It was a sad ending for the Brisbane Heat at The Gabba on Wednesday (December 30) as they failed to cross the line chasing 150 against the Hobart Hurricanes. The victory helped the Hurricanes to third place with 15 points, while the Heat remained at number 6 with just five points from five games.
Mujeeb Ur Rahman's five-wicket haul kept Storm into control and even though they lost wickets, the Heat looked good in their second win thanks to a fine bout by James Bazley (49 *). However, with seven out of eight balls, Bazley faced just two balls - both of which were one - and Mark Steketee found it difficult to knock out Scott Boland (2-18) in the final over. The end of Stheketee's last delivery left Heat desperately in need of a rope.
How did the Heat start chasing?
Bad. Early wickets meant they were unable to provide proper direction to the innings, the absence of runs on the board added to the pressure. Sam Heazlett and Jack Wildermuth left without scoring goals, while Tom Cooper was also cheap with Riley Meredith scoring two of the first three wickets. Although Max Bryant and Lewis Gregory got the call a few times, only 30 runs reached the first six overs. Heat managed to win the first fight as Gregory and Bryant started playing bullets. Gregory held three fours to Nathan Nathan Ellis in the seventh over and Bryant hit four and six in Keemo Paul in the ninth. But Bryant fell into the same over, after which D'Arcy Short silenced him in allowing just 10th of four, which helped the Hurricanes to score a 'Bash Boost point' as the Heat failed to earn their points in the middle of the race.
Bazley's attempts were unsuccessful
With Meredith sending Gregory back with a short lead, the Heat were five down only 66 in the 11th over. But they managed to stay close to the required level thanks to James Bazley, who hit three fours for Paul in the 13th over, who scored 20 runs including two missing balls. It went down to 49 in the last six overs with a load on Bazley and captain Jimmy Peirson to lead the team through. Bazley lowered the required amount by taking Ellis, hitting more than six more and tackling one in the right leg. On the other hand, however, the Hurricanes took the big wicket as Peirson found a player playing deep to give Boland his second wicket, followed by Simon Milenko's dismissal from Ellis' box. Only nine runs came from those two overs but Mark Steketee hit two key fours for Meredith, bringing him down to 15 off 12. Bazley's six mid-wicket strike on Ellis made things much easier for -Heat, who, however, failed the last leg of the race.
The first wickets hit the storms
A bad boundary in it and the goalkeeper helped Xavier Bartlett pull out D'Arcy Short in the second inning of the innings, and Mujeeb slammed his first just after a fifth over, sending Ben McDermott cheap. In the middle, David Malan, who hit the top spot in the T20I, hit four runs in the over-the-top Bartlett, driving with great confidence. Malan also got a lucky break, when he was put down by Heazlett while giving Wildermuth a wicket. Peter Handscomb walked with four fours from Steketee and Malan beat six Lewis Gregory. But the pace was slower in the Storms as they only managed 65 in the first 10 overs, and Wildermuth also brought back Handscomb.
The heat contains the storms despite David blitz
With Mujeeb counting Manan in the 12th over, which made him hit one fast, the Hurricanes struggled for just 73 with a loss of four wickets. Tim David gave the impetus in the innings beating Wildermuth four times 6 and followed it up with great hits for Gregory. But his dismissal in the 18th over, when he failed to dig up Bartlett’s job, meant the Hurricanes were unable to raise the death toll they were expecting. Only 15 runs reached the final three overs, Mujeeb scored three in the 19th, as the Hurricanes innings reached the final.
Where is next?
The storms face the Melbourne Stars in their next match, scheduled for January 2 in Hobart. The heat will stay back in Gabba to face the Sydney Sixers on the same day.
Short scores: Hobart Hurricanes 150 in 19.4 overs (Dawid Malan 39, Tim David 36; Mujeeb Ur Rahman 5-15) beat Brisbane Heat (James Bazley 49 *, Max Bryant 32; Riley Meredith 3-21, Scott Boland 2 -18) with 1 run.
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