Big Bash League LIVE: Hurricanes and Sixers battle it out for a home final

Hurricanes off to a fast start

Sixers quick Jack Edwards gets us under way tonight on what looks to be a dry pitch in Hobart.

Hurricanes opener Mitch Owen cracks a cover drive for three to start in positive fashion. Now a six down the ground. Doesn’t completely time it. He’ll take it.

Penultimate ball of the over, Owen smokes a cover drive for a boundary. Heck of a start. 14 off five balls for the opener. Real sign of intent from the home side.

Hurricanes 0-15 from one over

Moises Henriques warms up in Hobart. Credit: Getty Images

How Glenn Maxwell’s unfulfilled Test career helped save the BBL

By Daniel Brettig

Leaving Glenn Maxwell out of the Sri Lanka Test tour wasn’t the hardest call for Australia’s selectors.

That unfortunate honour instead went to Peter Handscomb, who trained with the squad during the SCG Test but found himself overtaken by Nathan McSweeney when the 16 berths were finalised by George Bailey a few days later.

Nevertheless, Maxwell’s omission felt like the end of any notion that he might play more Test cricket. At 33, Handscomb will still be around the mark when Australia next go to India in a couple of years’ time. At 36, Maxwell almost certainly will not.

That sense of finality came with a parallel sense of loss. For well over a decade now, Maxwell has been one of the most outrageously gifted cricketers in the world. Yet in Test match terms, his sole century against India in Ranchi eight years ago leaves Maxwell on the same rung of the ladder as the likes of Brad Hodge, David Hookes, Martin Love, Kurtis Patterson and … Jason Gillespie.

Maxwell’s seven Tests spanned four years and four tours, two to India and one each to the UAE and Bangladesh. The last of those, in Chittagong in late 2017, provided Maxwell with the solitary Test match win in which he played.

The Thunder host the Stars in Sydney on Wednesday evening.

READ THE FULL STORY FROM DANIEL BRETTIG HERE

Sixers win the toss and elect to bowl

The second-placed Sixers have sent the Hurricanes into bat in Hobart.

Sixers debut for Mitch Perry. Ben Manenti back in magenta. Steve Smith, Todd Murphy and Sean Abbott are in Dubai on Test duty ahead of Australia’s series in Sri Lanka.

A big crowd is brewing in Hobart

Here was the call to arms for Hurricanes supporters to get behind their team as they chase a maiden BBL title.

They’re going to turn out in droves.

According to Cricket Australia, tonight’s ‘qualifier’ match has been sold out. It could be the BBL’s largest finals crowd in Hobart.

“Over 15,000 fans are expected at the clash between the Hobart Hurricanes and Sydney Sixers,” CA said in a statement this afternoon. “The match is projected to be the highest attended BBL game in Hobart since BBL|06.”

BBL boss Alistair Dobson said: “A sell out for ‘The Qualifier’ at Ninja Stadium tonight is the perfect way to begin the BBL finals. We can’t wait to see the top two teams from the home and away season go head-to-head in front of a packed crowd.”