BBL 2017-18, Match 15 Review: Brisbane Heat get back to winning ways with a thumping win

What in the world happened to the Brisbane Heat management, which kept Brendon McCullum and Chris Lynn away from opening together? Well, no one knows anything about that, but clearly, this pair is destruction personified. They exhibited high-class power-hitting on the day and climbed two spots up the ladder in the points table.

Batting first, Melbourne Stars never got off to a brisk start. It seemed the Heat batsmen and their batsmen were playing on two different tracks. Big signing Ben Dunk once again was trapped very early in the game. Yasir Shah got the better of the southpaw and his opening partner Luke Wright struggled hard in the little time he spent.

Eventually, he fell for a lackluster 19 off 21 balls and Australian leggie Mitchell Swepson was the beneficiary. It was the best spell the youngster has bowled so far in his career and the channels he kept hitting ensured the batters couldn’t get into their comfort zone. Kevin Pietersen was the next victim of the young leggie and inside no time, he had two big scalps after his name.

Glenn Maxwell has a point to prove to his selectors and he played a crucial inning under pressure on Tuesday. Although wickets kept tumbling at the other end, he stuck in and scored a 39-ball 50, which played a crucial role in helping their side post a decent total. James Faulkner assisted him a little, but that was nowhere close to being enough.

Melbourne posted 141 runs for the loss of 7 wickets in their 20 overs. Mitchell Swepson returned with figures of 3/14 whilst Ben Cutting, Yasir Shah, and Mark Steketee picked up a wicket each.

The pair of destruction back in business

In the previous two editions, one of the best things about the BBL was Chris Lynn and Brendon McCullum’s opening pair. The duo played some swashbuckling innings and made the Heat genuine title contenders. But for some reasons, they didn’t open together in the last two games after Lynn made a comeback from injury. Now they’re back together and they’re showing how good they are together.

Lynn was off to a cautious start, something we don’t see often. But McCullum was running riot as he always does. The 142 run target was looking like a joke whilst these two kept blasting everyone out of their way. Marcus Stoinis and Michael Beer were the major victims of this onslaught as they conceded heavily thanks to some poor piece of bowling.

McCullum got to his fifty with a huge six over mid-wicket and a lot of IPL franchises will be wary of a fact that he hasn’t lost his touch yet. He struck another couple of boundaries successively after that and the very next ball, he Bash bros’ partnership came to an end. The duo added 101 runs in 10.4 overs before Liam Bowe sent McCullum back to the pavilion.

Lynn loosened up a little after McCullum’s departure and with Joe Burns’ company, they reached their destination well before the expected time. He got to his half-century as well with a streaky boundary towards third man. Lynn smashed the ball towards covers in the 15th over to complete the formality and hand his side a thumping win with 32 balls remaining.

Brief Scores

Melbourne Stars: 141/7 in 20 overs (Glenn Maxwell 50, Kevin Pietersen 30; Mitchell Swepson 3/14)

Brisbane Heat: 144/1 in 14.4 overs (Chris Lynn 63*, Brendon McCullum 61)

Player of the match: Mitchell Swepson

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