Hobart win thriller

The Hobart Hurricanes secured a home Big Semi Final with a nail-biting seven-wicket win over the Melbourne Renegades with just one ball to spare at Blundstone Arena on Wednesday.

Needing one to win from the final ball of Shahid Afridi's over, Owais Shah (49) didn't need to get bat on ball, with the spinner bowling a wide to gift the home side victory.

Set 174 to win, the Hurricanes made a steady start and accelerated brilliantly during the innings with Jonathan Wells (72) the mainstay.

But when Wells was caught at deep midwicket in the 18th over the Hurricanes still needed 20 to win and it was left to Shah and Phil Jaques (12) to get the home side over the line.

An audacious ramp shot from Jaques off the bowling of Dirk Nannes (1-22) left 10 to get from the final over. He then took three with a reverse sweep to keep the Renegades guessing, but singles from the next two balls meant Hobart needed five from the last two balls to win.

A boundary from Shah on the penultimate delivery left a single needed before Afridi lost his radar and gifted the match to Hobart.

Earlier, the hosts made a poor start with Mark Cosgrove dismissed for two when he edged a Dirk Nannes delivery onto his own stumps.

That brought Travis Birt (25) to the crease with all in attendance hoping the in-form left-hander could make a significant addition to his 309 runs in the first six BBL matches.

Birt made an immediate impact with some big hits and when Wells smashed Andrew McDonald down the ground for his third boundary in the Renegades captain's first over, the Hurricanes were ahead of par and seemingly in control of the contest having taken 31 runs in two overs.

But Afridi managed to put a wobble in the run chase by trapping Birt in front as the batsman swung hard, looking for another swept six over midwicket, reducing the home team to 2-83 after 10 overs.

Wells was joined by Shah and the two played the ball into gaps as they looked to consolidate after the loss of Birt.

They kept the run-rate ticking to set up the thrilling finish to the match.

Earlier, a century stand from opening batsmen Aaron Finch and Brad Hodge has helped the Melbourne Renegades post an imposing 4-173.

Finch (67) and Hodge (63) added 126 for the first wicket, smashing some loose bowling from the Hobart attack to put their side in the box seat, but the total was not as big as it looked like being after 13 overs when the Renegades were 0-125 and cruising.

Jason Krejza had the pick of the figures for Hobart with 3-39 from his four overs and the numbers could have been far better if not for three consecutive sixes Finch hit in the off-spinner's second over.

The Hurricanes will wait for the result of Wednesday night's match between the Sixers and Scorchers in Sydney to know whether they'll host their Big Semi Final on Saturday or Sunday evening.