The Brisbane Heat have recorded their first win of the season with 10 balls to spare against fellow cellar dwellers the Perth Scorchers.
Heading into the BBL 08 season Perth and Brisbane were touted as competition favourites but both have failed to fire in the opening half of the season, with one win between the two sides heading into the match.
After being sent in to bat, the Scorchers innings always struggled to take flight. Openers Klinger and the returning Bancroft failed to capitalise on slow starts and were both dismissed in the 20s. 17 year-old Afghani off-spin bowler suffocated the Perth lineup from the second over of the match and finished with remarkable figures of 2-10 off 4 overs.
Dropped Test allrounder Mitch Marsh failed with 11 runs off 17 balls. Skipper Ash Turner (47 off 30 balls) guided his side to a respectable score of 135.
The highlight of the innings and arguably the match came when Heat fieldsman, Brendum McCullum, came agonisingly close to taking what would’ve been a catch of a lifetime. Mitch Marsh powerfully drove a ball to deep mid-off when McCullum leapt off one leg, stretched his left arm well above his head and nearly dragged the pill in.
The Heat’s innings was similar to Perth’s with numerous batsmen getting starts but unable to get away from tight bowling. Captain Chris Lynn played an unusually composed inning of 33 off 34 balls before Joe Burns (20 no) and Ben Cutting (26 no) guided the visitors home.
