An unbeaten 60 from Steve Smith’s replacement Daniel Hughes has guided the Sydney Sixers to victory over the Hobart Hurricanes, who will assess the extent of an injury to quick Riley Meredith.
The Sixers, 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 in Launceston on Monday night.
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.
“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.
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.
Daniels Hughes pulls a ball to the boundary at Launceston. (Photo by Simon Sturzaker/Getty Images)
Jewell (42 from 24) earlier got his side off to a flyer before the wheels fell off after the powerplay.
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.