After building a reputation of having one of the competition's strongest bowling attacks, the Hurricanes put in a meek effort with the ball in front of a crowd of 1365 at West Park as the Sydney Thunder chased down their total of 6-148 with 11 balls remaining to record a six wicket win.

Tayla Vlaeminck, Belinda Vakarewa and Nicola Carey (the latter two coming up against their former side) struggled with their line and length from outset, a fact that was taken full advantage of by Thunder opener Rachel Priest.

The New Zealand wicketkeeper blasted a 32-ball half century to take the game away from Hobart and be named player of the match, with Australian great Alex Blackwell (26 from 29) and 16-year-old Phoebe Litchfield (26 not out from 29) finishing the job.

Post-game, coach Salliann Briggs conceded for the first time this season their bowling had been an issue.

While spinner Maisy Gibson continued her fine tournament with 2-28 from her four overs, Carey (0-33 from 3.1), Vlaeminck (1-30 from four) and Vakarewa (1-33 from four) struggled, while as a group they conceded 29 extras, including 21 wides.

"I just thought that was just a really big off day for us and we couldn't execute our skills,'' Briggs said.

"We know we can bowl better than that and we know we bowled too many extras, so we need to reflect what was the difference to what we were doing today, as we know we can defend that can score."

Skipper Corrine Hall admitted her bowlers had "lost their lines early and bowled too many extras".

"Rachel Priest was outstanding and took the game to us, and we just didn't respond the way we should have,'' she said.

Issues with the ball took the gloss of strong rearguard action with the bat as England captain Heather Knight continued her love affair with the North-West Coast.

After a slow start for her and the team, she powered to 77 from 49 (the equal second-highest individual score in Hobart's WBBL history) as the Hurricanes scored 100 from their last nine overs.

Erin Fazackerly (18 from 16) and South African Chloe Tryon (21 from 12) both had key little cameos, with Fazackerly coming in at number five instead of at the top of the order.

The Hurricanes instead opened with all-rounder Meg Phillips (13 from 22) and England's Fran Wilson (six from eight).

"It was a bit tacky early on, so the ball was holding in the wicket a bit and I think they (the Thunder) bowled well and bowled some good lines, but we probably chewed up too many dot balls,'' Briggs said.

Fifth-placed Hobart will travel to Melbourne on the weekend for a double-header against the Melbourne Renegades before hosting Sydney Sixers at Invermay Park on November 13.