Australian Big Bash League: Lamichhane shines but Melbourne Stars lose
Nepal’s leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane starred once again but his Melbourne Stars lost its second consecutive match of the Australian Big Bash League at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart on Monday.
Nepal’s leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane starred once again but his Melbourne Stars lost its second consecutive match of the Australian Big Bash League at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart on Monday.
Lamichhane, who had taken 2-36 in Stars’ first match against Sydney Thunder, bowled economically to take 3-24. Despite the effort from the Nepali bowler, Stars went on to lose the game against Hobart Hurricanes by six wickets. Stars now sits at the seventh spot of the eight-team league table after playing two matches.
The day, however, belonged to Lamichhane who prolonged Stars’ defeat against a free-flowing Hurricanes side which responded perfectly in chase of 156 runs from 20 overs. After a quick start provided by openers Matthew Wade and D’Arcy Short (32), who added 55 runs for the first wicket inside six overs, Scott Bolan gave the breakthrough getting rid of the latter.
Maxwell handed Lamichhane the ball in the seventh over and it worked well. The teen leggie clean bowled new-man Alex Doolan (2) with a wrong one which spun back and crashed into his off stump. Lamichhane conceded just five runs in the first over. He returned in the ninth to go wicketless and a boundary from Wade saw him leak seven runs in that over.
Captain Maxwell decided to take Lamichhane off after his second over and it allowed Wade and McDermott to negotiate with the total expertly before the leg-spinner was introduced again in the 14th over. The move once again worked as Wade tried to sweep Lamichhane’s leg break but ended up handing an easy catch at short fine leg to Adam Zampa after getting an edge. Wade scored 52 off 37 with five fours and a six.
McDermott played catch up with the run-rate hitting Lamichhane for a six at deep square leg in the same over that fetched Hurricanes eight runs. Lamichhane, however, had his revenge in the next over after he trapped McDermott (28) leg before wicket with a wrong one. He ended up conceding just four runs in his last over.
Hurricanes needed 28 runs from the last 29 balls following McDermott’s dismissal as George Bailey taking the team across the line without further damage. Bailey hit an 18-ball 27 with two fours and a six.
Earlier, it was Maxwell and Nick Larkin who did most of the scoring for Stars sharing 87 runs for the third wicket. Maxwell hammered five big sixes in his 31-ball 47 and Larkin scored a 33-ball 45 with five hits to the fence. Jofra Archer took 3-25 for Hurricanes. In a Boxing Day fixture, Stars will take on Sydney Sixers in its third game.
Sydney Thunder, Melbourne Renegades and Hurricanes are tied on four points each with only run-rate separating the three teams.
Adarsha Dhakal is a sports reporter for The Kathmandu Post. He has been reporting on sports for more than a decade, focusing on cricket, basketball and sports features. He has been with the Post for over five years and has worked for various other national publications.
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