Brisbane Heat defeat Melbourne Stars by 18 runs in rain-hit match, Chris Lynn stars with 48

Brisbane Heat defeated the Melbourne Stars by 18 runs in a rain-hit BBL encounter. The game began as a 17-over contest but was reduced to a 10-over match after the showers persisted.

Chris Lynn, Max Bryant and Joe Burns helped the Brisbane Heat put up a challenging total of 115-3 in 10 overs. The Melbourne Stars were set a revised target of 129, but fell short by 18 runs in the end.

Brief BBL Score: Brisbane Heat 115-3 in 10 overs (Lynn 48, Zampa 2-7). Melbourne Stars 110-5 in 10 overs (Stoinis 34, Steketee 2-8). Heat won by 18 runs via DLS method.

Poor start costs the Melbourne Stars as they lose their 4th BBL game of the season

Chasing 129 to win in 10 overs, Andre Fletcher's poor BBL season continued as he failed to make the most of the two power-play overs.

Bowling the second over, Jack Wildermuth just gave away two runs and the Melbourne Stars never really recovered from that slow start.

Mujeeb Ur Rahman dismissed Fletcher after Mark Steketee and Xavier Bartlett combined well on the boundary to take a relay catch. In the circumstances, Fletcher's 15 off 13 balls was well below par and Stars will rue the fact that they didn't open with either Glenn Maxwell or Nicholas Pooran.

WHAT A CATCH! Mark Steketee & Xavier Bartlett complete the double-play, and that's the end of the Spiceman #BBL10 pic.twitter.com/gE7CQBCZNY

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After five overs, the Melbourne Stars were 52-1 and were well behind the required run rate of 15 per over.

Pooran came in at No. 3 and gave his side a glimmer of hope as he smoked a huge six off his first ball. The West Indies international smashed 16 off 5 before top-edging a short ball. Lewis Gregory held his nerve and held a crucial catch to dismiss Pooran, who looked like he was going to take the game away from the Heat.

Glen Maxwell had no option but to attack from the go but was caught at long-on off the first ball he faced. After the Australian's dismissal, the Melbourne Stars were down and out.

Nick Larkin offered some resistance as he hammered 23 runs off the 9th over, but it was too little too late.

Chris Lynn scores 48 to help Brisbane Heat put up 115-3

Earlier, the Melbourne Stars won the toss and decided to bowl first in the BBL tie.

The Brisbane Heat got off to a flyer after a quiet first over. Chris Lynn looked in good touch as he smashed the Stars' new import, Haris Rauf, for 20 runs in the fourth over. At the end of the power play, the Brisbane Heat were 47-0 which was the best spell they have had in this BBL.

Adam Zampa put the brakes on the scoring when he was introduced into the attack. The leg-spinner picked two wickets in his second over and was even on a hat-trick at one point. He dismissed Max Bryant (31) and Joe Denly (0).

The game was stopped with 7.4 overs gone due to the heavy downpour and was eventually further reduced from a 17-over encounter to a 14-over game.

Lynn smashed two sixes off Maxwell right after the restart before the rain caused an interruption once again, causing the game to be reduced to a ten over affair.

After the second restart, Maxwell had the last laugh as he cleaned up Lynn, who departed after managing 48 off 23 balls.

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All that waiting time for this first ball back 😫 #BBL10 pic.twitter.com/TqQaBdDoul

— KFC Big Bash League (@BBL) January 7, 2021

Joe Burns (22*) and Lewis Gregory (9*) finished with a flourish as they smacked 22 runs off the last over which was bowled by Hilton Cartwright. The Brisbane Heat finished with 115-3 in their 10 overs, and the Melbourne Stars were set a revised total of 129.

As it turned out, the Melbourne Stars failed in their chase, and the Brisbane Heat registered their fourth win of the BBL season.