Another solid four-figure crowd came in to watch the Hurricanes’ second and final Launceston clash for the season but the home side couldn’t be cheered over the line as the Thunder raced past the target of 97 with eight wickets and five overs in hand.

The Hurricanes pulled some surprises at the selection table in the wake of Saturday’s loss, with Indian star Veda Krishnamurthy and Katelyn Fryett making way for Northern young guns Sasha Moloney and Meg Phillips, who were well-received by the home crowd. 

Signposted changes to the batting order saw Stefanie Daffara excel in a new role as opener, making a busy 30 and combining for a promising 38 with captain Corinne Hall, who batted in the top four for the first time this tournament.

But the Hurricanes’ batting woes continued, with some avoidable run-outs contributing to a collapse of 5-10 at the end of the innings.

Hall said while there had been encouraging signs in the batting stakes, her side ultimately needed to string together more partnerships to post a defendable total. 

“It’s definitely a part of the game we know we need to improve on,” Hall said.

“We had glimmers again, so we had Stef Daffara who looked pretty promising today and Hayley (Matthews) had a pretty mature innings yesterday, so if we can get a couple more batters batting around those types of players we’ll end up getting scores from the 90s and 100s (up to the) 140s hopefully.”

Leg-spinner Celeste Raack again impressed with the ball, bowling the in-form Rachael Haynes on her way to figures of 1-14 off three overs.

Hayley Matthews (1-16 off three) and Nicola Hancock (0-15 off three) both bowled well but with the exception of a tough chance to Veronica Pyke and a run-out opportunity, Thunder presented the bowlers with few chances.

Hall congratulated her bowling attack on another spirited showing.

“I think our bowlers have been pretty exceptional, but as a batting group we haven’t given them a lot to defend.

“They’ve bowled with a lot of character and a lot of fight and that’s been an impressive part of the team and that hasn’t changed. 

“I think with our batting the work’s there and the dedication’s there and we know what we want to do, at the moment we just can’t execute our skills for long enough periods of time.”

Southern Stars veteran Alex Blackwell (43 not out) hit two consecutive fours down the ground in the 15th over to end the contest but was pipped for player of the match honours by Samantha Bates, who took a miserly 3-12 off four overs.

The Hurricanes meet Brisbane Heat in Hobart on January 7.