Harper heroics sees Gades home against Hobart

It was a brilliant game in front of over 12,000 people at Marvel Stadium, with a career-best performance, two direct-hit runouts and a Kiwi coming to the party. Here are the key moments from the Gades victory.

 

Sam Harper, take a bow

 

It was a knock from the ages for Sam Harper, who hit his highest ever BBL score in an outstanding innings.

 

Sliding down the order to No. 3, the wicket-keeper bat took his time to survey the conditions before slamming a slog sweep into the crowd off Wil Parker for his first six of the game.

 

He went one bigger off Meredith two overs later, cracking a huge pull shot into the second tier of Marvel Stadium before hitting a massive six off Parker to bring up his fifty.

Taking the power surge, Harper batted like a man possessed, manipulating the fields to perfection as sixes rained down at Marvel.

 

While he would eventually fall on 89, his knock saw the Renegades home for their second straight win of the BBL season.

 

Don’t run on Buck’s arm

 

Tom Rogers enjoys his direct-hit runouts.

 

The man who tore up the MCG less than a week ago with ball in hand did it again at Marvel, though this time it was in the field, starting with Matthew Wade.

 

The former Renegade had set off for a run before he was sent back by Tim David, and with one stump to aim at, Rogers threw them down to send the Hobart skipper packing.

Soon after it was David himself that was at the end of a Rogers run-out, this time the throw coming from mid-wicket that caught the Hurricanes’ batter short of his ground.

 

It was the third direct-hit runout from Rogers this season, with his first coming against the Heat at the start of the year in Cairns.

 

No ball-tracking

 

It was early in the game when the Renegades went upstairs for their first review of the game.

Mujeeb Ur Rahman trapped Caleb Jewell in front and was adamant it was out - with skipper Aaron Finch agreeing and sending it to the third umpire.

 

However, while Jewell did not hit the ball, ball-tracking technology was not available so the on-field decision of not out stuck.

 

Jewell would make the most of his chance, slamming two sixes off Mujeeb the following two overs.

 

Guptill gets going at Marvel

 

While it might have only been 19 balls, Martin Guptill certainly entertained the Marvel Stadium crowd to open up the innings.

 

The New Zealand batter got going early in the first over, slamming Joel Paris back over his head for four.

He then took two further boundaries off Riley Meredith’s over before launching against Faheem Ashraf the next over, taking 16 off the over including a massive six into the Marvel Stadium crowd.

 

He looked as though he was primed for a big knock, but a slower-ball bouncer from Meredith saw the end of the opener, though not before he blasted 36 at a strike-rate of 189.