McDermott 114 in Hurricanes' record last-ball chase

On a night when the BBL record books were ripped to shreds by half-time then rewritten and burned by the close, Hobart Hurricanes - needing a win to stay alive in BBL6 - chased down the highest score in BBL history to beat Melbourne Renegades at Etihad Stadium.

A spellbinding knock of 114 from 52 balls from Ben McDermott, the 22-year-old son of Craig and the man stepping into Kumar Sangakkara's shoes, gave the Hurricanes hope in their chase. By the time he fell, lbw to Sunil Narine in the 16th over, he had not faced a dot ball in 27 deliveries, in which time he had racked up 85 runs. He put on 151 with George Bailey, who made his second consecutive 50, but whose dismissal appeared to have effectively sealed a Renegades win.

The pair had come together at 19 for 2 in the third over, and equally barmy was the manner in which the game ended. Hurricanes need 14 from the final four balls, with Stuart Broad and Sam Rainbird at the crease. Broad scrambled his way to levelling the scores with a ball to go, so Aaron Finch donned the helmet and fielded at silly point. Broad calmly sent a leading edge off Thisara Perera down the ground for one.

It was a truly remarkable ending to a truly remarkable game of cricket.

Renegades' romp
The weight was spread pretty evenly by Renegades' top six, with all of them making it to 15, and none striking below Marcus Harris's 131. Harris and Finch set things up, picking their targets: they allowed each of Broad's first two overs to go for just four, but went after Rainbird at the other end, with his first two costing 29. Harris was caught at long-on, but Cameron White joined Finch and they carried on their merry way until the former was taken at deep square-leg at the end of a Jake Reed over that had already cost 18.

The platform had been set, and Tom Cooper kicked on, ending unbeaten on 53 off 24 balls, while Perera provided some grunt at the death. Their 222 for four took them 10 past the previous highest score in the BBL, made by Hurricanes against Brisbane Heat in December 2013. Renegades had hit 21 fours and nine sixes; who could possibly have thought that at times in the chase it would look 20 runs short? Or that an opposition batsman could smash nine sixes all on his own? Or that they could lose?

Spun to a slow death… or not
It's no secret that Hurricanes' breakout star D'Arcy Short likes pace on the ball, so Renegades went straight for the spinning squeeze. Cooper cannot be far from shedding his part-timer tag, and once again he bowled the first over of the innings and snared Tim Paine, slogging in the first over. Cooper's opening over record this season is 3 for 25 from six overs, so Finch trusted him with a second. Sure enough, he dismissed Short - although only after being pumped for six. From there, Hurricanes were treated to spin throughout the Powerplay (which ended 48 for 2), with Xavier Doherty bowling three and Sunil Narine one over. It seemed a long way to win from there.

Staying alive
Given the inauspicious start to the Hurricanes innings, McDermott and Bailey's partnership was truly remarkable. The young Queenslander scored one run from his first five balls, but remained patient. He ended up reverse-sweeping, cover-driving, cutting, pulling, but most impressively pumping hard over cow, where the majority of his sixes came.

Bailey happily played the role of junior partner, running hard for McDermott and feeding him the strike. They took at least 11 from all seven of the overs before McDermott fell, and they targeted the pace of James Pattinson, off whom McDermott took consecutive sixes to move to his 47-ball ton.

Last-ball drama
Dan Christian smote a four and a six, but fell to Narine in the over after McDermott. Next ball, Jono Wells was bowled. Another two overs on, Beau Webster's 20-run stand (of which he scored zero) with Bailey ended, and the senior man went to Narine two balls later. At the start of the final over, Narine ran out Cameron Boyce, and it looked over. Enter Broad, never shy of an occasion like this. He provided a fittingly mad ending.