With the Gabba unavailable due to this week’s test, the Brisbane Heat hosted the Adelaide Strikers in a home final Carrara.
The sparse crowd at the venue evoked memories of the days when Mark Mickan and Johnny Gastev were strutting their stuff for the Brisbane Bears. The Gold Coast has developed a reputation as a place where sporting teams go to die, and with the Heat coming off consecutive losses, this ‘Challenger’ final did indeed pose a challenge.
After winning the toss and electing to bat, Josh Brown and Charlie Wakim opened the batting for the Heat, with the latter on debut. His stay didn’t last long, trapped leg before on Payne’s first ball for 7.
After Brown and McSweeney got things moving, The Strikers introduced leg spinners Boyce and Pope. The pitch wasn’t offering much for the tweakers, and they were replaced after one expensive over each. Pope in particular seemed to struggle for control.
Brown brought up his fifty with gigantic six over deep backward square, and followed it up with powerful cover drive for four. Boyce came back on for the tenth over and was immediately pummeled over the sight screen by McSweeney. At the conclusion of the tenth over The Heat were 1/112, and The Strikers seemed bereft of potent bowling options.
The partnership was finally broken at the start of the twelfth over when Thornton had McSweeney LBW. The subsequent review suggesting that the ball would have barely shaved the bail. Given the recent reluctance of the zing bails to dislodge from the stumps, McSweeney might rightly feel a little hard done by with the verdict of umpire’s call.
Brown brought up his century with a six over mid off, having faced only forty one deliveries – the second fastest hundred in BBL history. But he wasn’t done breaking records. More big hitting saw him bring up the highest score by a Brisbane Heat player, and his twelfth six was the most in a BBL innings.
Renshaw sensibly turned the strike over to Brown who continued to plunder boundaries, until he was caught off a high top edge by Neilsen for 140 from just 57 deliveries.
Pope returned and promptly dismissed Renshaw, before having Walter stumped after playing and missing consecutive wrong-uns. Bryant fell to Boyce, and Peirson followed in the same over, courtesy of a difficult catch by Matt Short at mid wicket.
So dominant was Brown’s knock, that the remainder of the innings was something of an anti-climax. A few more runs were scratched out, and the Heat finished with 7/214.
Neser and Bartlett opened the bowling for the Heat, and initially cramped the batters with accurate bowling – Neser just back off a length, and Bartlett slightly fuller.
Matt Short managed a few quick boundaries before a mistimed shot off Johnson was taken by Walter with a juggling catch in the deep. When Darcy Short was caught behind two balls later the required run rate was almost two per ball, and the game appeared to be getting out of reach for the Strikers.
Neser, Kuhnemann, and Walter continued the frugal bowling, and the desperately needed boundaries became increasingly rare. As so often happens – the higher the required run rate became, the harder it seemed for the batters to find the middle of the bat.
When Weatherald fell to Johnson at the start of the ninth over, Johnson had his third wicket in seven balls. All of the energy had been sapped from the game, and the result appeared a foregone conclusion. The cameras cut to Usman Khawaja sitting in the dugout, and even he looked bored.
Kelly fought hard for 41 off 24, before being dismissed by Walter. Manenti never really got going, and Kuhnemann and Peirson combined to have him stumped for 12. A brain fade by Bazley saw him run out after failing to ground his bat, albeit after an excellent throw by Wakim.
Neilsen brought up his first BBL fifty in the final over, and was out to a juggling catch by Wakim the next ball. When Pope fell immediately afterwards, the Strikers were all out for 160. Bowling the final over, McSweeney finished with figures of 3/3 from 5 balls, including two caught & bowled.
This game was completely dominated by one player. Such dominance in one innings of this format is often juxtaposed by a flatness in the other innings. It’s as though there is only room for one dominant performance per game, and once it has happened, the game is all but over.
Strange as it may seem, it is hard to say if the Heat have recovered their form after consecutive losses. They bowled well, but by then it felt as though the resistance had been broken. As for the batting, aside from Brown, only McSweeney reached double figures with 33.
The Sixers should pose a greater challenge on Wednesday night.
By Matthew Price
Cricket Described 