Hobart Hurricanes captain Matthew Wade has given a frank assessment of a Big Bash League campaign which ended with a record-breaking loss, meek finals exit and stinging criticism from Ricky Ponting.
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Having secured their finals place by beating Melbourne Renegades on Tuesday, a weakened team lost a dead rubber to a record Melbourne Stars total on Wednesday before a third game in four days proved too much with defeat to Adelaide Strikers in Friday's elimination final.
Ponting, who played for the Hurricanes in the first two seasons of the BBL and has since achieved much success as a coach in the IPL, pulled no punches in his assessment of a disappointing finish which leaves the Hurricanes as one of only two teams without a BBL title.
Commentating on Channel Seven, Ponting was highly critical of the team's approach to the Stars dead rubber and subsequent bowling tactics, field placings, delay in taking the power surge and even labelled some of their bowling "tripe".
Wade was dismissed for seven and tournament top run-scorer Ben McDermott for six as the Hurricanes fell 22 runs short of Adelaide's 6-186 at the MCG. Three dropped catches and multiple fielding errors assisted a Strikers innings built around a 145-run opening stand between Alex Carey (67) and Matt Short (89).
"It's disappointing," Wade said. "Take a few of those early opportunities and we're chasing 175 and probably don't have to go as hard through the middle overs."
The Canes had hope, with D'Arcy Short making 56 off 34 and Tim David smashing back-to-back sixes before falling victim to the comp's leading wicket-taker Peter Siddle (4-32), but Wade rejected the suggestion his team's mauling by the Stars had left a legacy.
"If we lost tonight everyone was going to ask the question about that but that's the way it goes (and) I don't think it had any impact on the game. The impact was in the field, we dropped three catches early - one of them got 80 and another got 70 - so in T20 you can't afford to do that."
With seven wins and seven losses, the Hurricanes finished the regular season in fifth and Wade said it had been a difficult campaign.
"It's been an interesting BBL. Probably the hardest one that I've been involved with, with all the moving parts due to COVID and then players coming in and out and no crowds, it's been tough.
"Personally, the same thing, it's been a little bit up and down with the team.
"But we'll learn from this and get better so hopefully we're not in this situation next year because it's certainly been mentally challenging for all the boys."