Brisbane Heat captain James Hopes’ decision to bat first backfired as his side managed just 7-133 in their Big Bash League clash with the Melbourne Renegades at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night.
The innings started poorly and never really improved although some late hitting from Ben Cutting (33 not out from 24 balls) saved the Heat from total disaster.
It started with Hopes falling cheaply, before a very promising innings by fellow opener Luke Pomersbach (18 off 13 balls) was cut short when he was run out due to a mix-up with teammate Joe Burns.
Dan Christian lasted just five balls before popping a return catch to left-arm finger-spinner Aaron O’Brien, as the Heat managed just 3-31 off their six-over powerplay.
Sri Lankan Thisara Perara (38 off 24 balls) produced some sweet striking in the middle overs, swatting Nathan Rimmington for six in the 10th over and his countryman Muttiah Muralitharan over the rope in the 11th.
But the Heat’s innings took another nose-dive next over when Burns and Perera were dismissed in consecutive balls by paceman Darren Pattinson.
Three balls later, Murali trapped Chris Lynn – who scored the season’s fastest 50 in his previous innings – lbw for a golden duck and the Heat were 6-80, having lost three wickets in five balls.
While the batsmen weren’t providing much, West Indian allrounder Marlon Samuels tried to keep the crowd entertained by doing a set of push-ups after giving up just four runs from the 15th over.
In a rare Renegades mistake, Cutting was dropped by wicketkeeper Peter Nevill off Pattinson on the first ball of the 19th over and it proved expensive, Cutting hitting 13 of the 14 runs scored for the over.
But Samuels kept it tight in the last to limit the damage.