Left-arm spinner Xavier Doherty turned in a sterling display and all-rounder Shoaib Malik provided the finishing touches as Hobart Hurricanes stormed into the Champions League Twenty20 with a thumping six-wicket victory against Barbados Tridents.
Doherty left Barbados in a spin by claiming four wickets for 27 runs as the Caribbean Premier League champions were bowled out for 113 in 19.4 overs.
On a slow Punjab Cricket Asso¬ciation Stadium pitch, Hobart suf¬fered a jolt when opener Ben Dunk was dismissed in the first over for zero. Aiden Blizzard (18) didn’t last long either and Hobart were 32-2 in the sixth over.
But Malik shored up the side with his experience of playing on the sub-continent pitches. He struck a fluent 39 not out off 35 balls.
Malik also raised 46 runs in 5.5 overs in the company of Jonathan Wells (23 not out) for the unbroken fifth wicket. The former Pakistan captain finished the game with a flurry of fours off the bowling of Barbados captain Rayad Emrit. In all, Malik hit three fours.
Barbados were guilty of fluffing their chances which allowed Hob-art to get out of jail. They dropped three catches and bowled six wides and one no-ball to loosen their grip on the match.
The 31-year-old Doherty was del-ighted at his team’s progress to the semis, where they will run into IPL champions Kolkata Knight Riders.
He said: “At the start of the tournament our main goal was to get out of the group stage and through to the semis. It looks like we will face Kolkata in the semi-finals which will be a great challenge for us.
“But at the start of the tournament I don’t reckon there were too many people that would put Hobart in their final four. So I think we have done a pretty good job so far,” he added.
