For their crucial Big Bash League (BBL) 2025–26 Knockout final matchup against the Melbourne Stars, the Hobart Hurricanes will be missing opener Jake Weatherald, who has chosen to focus on red-ball cricket towards the end of the Australian season.
On Wednesday, January 21, the crucial matchup between the fourth-place Stars and third-place Hurricanes will take place at Ninja Stadium. Both teams were forced into the elimination round after failing to earn a top-two finish in their final regular-season games.
The Stars lost to Perth Scorchers in their last league stage match on Saturday, while the reigning champions Hobart Hurricanes lost a chance to finish first after falling in a small run chase against Brisbane Heat.
After the Ashes ended, a number of Test players, including Beau Webster, an all-rounder for the Hurricanes, made themselves available for BBL duties. Even though Australia’s next Test match isn’t until August, Hurricanes coach Jeff Vaughan said that Weatherald, who joined the team from Adelaide Strikers before the season began, will not play.
“Weatherald wants to concentrate on red-ball cricket at the end of the summer and doesn’t feel prepared to play this style of the game.
We want to help Jake with it. He’s had an incredible Ashes year. Playing Test cricket for an entire summer is rather taxing. According to ESPNcricinfo, Vaughan stated, “He wants to be the best prepared for [Sheffield] Shield cricket and make sure he is the No. 1 opening batsman in Australia.”
“We would have loved to win that [against Perth Scorchers], I won’t lie. [But] being able to finish at the top of the ladder in the final game of the season is a fantastic situation to be in. Now we simply need to approach it differently,” he stated.
Three or four players are being considered to take the place of English import Rehan Ahmed, who left for England’s tour of Sri Lanka, Vaughan continued. Additionally, he acknowledged that complacency might have contributed to the Hurricanes’ collapse against Brisbane and revealed that they had debriefed.
I hope he’s keeping them for a major finals run: Maxwell on Stoinis
Veteran Glenn Maxwell, who has had a poor batting season, making only 67 runs in 10 games at an average of 13.40, was also supported by captain Marcus Stoinis. In the match where the championship is at stake, the Stars captain is hoping for Maxwell to give it his all.
Everyone has these moments when they go through a difficult time. He is the one who almost always prevails. Stoinis remarked, “Hopefully, he’s keeping them for a big finals campaign.”
Significantly, the weather could affect the result; Hobart is expected to see showers. Due to their stronger ladder position at the completion of the league stage campaign, a no-result would advance the Hurricanes to the next round.
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