Hobart Hurricanes 165 for 4 (David 68*) beat Sydney Thunder 164 for 6 (Warner 88*) by six wickets
Hurricanes ran down Thunder’s 164 for 6 at Ninja Stadium on Friday night with 19 balls to spare, with David finishing unbeaten on 68 from 38 balls.
The 28-year-old played an almost identical hand in Hurricanes’ win over Adelaide Strikers in their previous match with an unbeaten 62 from 28 deliveries.
Hurricanes have won five matches in a row to stamp themselves as genuine title contenders with three games remaining before the finals. They have missed the finals in the past two seasons and are one of two teams yet to lift the BBL silverware.
Thunder didn’t hit a boundary until the fifth over and grafted to 85 for 3 after 13. But they picked up the pace towards the back end, with Sam Billings contributing 28 from 15 balls.
Warner, who snapped his bat early on, looked more comfortable the longer he went and took the long handle to Ellis in a final over that went for 17 runs.
Young gun Sam Konstas failed to fire for Thunder after a whirlwind two Tests against India and was out for 4 from nine balls, gloving a short ball from Riley Meredith.
Openers Mitchell Owen and Matthew Wade got Hurricanes off to a flying start in the chase with the latter hitting George Garton out of the ground.
Hurricanes lost three wickets to keep Thunder somewhat in the hunt before David and Chris Jordan steered them home.