The first BBL match played outside a capital city saw the Tasmanian franchise outgunned by Sydney Thunder, but the size of the UTAS Stadium crowd suggested the city would welcome further involvement in the national twenty20 competition.

Bigger than any Hawthorn attendance at the venue this year, the crowd was substantially more than the 11,010 which the Hurricanes managed for their opening fixture at Bellerive Oval but still behind the 17,771 attracted to Ricky Ponting’s testimonial match in 2014.

Even midway through the preceding women’s match, the crowd was officially the largest recorded for a Hurricanes WBBL match.

Unfortunately, the teams couldn’t reward the support, the men going down by 57 runs for a seventh defeat in their last eight games after the women had lost their fifth match of the campaign.

With their former star Ponting transferring duties from the crease to the commentary box, the Hurricanes men forgot their lines.

Momentum swung wildly in a topsy-turvy Thunder innings before the home team’s chase imploded.

Having kept their big-city guests relatively quiet, the Hurricanes were hit hard by a 26-run 12th over.

Only one maximum had been achieved before Jos Buttler welcomed Tom Rogers to the competition by hitting the debutant for four in one over with Channel Ten’s resident goose Gus measuring the third and fourth at 108 and 110 metres.

However, Thunder struggled to build on the momentum.

Buttler went soon after his big over – bowled by Clive Rose for an impressive 67 off 41 deliveries – before captain Shane Watson produced a typically enigmatic way of departing the stage.

Having looked his usual threatening self composing 41, the opinion-dividing former Test all-rounder was caught short by Cameron Boyce when misjudging a second run.

More of a jog-out than a run-out, the dismissal derailed the visitors whose only boundary after the 15th over was when Jofra Archer should have caught Ryan Gibson but conveniently dropped him over the rope.

Tymal Mills, Rose and Archer produced a succession of excellent overs as Thunder stumbled to 5-166.

Rose (2-20) claimed Ben Rohrer cheaply and Archer ran out Gibson off the last ball of the innings although the most popular dismissal was Kurtis Patterson early on courtesy of a stunning home-town one-handed catch from George Bailey, 

Having lost their season opener to the Melbourne Renegades when batting first, Bailey opted to chase when winning the toss but the end result proved the same.

D'Arcy Short, Ben McDermott and Bailey went relatively cheaply before things went from bad to worse.

Bailey’s departure sparked a collapse of 4-10, as Thunder’s formidable spin battery strangled the life out of any hope of a home win.

Matthew Wade, Cam Boyce and Dan Christian barely had time to enjoy an Invermay sunset as the run-rate started to assume Mount Ossa proportions.

Opener Alex Doolan had been the steadying influence as he watched half his teammates come and go but when the former Launceston batsman departed for a run-a-ball career-best T20 score of 34, the purple writing was on the wall.

Archer (25 not out) provided a late cameo and proved the only Hurricane to find or clear the boundary apart from the openers.

All five Thunder bowlers claimed two wickets with spinners Arjun Nair (2-17) and Fawad Ahmed (2-14) topping the figures.

A clearly dejected Bailey spoke briefly after the game and said he would love to see his home town host future BBL fixtures.

“The result may have been disappointing but I’m looking forward to more games here,” said the former South Launceston batsman.