The Hobart Hurricanes have snapped a 10-match BBL losing streak away from Tasmania with a six-wicket triumph over the Melbourne Renegades at Marvel Stadium.
The Hurricanes restricted the under-fire Renegades to 4-147, then cruised to their target with eight balls to spare as Corey Anderson (41 not out) steered them home.
Sam Hain (51) was just as critical to the breakthrough victory on the road and played a leading role in an 84-run stand with Anderson as the Hurricanes finished with 4-148.
Hobart had not won on the mainland in almost two years since edging past the Renegades at the same venue in January 2022.
The Hurricanes are now two points away from third spot with a game in hand.
However, the Hurricanes will be sweating on the fitness of Hain after the England batter sustained a hamstring issue after being recalled into the XI in place of the injured Matthew Wade.
“I’ll be honest, I’ve not gone the way I wanted so far,” Hain told Channel 7 about his BBL season while receiving the player-of-the-match award.
“We’ll say it (the hamstring concern) is a cramp, but I’ll have to assess it with a physio to see how it pulls up.”
Fergus O'Neill (2-25) made an immediate impact in his BBL debut with the wickets of Caleb Jewell (13) and Ben McDermott (25) to boost the Renegades' hopes in the second innings.
McDermott had confused both teams earlier in his innings after lodging a ball in the Marvel Stadium roof with a massive strike.
The 29-year-old catapulted a loose delivery from Tom Rogers so high over mid-wicket that the ball became stuck among the rafters of the closed roof, rather than falling back to ground.
The umpire signalled a six for the lofty strike, although batters are no longer automatically awarded maximum runs for hitting the roof under changes to Cricket Australia's playing conditions this season.
McDermott’s shot had to have been adjudged to be flying over the boundary for the umpire to award six runs.
The Renegades earlier overcame a slow start to compile 4-147 as Jordan Cox led the recovery.
The Gades crawled to only 56 runs from their opening 12 overs, before Cox kickstarted their innings with a huge six during the power surge.
Cox was the main aggressor in a critical 66-run stand with Jonathan Wells for the fourth wicket, until lofting a quicker ball from Riley Meredith (1-34) to Chris Jordan at mid-on.
The Hurricanes had the hosts on the ropes from the opening over, after Tim David dismissed Shaun Marsh caught behind for a duck to complete a wicket maiden.
Hobart left-arm spinner Patrick Dooley (0-16) was another key to restricting the Renegades’ top order, delivering 15 dot balls in four tight overs.
