Hobart Hurricanes' head of strategy Ricky Ponting has confirmed D'Arcy Short will open the batting this season.
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Ahead of the side's opening clash against the Melbourne Stars on Friday night at the MCG, Launceston's former Australian captain picked Short as a player to watch this season.
"I've spoken a bit to him about little areas of his game that I think he can improve and work on and speaking to Hopesy [assistant coach James Hopes] then it sounds like he's been working pretty hard on those the last few days," Ponting said.
"What we know with D'Arcy, wind the clock back two or three years ago and he's the leading run-scorer with a strike-rate of about 160 through the tournament.
"If we can get that sort of return out of him with [Ben] McDermott and [Matthew] Wade and then some of the power we've got in our middle order, it's a pretty formidable batting line-up that we've got.
"That's going to be up to Darcy to take it on and we've given him all the freedom in the world to go and play the way that he wants to play, so hopefully it's him [that has a breakout year]."
Already the Hurricanes' leading run-scorer, Short will become the franchise's most-capped player on Friday as he plays his 73rd game - overtaking George Bailey.
Last season saw Short's strike-rate drop to 113 despite going at 133 throughout his career, meaning the 32-year-old will be eager to bounce back to the hard-hitting form that saw him promoted to the Australian line-up.
As the 'Canes boast the likes of international recruits Shadab Khan, Asif Ali and Jimmy Neesham, Ponting was quietly confident in what the side can achieve as they chase their first BBL title.
"This time of the season, everyone thinks I've got a great list because you got to say that anyway, even if you haven't, but we're pretty confident of what we've put together," he said.
"We're pretty confident in the roles that we've assigned each player as well and now we've just got to give them the freedom to go and play and the coaches have spoken a lot about that.
"The players are very clear on what their roles are and how we want them and how we expect them to play so we'll see how it holds up on Friday."
The Stars have already played their first game of the tournament, going down to the Sydney Thunder in a one-wicket thriller on Tuesday night.
A question mark hovers over the head of all-rounder Marcus Stoinis as he continues his recovery from COVID-19, while Joe Burns will miss most of the BBL with a hamstring strain.
Stoinis played the Stars' opening match despite battling illness but was dismissed for a golden duck and didn't take the field in the second innings.
Ponting expected New Zealand quick Trent Boult to be a handful in the opening overs but knows the players "are across that".
The Hurricanes announced their leadership group on Thursday, with Matthew Wade to again captain the side and have Ben McDermott and Nathan Ellis as his deputies.
It'll be Ellis' first time in a leadership role as he and McDermott look to be another set of voices for Wade.
"In a way, I still feel new to the game myself, so I'm still learning myself but I'm also really excited to pass on some of the things I've learned and experiences I've had," he said.
With the other two leaders both batters, Ellis is looking forward to working with his bowlers - the likes of Ali, Paddy Dooley, Khan, Neesham, Joel Paris, Riley Meredith and Chris Tremain.
"I feel like that will be one of my assets, I've been in some pressure situations and some intense games so that's one thing I'm willing to do although our bowling group is really quite experienced, we've got a lot of different bowlers who have played a lot of different formats over their careers," Ellis said.
"I'm really excited to do that but I'll be leaning on them just as much as they will be [on me]."
Since joining the Hurricanes in BBL09, 28-year-old Ellis has played 37 matches, taking 43 wickets at an average of 25.63.
Consistent performances have seen Ellis represent Australia eight times (three ODIs and five T20s) but he and the Hurricanes are still chasing the elusive title.
The former New South Welshman believes they are taking the right steps for this year to be the year.
"It feels like we've been building for quite a few years now, we've always been in and around it and we've had the squad that we've felt could take it right to the end," he said.
"I feel like we've got the pieces we need to go the extra mile, we've great depth in our bowling and batting and we've got the powerhouses at the top of the batting order for so long, now it's just T20 cricket where you've got to come good at the right time."
SQUAD
Asif Ali, Tim David, Paddy Dooley, Nathan Ellis (vc), Caleb Jewell, Shadab Khan, Ben McDermott (vc), Riley Meredith, Jimmy Neesham, Joel Paris, D'Arcy Short, Chris Tremain, Matthew Wade (c)
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