George Bailey gets some medical assistance after dislocating his shoulder.
George Bailey gets some medical assistance after dislocating his shoulder.

Serious Bailey injury adds to Hurricanes pain

Veteran George Bailey awaits shoulder scans as Hobart Hurricanes lick their wounds following an abrupt end to their Big Bash League campaign.

The stand-out side of the regular season, the Hurricanes lost Thursday night's sudden-death semi-final by six wickets to the Melbourne Stars.

Hobart posted 7-153 after being sent in at Bellerive Oval, but the Stars chased it fairly comfortably with Glenn Maxwell hitting an unbeaten 43. Adding injury to insult, Bailey dislocated his right shoulder diving to stop a boundary.


Bailey was left writhing in pain and was helped from the field by medical staff who had to pop his shoulder back into place.

"I think it popped out so he'll have to have scans to find out exactly what happened. It didn't look great on the ground," Hurricanes captain Matthew Wade said.

It remains to be seen whether Bailey, 36, will be able to play the remainder of the Sheffield Shield season for Tasmania.

It was an unsavoury end to the BBL for the Hurricanes, who finished two games clear atop the table to earn a home semi-final.

Wade denied weight of expectation broke the back of his team that won five-straight to start the tournament.

"There was not any added pressure. Every game of cricket to be fair, when you walk out, you're under pressure to perform," he said.

"We didn't do as well as we would have liked."

There have been calls to change the finals format of the expanded BBL to give the top two teams a second chance, but Wade isn't moved.

Hobart made the BBL final from fourth last season after knocking off minor premiers Perth Scorchers.

"It is what it is. It's what we've got at the moment," Wade said.

"The shoe can be on the other foot like it was for us last year when we cruised through to a final.

"You've got to play the right cricket at the right time, and we didn't."