19th over: Strikers 146-5 (Wells 23, Neser 1) Lots of praise for Wells here, who’s managed the close of this chase well. He was able to put away Steketee last over, and he keeps it ticking over here with a couple of nice-looking two’s through the offside. He keeps the strike for the last over, where the Strikers need only one run to win. Steketee will bowl it.
Out! Good catch from Swepson, diving forward at point to dismiss mini-Boof. He was beaten by a slower ball and therefore through the shot too early. Consolation only. Neser to the crease.
18th over: Strikers 140-4 (Wells 19, Lehmann 15) Steketee returns, and an early Lehmann steer beyond point gets he and the Strikers three, and off to a good start. Later, Steketee bowls a rank full toss to Wells and he’s hammered over cover for four. “Oh no,” says captain Lynn, who’s on air again. The next goes too. “Oh, no!” says Lynn again. “That’s a dagger,” is Lynn’s commentary.
17th over: Strikers 128-4 (Wells 10, Lehmann 12) Just can’t get themselves clear, Adelaide, who are only 6 runs ahead of the Heat at the same stage of their innings. They succeed only in gaining little inside edges and singles from Cutting’s off-cutters – though he did start with a harshly judged wide. It gets a little easier for the Strikers from thereon, with a succession of two’s into the deep bringing them to run-a-ball territory. With six wickets in hand, they should be able to do it from here.
16th over: Strikers 120-4 (Wells 6, Lehmann 9) Lehmann edges a Swepson wrong’un for four to start with – he didn’t know much about it. He bamboozles for the rest, but unfortunately concedes two from him final delivery, with singles in between. 1/27 from 4 doesn’t accurately reflect the spell – he was a menace throughout.
15th over: Strikers 112-4 (Wells 5, Lehmann 2) Mujeed missing his lengths allows some singles to be turned over, but still too difficult to really get away. He goes for only four, but it’s all the Strikers need. 35 needed to win. Five overs remain.
14th over: Strikers 108-4 (Wells 3, Lehmann 0) Swepson magnificent this over. Conceded only singles before knocking over Carey. Can The Heat bring themselves back into it?
Well deserved Mickey! Although Carey was bossing all else, he couldn’t get a handle on the QLD leggie, who slid one past Carey’s outstretched hands and into off stump. Feels a bit late from a match perspective, but promising from Swepson’s point of view. Classy stuff from Carey, who’s controlled this run chase.
13th over: Strikers 104-3 (Carey 68, Short 13) Carey purring this over. After Short’s dismissal, Carey starts with a deft glide through third man for four, then exchanges singles with new batsmen Wells, before driving ferociously through cover for another boundary.
Pattinson digs the short ball in and it gets big on Short. He tried to pull without conviction, landing it in McCullum’s hands at long on.
12th over: Strikers 93-2 (Carey 58, Short 13) Excellent over from Swepson, entirely unrewarded. The first, he beats Short with a wrong’un that looked LBW, but given not out (edged?). Carey then survives a strong caught behind appeal after being beaten by a wrong’un, so the South Australian follows up with a six back over his head. Swepson beats Carey again with a wrong’un, the Australian keeping understudy slicing him to backward point but it’s dropped. Did it hit his knee? A single to finish, nine from the over, and no reward for Swepson.
11th over: Strikers 84-2 (Carey 51, Short 11) Cutting becomes the sixth bowler into the attack, and Carey’s able to flick the third ball way for three to bring up his fifty. It comes from 35 balls, and is the innings of a player operating at a high level at the moment. Interestingly, he seems to have found a way to profit from the bowling that isn’t offering him width, working away to the onside with greater ease. Eight from the over.
10th over: Strikers 76-2 (Carey 45, Short 9) Swepson into the attack now. Short gets two from an overpitched wrong’un – they checked for a runout but Short dived and made his ground. Swepson is flat here, but successful. All attacking shots are to fielders, and he exits the over conceding only six runs. Each miserly over just increases the need for big blows later. Adelaide should manage but the pressure increases ever so slightly.
9th over: Strikers 70-2 (Carey 44, Short 4) It’s Steketee, and he begins with successful short balls, only resulting in singles. Carey has been stymied somewhat here, and the theme continues throughout the over, as the no width policy yields singles only for the Strikers. Six from the over.
8th over: Strikers 64-2 (Carey 42, Short 1) Mujeeb back into the attack, and it’s another quiet one. Singles only from the mystery spinner, before he gets one to go right through Short, and they’re appealing viciously! Not out, says umpire Wilson. Only three from the over, all told. The Heat creeping back into this.
7th over: Strikers 61-2 (Carey 40, Short 0) A great over from Pattinson who was rewarded with Ingram’s wicket. As far as I can deduce his plan is to cramp each batsman, and it’s working. Short to the crease, who leads an inexperienced middle over.
Great pressure from Pattinson, who kept both Carey and Ingram quiet for the majority of the over. Ingram then tried to pull a fullish ball that was just too tight, and mistimed it out to deep midwicket, where Heazlett took it comfortably.
6th over: Strikers 57-1 (Carey 37, Ingram 0) Joe Burns takes the ball, presumably to tempt both bats into profiting from the last over of the powerplay, at the risk of a wicket. Carey needn’t worry too much, the first is a genuine long hop and he deposits it to long on for six. The rest is strong from Burns, whose slung-in offspin with the angle accounts for Weatherald, and little else happens thereafter.
Soft dismissal – Weatherald will rue that. Burns is on in the powerplay, and Weatherald tries to lap him airily midway through the over. He does so, and hits it straight to Pattinson for an easy catch. It brings Ingram to the crease.
5th over: Strikers 49-0 (Carey 29, Weatherald 17) Bang. Bang. Bang. It’s Carey, hitting Steketee’s first back over his head for six with the field up, the second squirted over gully for four, the third again over his head for six. Each six nearly took out Carey’s team mates in the dugout*. Three separate singles follow. A wonderful over for the visitors. Dizzy’s outfit look a class above here.
*Speaking of baseball lexicon, also just heard Ponting refer to Carey’s ‘at-bats’. Okay.
4th over: Strikers 30-0 (Carey 11, Weatherald 16) It’s Mujeeb, and from ball two Wesatherald cuts hard forward of cover and gets three for it. Michael Slater getting a bit excited on comms, it must be said. We’re having a look at Mujeeb’s variations, and he has a few, which is apt as Weatherald tries to heave him only to find clear air. There’s a half-hearted shout for a stumping which the umpire refers, but Weatherald was well back. The next is short and wide and Weatherald deals with it, cutting firmly through cover point for for. Calm start for the Strikers, they’ve started solidly and have wickets in hand.
3rd over: Strikers 20-0 (Carey 10, Weatherald 7) Pattinson follows Carey again, and the Redbacks keeper effects another leg bye. That’s the order of the day, as it happens again. Clearly a plan here. It’s the same plan to Weatherald, who gets bat on one to short fine leg – the run out’s on, it’s to the non striker’s end, but misses. Would have been out. Carey then carves a very full ball over extra cover, slicing it away for two. The next is hammered straight – sounded great – but it can’t beat mid off.
2nd over: Strikers 15-0 (Carey 8, Weatherald 6) Continue the momentum, son! It’s Mujeeb opening from the other end, so a little spin for something different. Weatherald tries to hit him over mid on for six – there’s a man down there, it’s down his throat but he drops it cold! Oh dear. That looked bad. Of course it went for four. It was Bryant, sorry to report, and it was the carrom ball. As is the natural law of cricket, he concedes another boundary, this time to Carey who sweeps neatly.
1st over: Strikers 6-0 (Carey 4, Weatherald 1) Pattinson begins to Carey – all eyes will be on the Victorian speedster to see if he can make the batsmen hop. It’s a slow start, and Carey’s able to punch the second delivery over the top of cover point for four. Carey’s exposing all three stumps and Pattinson is following him, so no freedom to swing means a dot follows. Then another. Carey gets a leg bye (followed again) before Weatherland drives his first firmly for one, and will retain the strike.
If you offered that at the top of the innings, Adelaide would have taken that all day. But now, they’ll understandably wonder what might have been. After outclassing Heat’s batsmen from the off, a late partnership from Jimmy Peirson and Mujeeb Ur Rahman added 45 critical runs to an otherwise meagre total, leaving the hosts with a fraction of light.
Beforehand, it was a controlled, skilful performance from the reigning premiers, who through Khan, Laughlin, and Short went through the Heat middle order with ease. Lynn did Lynn things earlier, muscling a few into the stands for an entertaining 33, but beyond that there was little resistance before the final wicket partnership.
What we can say, though, is that the run out incident involving James Pattinson will likely dominate highlight reels and memes more than much else that will happen tonight. He was given out after clearly appearing well and truly in, and evidently it was only the withdrawal of the appeal from the visitors that prolonged Pattinson’s stay. Like most people, I’m still thinking ‘huh?’
Time for a 180 second breather before both teams return. Adelaide in the driving seat, Brisbane with it all to do.
He finally holes out, but not before Mujeeb landed a few more blows. He batted with charisma, enterprise and panache. A little luck went a long way. What an innings, what a partnership.
19th over: Heat 140-9 (Peirson 24, Mujeeb 21) Another two to Mujeeb who hoicks Laughlin out to deep midwicket, only to be cutoff by a brilliant stop from that man, Rash (my mate) Khan. He’s on a roll now, Mujeeb. Grabs another single, brings Peirson on strike who front foot muscles one from over his shoulder for four. Next, Peirson slog sweeps Laughlin into the top tier! Life restored into this game! 93 metres, that was. Peirson watched that all the way, cameras show.
18th over: Heat 127-9 (Peirson 14, Mujeeb 14) Neser returns as we enter nuisance territory. There’s a single to begin, then two to Mujeeb as he toes one through midwicket, before Peirson lofts Neser over mid-off for a glorious boundary. Partnership moves to 24. Starting to look easier for both, especially Peirson who now gets a single to fine leg, and then Mujeeb clears the front leg and jams a yorker to mid on – and by mid on I mean Neser fields from his own bowling in that region.
17th over: Heat 117-9 (Peirson 8, Mujeeb 17) Khan’s spell ends (3-19 from 4) and Laughlin returns. Mujeeb tries to belt him early – clearing the front leg – but can only get a single. From there Laughlin gives the full repertoire: short and fast, short and slow, undercutter-swinger-held-back, fast yorker. They can’t really hit any of them. Another quality over from Ben Laughin. Meanwhile, Mujeeb now has the highest score by a number 11 in the history of the BBL. It’s not all bad for the Heat. Looking forward to seeing him bowl, too.
16th over: Heat 114-9 (Peirson 6, Mujeeb 13) Some fireworks with the bat! Stanlake, who’s struggled, is taken to the cleaners by the young Mujeeb, going dot, four, two, dot, two. Both boundaries were slapped back over Stanlake’s head, while the next was almost lapped for six! Laughlin got there and performed one of those catch-batback motions, resulting in two. Mujeeb can now comfortably re-enter the dressing room smug about his batting efforts, particularly in comparison to the guys ahead of him.