Brisbane Heat have a nervous wait for tonight’s second KFC BBL clash in Perth after their victory at Adelaide Oval knocked the Strikers out of the tournament.
The Heat’s six-wicket win over the Strikers means the defending champions are out of the finals race, and they will be joined by the Heat if the Melbourne Stars beat the Scorchers later tonight.
But a loss for the Stars will leave three teams – the Stars, Heat and Thunder – within two points of each other in the race for the fourth and final play-off spot.
Matt Renshaw was the hero of the Heat’s impressive win this evening, blazing 90no from 50 balls as he and Brendon McCullum (51 from 39 balls) anchored their successful chase of Adelaide’s 8-176 with eight balls remaining.
Chasing 177 runs to win, Renshaw changed his reputation with a sizzling unbeaten 90 from just 50 balls as the Heat won with more than an over to spare.
The fringe Test opener cracked four sixes and nine fours, forcing renowned aggressor McCullum to play second fiddle.
Renshaw, batting at No,5, strode to the crease with an average of 12.71 and strike rate of 104.71 from seven previous games in this BBL tournament.
He departed with the crowd wondering if this was the same man who was typecast as dour opening bat in longer formats.
He even collected a wicket; opening the bowling with his off-spinners, Renshaw dismissed Adelaide danger man Jake Weatherald.
But it was his astonishing feats with the bat which surprised: Renshaw clocked a half-century from only 26 balls and kept up the pace to officially end the Strikers’ title defence.
Adelaide can’t make the BBL playoffs, although the Heat will still likely miss out – they need to win their last match on Friday against the Melbourne Stars and have a plethora of other results fall their way.
The Strikers will rue a missed chance to post a seriously large total – their 8-176 came after top-scorer Jon Wells (30 from 27 balls), Colin Ingram (28 from 21) and Alex Carey (24 from 24) failed to cash in.
Adelaide slipped to 5-92 after 13 overs but scored 84 runs from the final seven overs, with cameos from Harry Nielsen (21 from 16), Rashid Khan (19), Cameron Valente (19no) and Michael Neser (18).
Brisbane paceman Josh Lalor, after taking a hat-trick last game, claimed 3-25.
Strikers XI: Alex Carey (wk), Jake Weatherald, Jake Lehmann, Colin Ingram (c), Jonathan Wells, Harry Nielsen, Cameron Valente, Michael Neser, Rashid Khan, Peter Siddle, Ben Laughlin
Heat XI: Max Bryant, Chris Lynn (c), Brendon McCullum, Matthew Renshaw, Alex Ross, Jimmy Peirson (wk), Ben Cutting, Jack Prestwidge, Josh Lalor, Mitch Swepson, Matthew Kuhnemann
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