The Brisbane Heat comfortably won their last game of the Big Bash League 2015-16 against the Melbourne Stars by 56 runs, with Chris Lynn and Samuel Badree being their star performers with the bat and the ball.
Lynn, who has grabbed everyone’s attention since the moment he took to the field for the first time in Australia, put up another superlative performance with his 24-ball 56, a knock that contained as many as 7 sixes- out of which 5 were consecutive- and just a solitary boundary.
Lynn’s big-hitting
Credits to that, the Heat finally came good in the tournament in their last league game by beating the Stars, but they are out of contention for the knockouts now. Despite gaining two points, their net run-rate remains poor and they are now well and truly eliminated from the race for the knockouts.
The Stars won the toss and put their opponents in, a decision they were made to regret by Lynn whose striking prowess was on display as he launched the Stars’ bowlers over the long MCG boundaries, and cleared them by some distance.
He took a special liking to Ben Hilfenhaus, who he smashed for five sixes in a row in the sixth over of the innings. Except the first ball of the over, all the others went the distance, with one of them being a 123-meter hit.
It was a terrific display of power-hitting, as the ball flew over square leg, deep midwicket, behind square, and straight towards the sight-screen- all in the same over.
Lynn’s carnage was also helped by Lendl Simmons at the top of the line-up who made 44 off 35, and middle-order contributions of 27, 25, and 22 by Joe Burns, Nathan Reardon, and ben Cutting meant that the Heat reached 188/7 in their 20 overs.
Badree’s spin-web
If Lynn was the star with the bat, the West Indies leg-spinner Badree took everyone by surprise by claiming a five-wicket haul early in the innings, which included the top 4 of the Stars line-up.
Marcus Stoinis, Luke Wright, Kevin Pietersen, Peter Handscomb, and Rob Quiney were cleaned up inside the 5th over by Badree, with the last two wickets coming off successive deliveries. That reduced the home side to 23/5, a position from which they never recovered.
The Caribbean who is the No.1 ranked bowler in the shortest format of the game, finished with figures of 5/22 in his 4 overs.
Despite an unbeaten 61 by Evan Gulbis, that included some big hits, the Stars could manage only 132/9 in their 20 overs. Josh Lalor and Mitchell Sweepson claimed two wickets a piece, as the Heat finished their BBL campaign on a high.
Adam Zampa and Ben Hilfenhaus accounted for two scalps for the Stars while Michael Beer and Daniel Worrell grabbed one wicket each. Stars now have 8 points from 7 games and are yet to play a game.
Hence, the Melbourne side is in with every chance to still make it to the knockouts provided that they win in their last league fixture.
Brief Scores: Brisbane Heat 188/7 (Lynn 56, Zampa 2/31) beat Melbourne Stars (toss) 132/9 (Gulbis 61, Badree 5/22) by 56 runs.
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