Mignon du Preez scored another half-century but it wasnt enough to overcome the Brisbane Heat in Launceston. Image:@cricketcomau. Twitter
A second consecutive half-century to South African star Mignon du Preez wasn’t enough for the Hobart Hurricanes as they fell to the Brisbane Heat by 14 runs in Launceston.
The Hurricanes toiled hard in the field, letting themselves down on occasions as the Heat opening pair Grace Harris and Georgia Redmayne continued their strong opening partnership with the Canes unable to make an early breakthrough.
While the bowling was tight in the powerplay conceeding 42 off the opening six overs, the Hurricanes were unable to take any wickets, giving the Heat the strong foundation to attack.
At the halfway point of the innings with the score on 80, without a breakthrough, captain Rachel Priest was forced to turn to her strike weapon Tayla Vlaeminck for her fourth and final over, meaning she wouldn’t be available to bowl at the end of the innings.
The Heat batters saw off the threat of the Aussie tearaway and continued to attack the other Hurricanes bowlers.
The breakthrough finally came at the start of the 16th over when Amy Smith fired the ball in from wide fine-leg into Priest to catch Harris short of her ground as she attempted a second run on a misfield moments earlier.
After the first wicket fell, the Hurricanes were able to pull back the score nicely taking 6/30 in the final four overs to set the victory target at 171.
In reply, the Hurricanes started poorly losing both openers Priest and youngster Ruth Johnston in the powerplay, slumping to 2-36 at the conclusion of the powerplay.
Overseas players Richa Gosh and Mignon du Preez came together and started to take the attack to the Heat bowlers, targeting Indian leg-spinner Poonam Yadav as they looked to up the tempo and make a dent in the run chase.
Gosh departed for 16 after Jonassen snuck one past her, collecting her 10th wicket in the tournament in the process.
Nicola Carey joined du Preez as they continued to fight and take on the Heat bowlers, with du Preez notching her second consecutive half-century to keep the Canes right in the hunt with five overs to spare.
As the Canes were continuing to throw punches in chasing down the runs, du Preez fell attempting a sweep shot, feathering the ball through to keeper Redmayne off fellow South African Anneke Bosch for 73 off 48 balls.
It proved to be a decisive blow as the Hurricanes lost Carey in the following over and despite some late hitting from Molly Strano, fell runs short of the target after their 20 overs.
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Speaking post-game after her impressive knock, du Preez was honest on their efforts in the field, saying that they let their bowlers down with some lacklustre efforts, allowing the Heat openers to get away and pull ahead with the scoring rate.
“Fielding is an attitude thing, we know that and that is something we can control. Today was not our best performance in the field. We pride ourselves on our fielding and I thought we actually let our bowlers down a little,” she said.
“Definitely not ideal, we gave them some extra runs, we gave them some momentum with their batting. We didn’t take our chances and gave them some opportunities in the field.
“All in all, hopefully, we have another game to come back [tomorrow], and like I said, fielding is an attitude thing and we can come back with a better attitude tomorrow.”
The Hurricanes have the shortest of short turnarounds as they will be back in action tomorrow morning when they face the Sydney Thunder at 10:15 am local time at UTAS Stadium. It will be their last game in their home state before they go on the road for the remainder of WBBL|07.
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