mid-off in the sixth over.
Fellow quick Ben Dwarshuis (2-21) then picked up England import Sam Hain and Australia representative Tim David for single figures in his first over.
Young allrounder Jack Edwards got in on the action, with wicketkeeper Josh Philippe pulling off a one-handed diving catch at full stretch to grab the edge of Ben McDermott.
Edwards, who finished with 2-18 from four overs, had only bowled one over in his 30 previous BBL matches.
Hobart fell to 5-69 in the ninth over before imports Chris Jordan (16 from 21) and Corey Anderson (17 from 27) stemmed the bleeding.
New Zealand’s Anderson was the pick of Hobart’s bowlers with 2-10.
