Courtesy: BBL

Courtesy: BBL

On Monday, January 27, Hobart Hurricanes defeated Sydney Thunder by seven wickets with 35 balls to spare in the Big Bash League (BBL) 2024-25 final, to secure the coveted title for the first-time in history at their home ground Bellerive Oval. While chasing a 183-run target set by Sydney Thunder, Mitchell Owen of Hobart Hurricanes struck the joint-fastest hundred in 39 balls in the tournament, to make sure it was one of the most lopsided finals in the first 14 seasons.

For the unversed, after winning the toss, Nathan Ellis, the captain of Hobart Hurricanes, decided to bowl first, but they didn’t have the best of starts with the ball. Sydney Thunder captain David Warner and his opening partner Jason Sangha stitched together an opening stand of 97 runs before Ellis got the better of his opposing counterpart, who had scored 48 runs in 32 balls with five fours and one maximum.

Jason Sangha batted for the first 16 overs of the Sydney Thunder innings, getting up to 67 runs in 42 balls with five fours and two maximums. The likes of Sam Billings, Oliver Davies, and Chris Green provided the late impetus to the batting effort, which allowed them to reach 182/7 in their allotted overs after Nathan Ellis and Riley Meredith registered figures of 3/23 and 3/27 in their four-over spells, to cut down on the damage done in the first half of the innings.

In pursuit of the competitive target of 183 runs, nine extra runs were conceded on the first two balls from Sydney Thunder pacer Nathan McAndrew, and following that, it was the Mitchell Owen show with the bat. He took down all the bowlers of the opposition for a plenty of boundaries, hitting them at will at one stage, to reach his fifty in just 16 balls before quickly making his way to a joint-fastest hundred in the BBL history in 39 balls, equalling the record of CJ Simmons.

After he was dismissed for 108 runs in 42 balls with six fours and 11 maximums, the experience of Matthew Wade and Ben McDermott proved to be more than enough in taking Hobart Hurricanes over the line for their first-ever BBL title, chasing down the target in just 14.1 overs.