BBL 10 | Heat vs Strikers: Adelaide hold nerve in a humdinger

Onecricket


It turned out to be one of the most closest BBL matches of the season and, in the end, it was the Adelaide Strikers who scraped through and ended up winning the 13th match of the tournament by just 2 runs. Stand-in skipper for the Brisbane Heat, Jimmy Peirson played a stellar knock and almost snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. The Strikers after being put in to bat made a good recovery to post 152 on the board. The target looked way too much for the Heat after losing 8 wickets for just 68 runs but Peirson and Mujeeb brought them back into the game but couldn’t get their side over the line.

Earlier in the day, it was Brisbane Heat's designated skipper Chris Lynn who went for the toss and opted to field. However, he suffered a hamstring injury just minutes before the match and Jimmy Pierson was handed over the leadership in his absence. The Strikers lost Jack Weatherald in the very first over and the Brisbane Heat bowlers never really allowed the batters to get under their skin in the first 5 overs.

Philip Salt survived a few close shaves and went onto make 25 but the innings was scratchy and didn’t allow the Strikers to get after the bowlers. A partnership of 60 runs with Matt Renshaw meant that the Strikers had a launching pad for the final stretch of the innings. However, both Renshaw and Salt were dismissed on back-to-back deliveries by Mark Steketee which put the Strikers on the backfoot.

Two new batsmen in and the pressure was well and truly on the Strikers but they did manage to eke out a few crucial partnerships which eventually helped them go past the 150-mark. Jonathan Wells looked in good touch and made good use of the power surge which the Strikers took in the 17th over. Two overs yielded 25 runs and it did help them gain some sort of momentum.

Harry Neilsen also chipped in with a vital knock of 28 of 20 deliveries and struck some crisp boundaries during the course of his innings. However the Brisbane Heat bowlers never really allowed the Strikers to get away with the game and restricted them to 152. The pick of the bowlers for the Brisbane Heat was Xavier Bartlett who bowled good lines and bagged 3 wickets while Mark Steketee chipped in with a couple.

The Brisbane Heat needed to get off to a good start and the Strikers needed some early wickets. Yet again the bowling department didn’t disappoint as the Strikers struck twice in the first 8 deliveries and things looked very difficult for the Heat from thereon. Daniel Worrall and Danny Briggs bagged two early wickets to put the Brisbane team on the backfoot. After a brief partnership of 23 runs between Max Bryant and Daniel Lawrence, it was Rashid Khan who spun a web around the Heat batters and turned the game on its head.

He bagged the wicket of Max Bryant on the very first delivery of his spell and followed it up with one more in the form of Lawrence in his very next over. From there on, it was a mountain too steep to climb for the Heat. They kept losing wickets and it was the Strikers who looked like running away with the match. They were reduced to 68/8 and it looked all over for the Heat. Yet again there was an umpiring howler when Tom Cooper was adjudged LBW despite a clear under edge onto his pads. This has raised the debate yet again as to whether DRS should be part of every big tournament.

However, what transpired next was something no one would have predicted. No. 10 Mujeeb-ur-Rahman suddenly turned the complexion of the game with some exceptional hitting in the 15th over of his fellow countryman Rashid. The 20-run over gave them some momentum to work with and skipper Jimmy Peirson grabbed the opportunity with both hands.

He simply launched into the Strikers’ bowlers and kept plundering them for boundaries after boundaries. It was quite heartening to see the fact that the duo was still fighting from a hopeless situation. 51 runs came in just 14 deliveries and the match had turned on its head. However, the wickets column was the big problem for Brisbane Heat. With 23 required of the last 3 overs, Peter Siddle took the onus on himself and produced a magical over where he got the wicket of Mujeeb to again push the Heat in a precarious situation.

Ben Laughlin played out a few balls and with Peirson on strike for the final over, with 13 runs required, there was still some hope for the Heat, especially due to the way the captain had batted till that time. The over started with a bang as Peirson struck a boundary towards fine-leg to bring the equation down to 9 off 5. Then he took a brace with a shot towards midwicket, 7 off 4 balls were needed then. But Worrall, who was bowling the final over, got close to the yorker length for the next three deliveries. Peirson couldn't get any of those deliveries away with the possibility of taking two runs and retain the strike. So, he refused the single and decided to back himself to get his team through. 

In the end, he needed a six off the last ball to get a tie. But even the last ball was close enough to a yorker for denying the set batsman the opportunity of getting under and play a big shot. A shot off the inside half of the bat went away to the boundary for four and Heat fell short of victory by just three runs. The captain who fought so valiantly was down to his knees. He was applauded by even his opponents for the brilliant innings. Still, it wasn’t enough for his team on the day. 

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