With regular skipper Peter Siddle sidelined, Short celebrated his temporary elevation to the captaincy role by crunching 100 not out off 59 balls.
Scratchy early, Short received two lives off Riley Meredith's bowling - dropped by Mitchell Owen first ball and a sitter by Nathan Ellis on 22 - and he made Hurricanes pay.
On 20, English import Adam Hose holed out to Tim David at mid-on but was reprieved when third umpire Eloise Sheridan deemed Faheem's full toss to be above waist height.
Hose duly belted the free hit for six, one of three he struck in Faheem's over, which reaped 22. Hose eventually fell for 38 before an even higher high full toss from the struggling Faheem in the 20th over conceded another free hit, allowing Short to pounce.
Dooley suffered a nasty injury to his left shoulder while diving to save a boundary in the 19th over, compounding the pain for Hurricanes who looked in an impregnable position at the halfway mark.
They smoked 14 sixes in their innings and appeared on track to make it two wins over Strikers in five days, while consigning the home side to a fourth successive defeat before Short stole the show.