HOBART, Australia (CMC) – Dwayne Bravo again played a negligible role, as Sydney Sixers were undermined by Pakistani fast-medium bowler Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, losing by 42 runs against Hobart Hurricanes in the Big Bash League yesterday. Bravo made just three, as the Sixers, chasing 170 for victory from their allocation of 20 overs, were restricted to 127 for nine in their preliminary match at Bellerive Oval, with the Trinidad and Tobago and West Indies all-rounder continuing to struggle with the ball, delivering two unsuccessful overs that cost him 23 runs.
Bravo is playing in the BBL before returning home early next year to take part in the Caribbean Twenty20 Championship to be staged in Antigua and Barbados from January 9.
When Bravo entered the chase, the Sixers needed 97 from the last 49 balls – hardly a mountain in this form of the game. He top-edged a pull at a short delivery from Ben Laughlin and was caught at mid-wicket, leaving the rest of the batting to pursue 85 from 38 balls.
Naved, bowling inside the second half of the Sixers’ innings, grabbed four wickets for 22 runs from overs to scupper any vestiges of a fightback from the visitors.
Earlier, Bravo did little to stem the flow of runs, as out-of-favour Australia opener Phil Jaques hit 73 from 55 balls and Travis Birt supported with 65 from 41 deliveries in a second-wicket stand of 107 from just 70 balls.
Bravo seemed to start steadily, conceding five from his first over, but his second over, the 11th of the innings, was horrific.
His spell was cut short, after Birt steered him to third man for four, flicked him for another boundary to fine leg, swung a slower delivery high over square leg for six, and rocked back to cut a short, loose delivery outside the off-stump through backward point for another four.
The Sixers are fifth in the standings on two points from two matches and face the Melbourne Stars next Tuesday on home soil in their third match.