ARAVINDASOKAN BLOGSPOT

HOBART HITTING THEIR STRAPS FOR CLT20

14/9/2014 13:08 PM

The Hobart Hurricanes had a soggy end to their Champions League Twenty20 preparations in Sri Lanka but are confident they'll be hot to trot when their campaign gets underway in India next week.

The Hurricanes had the final overs of their third practice match in Sri Lanka washed out en route to what appeared to be a certain victory, but coach Damien Wright was confident the warm-up had served its purpose

"It was a great result for us to start with three really, really good games and I think the guys are going to get a lot of confidence out of these three hit-outs that they've had," Wright told Hurricanes TV.

"The batting in particular so far has been outstanding."

Ben Laughlin, Joe Mennie and Cameron Boyce all took two wickets as the Hurricanes restricted a Sri Lanka XI to 104, before agreeing a revised target of 165 to chase.

Stand-in skipper Ben Dunk and Dom Michael smashed 20 off the first over. Dunk fell for 47 while Travis Birt did his best to beat the approaching rain with 40 from 21 balls.

Shoaib Malik smashed two huge sixes before the heavens opened with Hobart 3-149.

One area of concern for the Hurricanes is the health of key players Evan Gulbis and Tim Paine who were both struck down by illness during the Sri Lanka trip.

"Evan was sick from the moment we got here really, and hasn't had the chance to play any cricket yet," said Wright.

Paine, who starred in the team's first practice match against Hong Kong, fell ill that night.

"We are hoping they can get on the mend and we can get to India with a healthy squad," Wright said.

Should they not recover, Hobart have found a ready replacement in new recruit Dom Michaels, who has impressed so far.

"Dom will probably be a reserve batter for us and he's ready to go, " said Wright. "If Tim or Evan or any of the other guys don't come up then we've got a really good replacement ready in Dom."

The Hurricanes now head to Mohali for their first appearance at the CLT20 where they will meet George Bailey, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Johnson and the Kings XI Punjab in the early hours of Friday morning for Australian viewers