Kevin Pietersen won’t be at the Gabba but the Brisbane Heat are no less excited about knocking out his Melbourne Stars – the Collingwood of the Big Bash League.

The Stars have immediately faded at the start of BBL04, losing their opening two matches, and will be without their marquee man for their next game with Pietersen opting to return home for an English Christmas.

A third straight loss would almost certainly end the finals hopes of the competition’s glamour team – a prospect which is mouth-watering for recovering Heat spearhead Ben Cutting.

“You either love them or you hate them,” Cutting said. “My best mate is a Collingwood supporter and I always take great joy in rubbing it in whenever he loses and the Stars are very similar to that.

“It would be nice to pick up a win on Sunday night and go a long way towards rubbing them out of the competition.

“They are a very good team and they will certainly bounce back hard.”

The tough talk will no doubt gain the interest of the Stars, but Brisbane – whose record at the Gabba is less than 50 per cent – are under pressure of their own following their opening defeat to Sydney Thunder.

The Heat, expecting a 30,000-plus crowd at the Gabba, are upset by Pietersen’s absence, especially with former Test teammate Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff lying in wait.

“He’s off home to spend Christmas with the family. I can’t blame him, I guess,” Cutting said tongue-in-cheek.

“It’s definitely disappointing. It would have been nice to see he and Freddie go at each other and bowl a few short ones.

“I’m sure (Flintoff) would have liked to have got stuck into him.”

Cutting, confident of returning from a groin strain, said the Heat’s new-ball and death bowling needed to improve to reverse their fortunes at the Gabba, where they lost three matches in the final over last season.

Meantime, Peter Forrest looms as the top-order replacement for new Test batsman Joe Burns.