It sort of made sense that it would be quite warm though. Very much pointing out the obvious, but both the Heat and the Scorchers are sort of warm weather related terms. So, whoever coined those names has essentially brought the temperature upon themselves in my opinion.
Brisbane Heat won the bat flip and made the incredibly positive decision to get out there and bat first. It was an unchanged side obviously. Why would you change it? They have been geniuses. I also noticed Michael Neser hasn’t trimmed his beard since that match winning innings against the Sydney Sixers. That can only be a good thing.
Brisbane Heat Innings – 7/175 from 20 Overs
You might have heard that Josh Brown makes his own cricket bats… well within the first over it became very obvious that he knew exactly where every bit of that timber was. He nicked three 4s down to Third Man in almost identical fashion. His theory was clearly that he made the whole bat, so he may as well use it. Sometimes there is too much hype about the middle of cricket bats, I think. The edges are often just as useful.
Unfortunately for everyone apart from the 55, 000 spectators in the ground, Josh Brown was dismissed at the end of the 2nd over for 25 from 10. Sam Heazlett and Nathan McSweeney went about building a partnership and Heazlett chose the 9th over to launch an ambush with a six and a four in consecutive balls.
At the halfway point the score was 1/86 which felt like a great platform to build from. I’m not much of a builder but it just felt right. Most people in the crowd were already burnt by this stage and both batters looked like they could have heat stroke. I already told you it was hot though so that sentence really just served to reiterate that point.
The Heat called the Power Surge in the 13th over. If you picture pretty much exactly what you would not like to happen in a Powerplay, that happened. Sam Heazlett (34 from 30) fell first and then Jimmy Peirson (3 from 3) a couple of balls later. Nathan McSweeney perished when he laced a cut shot out to deep point. McSweeney finished with 41 runs from 37 deliveries.
Max Bryant and Sam Hain came together and started getting a serious move on. They looked like they had places to be. And by places to be I mean… they wanted to be at the 180+ mark at the end of the innings. Max Bryant nailed a couple of straight sixes in his 14 ball stay at the crease.
Michael Neser decided he should let someone else have a crack at batting so he got a first ball duck. Xavier Bartlett came out for the final ball of the innings and hit it for six! Talk about taking some momentum into the bowling innings. That was an exclamation point if ever I have seen one.
. . .
Poor Cameraman
No one experienced the raw power of Max Bryant quite like the poor old Cameraman who was set up at long on. Bryant smoked a flat six in his direction, and he went ducking for cover. Probably wouldn’t have got great footage from that particular ball given he let go of the camera and it started pointing towards the stadium roof. There have since been some mumblings about the camera operators being invited to a couple of fielding sessions at their local BBL franchise to ensure they are ready to go. Especially the ones who are positioned at long on. That is a high traffic area.
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Perth Scorchers Innings – 5/178 from 19.2 Overs
It was a steady start for the Perth Scorchers. Michael Neser and Xavier Bartlett both swung the ball but couldn’t capture a wicket. Cameron Bancroft also utilised all available surface area on his cricket bat which was annoying.
The first wicket was quite surprising. Max Bryant swooped on a ball and hit the stumps with a throw at the bowler’s end. That part in itself wasn’t overly surprising. Max is a very good fielder. What was surprising was that Stephen Eskinazi probably should have made his ground quite comfortably. Bryant caught him napping and it was 1/32.
Cameron Bancroft tried to take on Matthew Kuhnemann and came up a couple of yards short of the straight boundary. Michael Neser took that catch but that was just an entrée to the Sam Heazlett catch in the 8th over. Spencer Johnson bowled a short ball to Aaron Hardie and he probably didn’t get it as high as he would have liked. Aaron Hardie smoked it, and everyone (me) thought it was four runs off the bat. However, Sam Heazlett had other ideas and he ran around and plucked it.
I can’t explain how fast that ball was going. He brained it. Heazlett has Velcro hands. Velcro hey. What a rip off. Come on.
The partnership started to form between Ashton Turner and Josh Inglis. Ashton Turner is a genius at T20 batting so it definitely felt like he needed to be removed in a serious hurry.
The Power Surge was called by the Scorchers in the 15th over. Turner continued to make my stomach Turner the way he was batting. He brought up his half century and the partnership with Josh Inglis continued to gain momentum.
Right when the Heat needed a wicket more than I need an aisle seat on a flight (small bladder), Xavier Bartlett stepped up and removed Josh Inglis (26 from 22). Ashton Turner was then bizarrely run out when Spencer Johnson ripped in a throw from the boundary.
That felt like a big moment. Someone forgot to tell Cooper Connolly though. He walked out and brained them to again put the Scorchers in the box seat. It was genuinely like riding a roller coaster. The Heat were too slow bowling their overs, so they forced to bring an extra fielder up into the circle for the final over. Nick Hobson was cool as a cucumber and iced the game for the Perth Scorchers. They secured back-to-back BBL titles. They are incredibly good.
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The Wrap Up
Well, that’s it guys. Good season. Seriously though it was a great season. The turnaround from the first half to the second half was just incredible. Uncovered some amazing talent. Think of your Spencer Johnson’s and your Josh Brown’s and your Nathan McSweeeney’s. There was some great stuff. To finish fifth on the table and go that deep into a Grand Final, that was a pretty incredible run to witness.
. . .
For one final time… Go the Heat.
And thanks for reading my journal over the last couple of months.
Leigh