Renegades beat Hobart by 37 runs in BBL

English recruit Ben Stokes has steered the Melbourne Renegades to a 37-run win over the Hurricanes in Hobart.

Left out of England’s 15-man World Cup squad, Stokes was available to make his Big Bash League debut for the Renegades at Bellerive Oval on Wednesday night and made an impression, blasting his way to 77 from 37 deliveries.

Set a modest target of 164 for victory, the Hurricanes’ batsmen struggled on a slow pitch, fading to 4-37 by the eighth over.

Skipper George Bailey top-scored with 20 (off 24) as the boys in purple limped toward 100 in front of a 13,918 home crowd.

Nick Winter was the pick of the Melbourne bowlers, finishing with 3-19. Peter Siddle (2-15 off three), Shakib Al Hasan (2-33 off four) and Fawad Ahmed (2-13 off four) each claimed two scalps.

For the Hurricanes, Ben Hilfenhaus (3-32) was their best with the ball.

After being left out of the Hobart squad last round, the former Test paceman returned with a first-ball wicket, finding the middle stump of Matthew Wade (two off three).

The Hurricanes have individual performers but are still struggling to work as a team, skipper Bailey said after the match.

“We just haven’t probably clicked as a unit,” he told reporters.

“We’ve been okay at different times but, just putting an entire 20 overs together, (we) probably haven’t quite done it.”

While all the other batsmen seemed to struggle on Wednesday, Stokes said his total came pretty easily.

“I just batted my strengths and tried to hit to my areas where I know I’m strong.

“It’s always good to set an impression straight away.”

He’s thankful to be part of the “massive” Big Bash competition and didn’t comment on his omission from England’s World Cup side.

“It’s better than sitting at home doing nothing,” Stokes said of his time in Australia.

Both the Hurricanes and Renegades need to win all three of their remaining rounds to have a chance of making the finals.

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