Well, you can't say that wasn't an entertaining Summer. Thanks for thrills & spills, @HeatBBL! #BBL06 #TurnUpTheHeat pic.twitter.com/tlxvHeohwp
— Veronica Eggleton (@veggleton) January 25, 2017
I concur. Bed time for all, after that exciting finish. We’ll do it one more time, for the final on Saturday. And if you’re still somehow unclear on what went on after reading the thousands of words that I’ve slaved over here, there’s our brief summary report below. Until next time.
Sydney Sixers are into the BBL final, winning the super over by 7 runs
How many twists and turns did that have? Superb striking from Henriques in the Sixers’ super over, while Munro was with him I fancy just because he’s the fastest between the wickets. Cutting went for plenty, but Brisbane only got to a super over because he bowled so very well in the last over of the regular innings. And it would have been hard luck on Sydney to lose with Botha given out incorrectly in that final over.
Henriques is trusting fate. “Six balls, unlimited wickets, you’re just swinging as hard as you can. I got lucky.”
It was the performance of Sydney’s bowlers that was most important in the first half: Abbott took four wickets,as did Lyon, and they just kept chipping away. Brisbane couldn’t really break free, aside from McCullum’s typically fast 46. The pitch looked tricky to time shots on. Wildermuth piled on a few extras at the end, but 167 wasn’t a massive score.
The Sixers were cruising to a win at 133-2, only 34 short, but then lost 6 for 31 in an inspired comeback from Swepson, Cutting and Steketee. As the wickets fell, the pressure grew, and though Botha took plenty from the second-last over from Wildermuth, he was mistakenly given out in the last, and the Sixers were lucky to scramble the tie.
But the super over was all Pink Sydney, Henriques with the bat and then Abbott with the ball, and so the Sixers will travel to Perth to play the Scorchers in the final, in both the women’s and the men’s competitions.
For the second time in as many seasons a Sydney club has both teams in the Big Finals! Well played and good luck @SixersWBBL , @SixersBBL
— Malcolm Conn (@malcolmconn) January 25, 2017
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Brisbane Heat super over 15 runs (McCullum 13, Cutting 1)
Cutting belts a single from the second-last ball to long off, McCullum hits a huge six over long-on, but it doesn’t matter. I’ve never seen someone look so dejected after hitting it over the fence.
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Ball 4: One! Game over bar extras. Baz swats this, it was hittable, almost down leg, short enough to have got under. But he dragged it into the ground and straight to short fine.
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Ball 3: Wide. Down leg side. Extra run, extra ball.
Ball 3 again: Four! And dropped. Botha sprinting around at long-on, gets hands to it but drops it in front of the rope.
Ball 2: Only two runs! Flat batted down the ground, Baz running to the safe end so he was always coming back.
Brisbane Heat super over
McCullum to the middle with Ben Cutting, who’s a big hitter of the ball. Might have thought Burns would be your guy, but Cutting can go long. Abbott to bowl for Sydney. Slower balls, slow bouncers, good pace. Can do most of the tricks.
Ball 1: Dot! As with the other super over, short, Baz misses on the pull, they perhaps could have scrambled a bye on the keeper’s fumble.
Updated
Brisbane Heat need 22 from the super over to win
It’s all on Brendon McCullum. If anyone can...
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Sixers super over - 22-0 (Henriques 18, Munro 0, extras 4)
Cutting to bowl it. Why not, he did so well last over. Munro and Henriques to bat.
Ball 1: Dot ball! Short, cutter, outside off, could have been clobbered if Munro had known, but he didn’t time it. Missed his swipe, Henriques sharp enough to run a bye.
Ball 2: Two runs. Pulled down through wide long-on, shorter slow ball again.
Ball 3: Six! Henriques gets the length he likes, across the pad, over deep midwicket and into the fence.
Ball 4: Bye, and a no-ball. That is... ludicrous. Cutting bowls a sharp bouncer, zips through Henriques and misses his bat, and the umpire says that’s two bouncers for the over and therefore illegal. Even though the others were slow balls and not that high. Come off it. That’s just good bowling. They ran a bye again as Peirson collected.
Ball 4 again: One. Munro misses out on the free hit, but they scramble a bye.
Ball 5: Six more! Henriques has the power, sends another long and strong down the ground, just to the on side.
Ball 6: Four! Henriques goes through square leg, he’s hitting them so cleanly, and that one lands just inside the rope.
Updated
Scores tied and a super over to take place
20th over: Sydney Sixers 167-8 (Dwarshuis 3, Lyon 0)
Well. My computer’s overheating, my internet’s crapping out, I need a glass of water. What a finish. Middle. Whatever.
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19.6 Two runs! It’s a tie!
Cutting, to Dwarshuis, sets his field. The left-hander gets a shorter ball. Swats across the line. Hoping. It hangs high in the air. You think he must be out, he must be caught. But it drops into a gap in the field. They hammer two runs by the time anyone can get to midwicket and the throw comes in! Super over it is.
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19.5 Leg bye! In the blockhole to Lyon, jams it out with his pad, going down leg, he sprints immediately, Cutting down the pitch to field his own ball. Three to win from one ball! Two to tie.
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WICKET! Botha c Peirson b Cutting 16
Caught behind! Except he didn’t hit it. A poor umpiring decision, Botha pleads that it can’t be right, but it’s given. Short ball, he hooks at it, misses, tangled up, it comes off his upper back arm as he swings around, and through to the keeper. I think the intensity of Cutting’s and Peirson’s appeals there swayed the umpire. They were raging for it.
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19.3 Single. Dwarshuis, thumps it over midwicket, sweeper gets it, they could probably have sprinted two but Botha wants the strike. Four to win.
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19.2 Single. Attempted yorker, flicked off the pads but Botha hits straight at the sweeper behind square leg. Ben Dwarshuis on strike for his first ball. Five to win, four to tie, four balls to go.
Cutting to bowl the last.
19.1 Dot ball! Cutter? Moved a bit. Short, Botha swatted, missed it utterly, took his shoulder and bounced awkwardly in front of Peirson, who did very well to make sure that didn’t escape him for an extra.
Updated
WICKET! c Labuschagne b Wildermuth 2 (3 balls)
19th over: Sydney Sixers 162-7 (Botha 15)
Jack Wildermuth, right-arm seamer, is the bowler chosen. Badree, Steketee and Swepson have bowled out. Cutting will likely bowl the final over, if we get that far. Botha wants to finish it here. Short ball, pulled, four! Picked the gap at backward square. Wildermuth, fuller, and Botha goes over cover for four more! Finding those boundary gaps twice in a row. The TV keeps calling him ‘Boater’, and he is sailing along. Dot ball from Wildermuth, into the body and the crowd cheers it like they cheer dot balls in India. Almost. But then Wildermuth keeps the ball up, Botha is in position early, and ramps it over fine leg for four more! He’s almost won it. They need seven. He works the single. Second-last ball of the over. Wants the strike.
But it’s six to win, and Abbott wants all of those. He launches over mid-on, but there’s no one there. There is someone back at long-on, and Labuschagne takes the catch. One more twist?
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18th over: Sydney Sixers 149-6 (Botha 2, Abbott 2)
They’ve lost 4 for 12 now, Sydney. The run out from the first ball of Swepson’s over. Abbott to the middle. Nearly holes out first ball, in the air down to long-off. Lands short for a run. Botha adds one, Abbott another, then Botha tries the reverse sweep. Misses completely. Could have taken his stumps. Dot ball. Valuable. Full bunger on leg stump for the last ball, could have gone anywhere, but Swepson gets away with it as it’s driven straight to long-on. They need 19 from the last 12 balls.
WICKET! Haddin run out Peirson 7 (7 balls)
Another one bites the dust. Haddin punches behind point, takes off instinctively, Botha sends him back, there was never a run, and there’s not even time for Haddin to resume his crease. He tucked his bat under his arm as soon as the appeal went up.
17th over: Sydney Sixers 145-5 (Haddin 7, Botha 0)
Haddin can only dot the first ball out to point, but gets a couple and then a single via the old faithful third man region. Botha has joined him in the middle, dot ball for his first. Sydney needs 23 from 18. Brisbane has taken 3 for 9.
WICKET! Henriques c Burns b Steketee 64 (34 balls)
The captain goes via the Hughes method! Also tries to loft straight, again the ball’s not full enough for it, Burns has to run back a long way from in the circle, but he takes the catch, leaps to his feet, and does a very un-Flanders-like first pump as he roars to the crowd. Suddenly they’ve found voice again too.
16th over: Sydney Sixers 140-4 (Henriques 64, Haddin 3)
Scenes here at the Gabba, as 12th man Jordan Silk brings out a drink, then goes off with Henriques’ helmet and bat. Henriques has to wave him back on, laughing all the while, to indicate that even as well as he’s going, it will be hard to score many more with just his hands. 28 from 24.
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WICKET! Lumb st Peirson b Swepson 2 (3 balls)
“More like Michael Glum,” my dad texts me, after that dismissal. Yes, that happened. Swepson sends down the wrong ‘un, leftie Lumb overbalances outside his off stump, drags the foot, and Peirson has him down with the toe on the line. Lumb basically walked, he knew he was done before the decision came down.
15th over: Sydney Sixers 134-3 (Henriques 63, Lumb 0)
Oh, and nearly a run out from the last ball of the over! The batsmen had crossed when the catch was taken. Henriques dinks the last ball it to midwicket, it isn’t a great call, Lumb isn’t fast starting even though surely Henriques would have wanted the strike. Five singles and the wicket from the over then. 34 from 30 balls.
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WICKET! Hughes c Steketee b Labuschagne
Finally a breakthrough. Probably too little too late, but Brisbane will have hope. Hughes tries for the big drive for six, gets it towards the splice and the ball lobs down to mid-off.
14th over: Sydney Sixers 129-2 (Hughes 44, Henriques 60)
Badree looks cooked. McCullum knows it I think, and has brought him on to bowl, partly desperately hoping that his experienced player can get a breakthrough, partly to get him out of the way so he can be subbed off the field. I would guess. He bowls a couple of shockers, drags them way down, barely getting his bowling stride through the crease, but gets very lucky in that they only get picked off for singles. Not so the last ball of the over, which Henriques comes down to meet, then sends on its way dead straight for six. 39 from 36 is the equation.
13th over: Sydney Sixers 120-2 (Hughes 42, Henriques 53)
Cutting, to Hughes, down leg. Oscar-winning appeal from Peirson cannot avert the call of wide. Hughes runs a couple to third man. Single, single, then there’s nearly a boundary square of third man. Badree is the one fielding, and has hamstring looks totally shot. He trotted towards that, just saved the slowish ball with his foot, kicked it along the rope, then didn’t even bother t pick it up in favour of waiting for the other man in the deep to come around and get it. The batsmen run three in that time. Badree still has an over to bowl, and he looks like he can barely walk. Only 48 from 42 required.
Half century! Henriques 51 from 24 balls
12th over: Sydney Sixers 110-2 (Hughes 35, Henriques 51)
Marnus Labuschagne on to bowl a part-time spinner that McCullum is willing to gamble with. Henriques likes these odds. Goes straight for a couple of runs. Then deep in the crease to make a length ball shorter, and crouches a little to pull it powerfully flat, over square leg. Six!
Then he’s missed. “Oh no,” says Henriques as he doesn’t quite get the contact towards long-on, but Steketee has run in off the rope, then the ball carries him to land just inside it for four. May the Fours Be With You. That’s exactly the spot where Sydney missed a catch.
And six more! More shouts of “catch it!” but no one was close enough, long-off coming around towards extra cover where Henriques lands the ball just over the rope. Fifty for him, from 24 balls.
11th over: Sydney Sixers 92-2 (Hughes 35, Henriques 33)
Bit of luck there, as Henriques pulls Wildermuth off the top edge for four. Less luck as he drives over cover for three. Four singles around that, 11 from the over, Sixers have brought the equation back to 76 from 54, eminently doable in this format.
10th over: Sydney Sixers 81-2 (Hughes 33, Henriques 24)
Ouch. That’s not exactly Test-level bowling. Swepson drags down a short one, swatted over midwicket for four. Lands a better ball on around off stump, Henriques drives that over cover for four more! Another short ball, this time wide of off, and Henriques can crash that away with ease for four again. Dinks a single, Hughes gets two, 15 from the over.
David Hussey is retiring from BBL cricket. Kudos to him for a fine career. And for some fine tweets advising Prime Ministers on economic policy. And kudos to Moods for inventing the word ‘centric’.
Congratulations to @DavidHussey29 on an outstanding career, adaptability & cricket smarts have be centric to his longevity! #topclass
— Tom Moody (@TomMoodyCricket) January 25, 2017
9th over: Sydney Sixers 66-2 (Hughes 31, Henriques 11)
The Hunt for the Wildermuth begins, starring Sam Neill. (Good film, if you haven’t seen it. Look it up.) He did well with the bat. Henriques drives a single, Hughes top edges over slip for four. Follows up with a run through the covers, Henriques pulls the shorter ball for a couple. McCullum, audible on the commentary mics, tells his bowler to attack the pads and bring midwicket into play. Henriques is equal to it, finishes with a run.
8th over: Sydney Sixers 57-2 (Hughes 26, Henriques 7)
Mitchell Swepson, the leg spinner brought into the Test squad to boost the available number of Mitchells, gets on to bowl. He’s had a couple of amazing spells this season, and a couple of horrors. They don’t look entirely comfortable with him tonight, he’s landing the ball alright, but the batsmen still manage to score off every ball for seven from the over.
Solid.
There has been some speculation... #BBLSemis pic.twitter.com/LqqI7JyDm0
— TEN Sport (@tensporttv) January 25, 2017
7th over: Sydney Sixers 51-2 (Hughes 24, Henriques 3)
Henriques Iglesias, the Sixers captain, started the season with an excellent 76 not out against the Thunder, but hasn’t had a big one since. They’ll need him to come good in the chase tonight. A couple of singles, then it’s Hughes with the silk again: a proper bouncer from Steketee, but the batsman hooks it off his nose square of the fine leg to the boundary. Nice. The fifty comes up too.
This is why Ric Finlay is the stats man.
Just updated my list of Joe Burns' victims when bowling in first-class, one-day and T20 cricket.
— Ric Finlay (@RicFinlay) January 25, 2017
It now reads:
NJ Maddinson#BBL06
6th over: Sydney Sixers 43-2 (Hughes 18, Henriques 1)
A couple of singles, but that Badree over was all about the picture-perfect cover drive that moved Daniel Hughes’ score on by four.
5th over: Sydney Sixers 36-2 (Hughes 13, Henriques 0)
After Spin City has wrapped up, finally we get some faster stuff. Mark Steketee, who made a globe earlier tonight, nearly gets a wicket with his first ball while bowling. Cutting at slip, the edge from Hughes landed short of him, and the commentators are getting well stuck into Cutting for standing too deep, Ricky Ponting making the good point that you should stand closer for a bowler’s first ball because it’s likely to be lower on pace. Hughes can’t score until the fourth ball, and even that’s a top edge that clears Badree at short fine leg for two. A single from the last, three from the over. Good start.
WICKET! Munro c McCullum b Badree 23 (11 balls)
4th over: Sydney Sixers 34-2 (Hughes 10)
Badree at the other end. He’s normally so parsimonious, a bowler who routinely delivers his four overs for about 20 runs. He was off the boil in his first over, and doesn’t start the second well, floating one up too full and wide so that the other left-hander Hughes can finally make his mark on the game, cover-driving four. But after Hughes rotates the strike, Munro tries to play the same shot except elevated, and can’t clear the infield. It lands with McCullum at mid-off.
3rd over: Sydney Sixers 27-1 (Hughes 4, Munro 22)
Burns continuing. Nearly looks a good move when he’s appealing for leg-before against Hughes. Doesn’t look so good a move when Munro slaps him down the ground for four, then lifts one over point for another boundary, then grabs a couple more on the pull. 22 off 9 balls for Munro so far.
2nd over: Sydney Sixers 16-1 (Hughes 3, Munro 12)
Reverse sweep for four! Loves these shots, Munro, and he gets Badree after the pair have harvested a couple of singles. Can’t nail the next one, tries again and hits it straight to short fine, who was effectively third man given Munro was suddenly a right-hander. Stays with the left-hand stance for the last ball to bash it down the ground for four more. Some start.
1st over: Sydney Sixers 6-1 (Hughes 2, Munro 3)
Colin Munro away immediately, top edging three runs to finish that over after a few singles and the wicket. What a dismissal. Freddie is the numbers man, but Brisbane’s likelihood just got a bit better.
The win percentage at the Gabba for a first innings score of 167 or fewer is 40%. For Brisbane Heat it is 16%. #BBL06
— Freddie Wilde (@fwildecricket) January 25, 2017
WICKET! Maddinson b Burns 1 (3 balls)
Lisa! Who told you! Maddinson comes down the pitch. Left-hander, against a spinner in name only, spearing it in. Maddinson is not even looking at that ball, I’m pretty sure. Misses it by miles, past his inside edge and through the gate, and the Christmas Tree stumps light up.
There have been a couple of change-ups to usual proceedings as to who is opening what.
Joe Burns is opening the bowling for the Heat in the #BBLSemis!
— cricket.com.au (@CricketAus) January 25, 2017
Maddinson opening is an excellent idea. He can play his stupid shot and get out nice and early #BBL06 #BBLSemis
— Lisa Potts (@leaseM_87) January 25, 2017
Sixers will chase 168 for a place in the BBL final
That total is probably a little better than it looks at a glance, given most batsmen have struggled to time their bigger shots off this pitch. A lot of it will be about clever working of the strike and the gaps, being a bit more productive through the middle than Brisbane could be when Ross was struggling. But it was another entertaining knock from McCullum that pushed the rate back up alongside, Burns chipped in through the middle, and Wildermuth finished it off strongly with Labuschagne in support. Abbott took 4 for 40, and Lyon took 4 for 23, while Haddin had three catches and a stumping. Back with you for the chase in just a second.
20th over: Brisbane Heat 167-9 (Swepson 0, Badree 6)
Three wickets in the over for Abbott. Badree comes out, returning from a a hamstring injury, for his first bat of the season. Hat-trick ball, it’s short enough, and Badree swipes that wide of long-on, and they get back for a second as the sweeper comes around. Badree’s pads nearly came off there, the bindings were all voer the place, he must have got dressed in about four seconds when all those wickets fell. Last ball, slapped over mid-off for four! That’s not bad for your second ball of the season. Length ball, Badree gets set and plays the classic T20 straight wallop. Seven from the over.
WICKET! Labuschagne c Haddin b Abbott 20 (17 balls)
Another one for Haddin, another one for Abbott, and the latter is on a hat-trick. Marnus backs away, swipes toward the off side, and nicks the ball behind.
WICKET! Steketee c Lyon b Abbott 0 (1 ball)
Another golden duck for the innings. The batsmen had crossed, Marnus gets a single, then Steketee gets a massive outside edge that carries to Lyon at deep point. Two in three balls.
WICKET! Wildermuth c Lyon b Abbott 29 (16)
Wildermuth goes, but he’s more than done his job. Great hitting. Goes for another straight one, skews high off the bat towards point. Three converge, Haddin initially calling it as his, then changes his mind as the ball drifts away and calls Lyon in. Lyon has to motor, dives forward and snares it low to the ground.
19th over: Brisbane Heat 160-6 (Labuschagne 19, Wildermuth 29)
Dwarshuis goes for one off the shorter ball, Marnus mistiming the attempted bosh, then the bowler switches to trying for the wide yorker against Wildermuth. It works the first time, beating his attempted shot, but... well, doesn’t work the second time. Slips out of the hand, becomes a high full toss, bashed over cover for a one-bounce four. Then the umpire belatedly calls it a no-ball. For height. Bit harsh. Free hit, but Wildermuth can only scramble a single. Still, two bonus runs. Marnus pulls a couple more, then they trade singles. 11 from the over, 160 on the board, one over to go.
18th over: Brisbane Heat 149-6 (Labuschagne 15, Wildermuth 24)
The runs keep coming. Nine from Botha’s over, the highlight an inside-out cover drive by Labuschagne for four. 170 could be the target now?
17th over: Brisbane Heat 140-6 (Labuschagne 7, Wildermuth 23)
Jack Wildermuth! Well! He’s made 43 runs in four innings this season, then he cracks 19 off one over. Abbott, short, six over square leg. Timed the pull well. Trades singles with Marnus, then gets a fuller ball and punishes it aerially down the ground. Six more, a couple into the gap straight of midwicket, then a better strike into the same area with the legs to make it to the fence. 19 from him and one from Labuschagne. Suddenly a really good total is on the cards, on a tricky pitch.
16th over: Brisbane Heat 120-6 (Labuschagne 6, Wildermuth 4)
Single down the ground, single square. Botha weaving the web. Labuschagne tries the reverse sweep, but only scoops it into the air and it nearly carries to short third man. They get a run. Then Botha lets the vice loosen with a pie down leg side, Wildermuth only has to get a touch on it, and gloves it through fine leg for four. Oh no! The umpire has given that as a wide! It should have been the last ball of the over, it definitely got a touch, but they get the extra, plus a pushed single from the extra ball, and finish with 10 from a mostly very good over.
Meantime, our man in Havana is not happy.
Genuinely, it's a joke that a BBL semi-final has started with stadium filled with smoke from fireworks. Gimmicks more important than cricket
— Will Macpherson (@willis_macp) January 25, 2017
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15th over: Brisbane Heat 110-6 (Labuschagne 4, Wildermuth 1)
Three wickets for seven runs in 11 balls. That’s the mini collapse suffered by Brisbane. Jack Wildermuth comes in for the last ball of the over for a single, only four runs from the Dwarshuis over. 30 balls left. What can Brisbane’s lower order do with them?
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WICKET! Burns c Haddin b Dwarshuis 20 (13 balls)
That changes things though - Burns was in great nick, but Dwarshuis comes left-arm around, wide of the wickets, hangs the ball out there, nips it away a bit I fancy, and the big drive only makes contact with the edge of the bat for Haddin’s third dismissal of the night.
14th over: Brisbane Heat 106-5 (Burns 19, Labuschagne 2)
Marnus Labuschagne in next, who first came to fame as a sub fieldsman in a Test match taking a great catch here at the Gabba a couple of years ago. Finds a couple of singles either side of Burns scoring one. Heat need to steady after that over. Four from it, two wickets. Still well placed.
WICKET! Cutting 0 c Lumb b Lyon 0 (1 ball)
Better make that four for Lyon. The batsmen have crossed, Burns sweeps a single, Cutting tries the same first ball, and the top edge carries to fine leg on the edge of the circle.
WICKET! Ross c Abbott b Lyon 17 (28 balls)
That might be a blessing for Brisbane Heat, actually. Ross has struggled, he tries another big pull shot, and Abbott once again holds a catch in the deep. Lyon has three.
13th over: Brisbane Heat 102-3 (Ross 17, Burns 17)
I was saying Boo-urns. Joe gets strike thanks to a Ross single, then Bird drops short and Burns clouts him into the gap between long-on and deep midwicket. Four runs. Burns has 14 off 6. Cuts nicely next ball but can only get one to the infield. Bird staying short. Ross gets a run to third man, Burns takes two from the last ball, nine from the over - not too bad. The hundred up, the innings building, with some overs and wickets to spare.
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12th over: Brisbane Heat 93-3 (Ross 15, Burns 10)
Joe Burns next in, nails a sweep first ball but it’s saved on the boundary. No saving the next one: advances, hits it incredibly high, and with that elevation it has the arc to carry the fence into the first couple of rows of seats over long-on. He enjoyed that. Maybe knows Lyon’s bowling very well from a lot of Australian Test team net sessions. Sweeps to the field next ball, but cuts another couple of runs to end the over. 14 from it, I think that’s the best of the night despite it costing the most valuable wicket.
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WICKET! McCullum c Abbott b Lyon 46 (27 balls)
The big wicket falls! Lyon’s first ball, Baz opts for the reverse sweep and nails it, taking advantage of that defensive line. Four runs. But the next ball he goes conventions, pulls in the air to deep midwicket, and finally a catch is held.
11th over: Brisbane Heat 79-2 (McCullum 42, Ross 15)
Dwarshuis back. Short to McCullum, who rocks back and utterly smears it through midwicket. That was satisfying. Pulls a single, then Ross is dropped for a second time! Could this be tactical, deliberate? Big pull, it went straight up, way in the air, the bowler settled under it, Baz strangely sent Ross back instead of crossing, and in the end it’s a dot ball as Dwarshuis lets it slip through his hands. His look of disgust doesn’t look like he meant to drop it, though maybe he’s just a great actor. Ross gets off strike next ball, Baz gets a double and a one to keep the strike.
The sledging is on.
Hands like a digital watch..
— Brisbane Heat (@HeatBBL) January 25, 2017
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10th over: Brisbane Heat 70-2 (McCullum 34, Ross 14)
Ross does his job this time, gets off strike with a drive, and that’s when the tension does break. McCullum down the pitch, meets the ball right, and pogoes it over long-off and into the cordoned off seats next to the sight screen. Stays back for his next shot, sweeping hard but only agetting a single to the sweeper. Ross tries to break free, smashes it higher than he does long, and is dropped at deep cover. Jackson Bird running across from inside the circle, dives, and can’t quite snare it. Tumbles free.
This is Alex Ross’ theme song.
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9th over: Brisbane Heat 60-2 (McCullum 27, Ross 11)
Abbott is beating the bat with regularity this over. Gets through Ross down leg side, gloved away and Baz is awake enough to sprint the single. Then beats McCullum, inside edge into pad was it? Looked like it was going to take off stump for a second as McCullum exposed it, but there’s a run there. Then a dropped catch, tough chance as Ross drives hard at Abbott, the ball goes wide of him and hits his right hand, back into the non-striker’s stumps and Baz has only just got his bat down in time. Then the next ball nips away from Ross and beats his outside edge. What an over. Finishes with a driven single, then McCullum tries to pound the last ball, shorter than the rest, and misses it. Three from the over, Ross struggling, tension rising.
8th over: Brisbane Heat 57-2 (McCullum 26, Ross 9)
Johan Botha to bowl, right-arm darts. The spin is harder to get away, for sure. The pitch doesn’t seem to have a lot of pace in it. Same at the WACA last night, same at the MCG a few days ago. What’s up with the surfaces these days? Four runs from the over, three singles and a leg bye.
Interesting update from WuTube on another Sixers player, plying his trade elsewhere right now.
Lower levels sure but Steve O'Keefe getting wickets for fun: match figures 9/117 off 50 overs in Futures League for NSW v Vic
— Andrew Wu (@wutube) January 25, 2017
7th over: Brisbane Heat 53-2 (McCullum 25, Ross 7)
Bird from the other end. It’s a Test match attack for a T20! Lovely stuff. Baz winds up (yes, I’m using Baz, I’m sorry, the errant capitals within the ‘Mc’ names mess me up) and smashes down the ground but the restrictions are over and they’ve got long-off now. Ross misses a swat, then gets a no-ball from Bird. Except it’s not a no-ball, he was behind the line. Umpire mistake. Surely we can automate this? Mistakes like this are just amateur hour. Ross has already belted it out to midwicket, and hares back for the second run because he wants the free hit. Surely he should have left that to McCullum, the most damaging in the side? That assumption is borne out as Ross clouts it straight to midwicket: caught, but not out, it’s just a dot ball.
Single to long-on, then Baz pounds six in the same direction. Daniel Hughes I think fielding down there? He was maybe a metre or two off the rope, jumped up, got hands to it and parried it over for six. Might have held that if he’d had heels on the rope, but fieldsmen like to move in with the ball. Then a high bouncer, wided, and a single, means 13 off the over and McCullum keeps the strike.
6th over: Brisbane Heat 40-2 (McCullum 17, Ross 4)
Nathan ‘Nathan’ Lyon putting in a good shift here. Still round the wicket to the two right-handers, and straightening the off-break down the line of the stumps. They’re finding him hard to pick off. Four singles through square leg, more or less, and Lyon’s length isn’t quite full enough to go big straight, nor short enough to pull. Some fine bowling from a format that doesn’t always appreciate the craft.
5th over: Brisbane Heat 36-2 (McCullum 15, Ross 2)
Jackson Bird back, with that upright, uptight start to his approach that makes him look like an 1880s schoolmaster on his way into a dormitory to clobber some miscreants. You can see the difference in batting styles: Ross gets stuck around his off stump to three Bird deliveries, then escapes with a single. McCullum waits back for the bouncer and pounds it through square for four. I’m not usually one for using player nicknames, given they’re not actually close friends of mine, but Baz is a lot faster to type than McCullum.
The 8th stumping in #BBL06. You'd think with over 7500 balls bowled, that might be higher in such an aggressive form of the game.
— Ric Finlay (@RicFinlay) January 25, 2017
Might even be to do with the standard of wicketkeeping in general. Seem to have been a lot of misses this season.
4th over: Brisbane Heat 31-2 (McCullum 11, Ross 1)
Alex Ross the new batsman, had a pretty good season. Right-hander but Lyon stays around the wicket. Spears a flat off-break into his pads, which Ross flicks for a single. McCullum doesn’t score from the last.
WICKET! Heazlett st Haddin b Lyon 0 (4 balls)
Nathan Lyon straight on, perhaps becuse the new batsman is Sam Heazlett, the young left-hander. Lyon fits him up with a beauty second ball, Heazlett on the back foot to defend the line into his middle and leg stumps from around the wicket, but it rips off the pitch and turns just past edge and off stump. Another dot ball, then Heazlett tries to take the power back by charging down the pitch, it rips away again, and he’s miles from home when Brad Haddin breaks the stumps.
3rd over: Brisbane Heat 30-1 (McCullum 11, Heazlett 0)
One ball left in the over, Abbott’s just taken a wicket. So, McCullum utterly slots him over wide long-on for six. Cross-batted. Job done.
WICKET! Peirson c Haddin b Abbott 19 (13 balls)
They keep feeding Peirson’s pull shot, and he keeps putting it away. Very nearly another boundary, but this time John Botha’s sprawl is more effective from backward square and he manages to knock it along the rope to fine leg. Both men back there, only two out in the Powerplay, so the short ball must be a tactical choice. It’s not working yet. But it works better when Sean Abbott hits McCullum in the shoulder with a slower bouncer. Just rolled the fingers, but got it in short, and Baz was through his shot too early and struck. Shrugs it off. Carves a run off the back foot and trots through. That brings Peirson onto strike. Gets the fuller ball at last, tries to go across the line, and it takes a big edge almost straight up in the air. It swirls back towards the keeper, and Haddin takes the tricky high ball and makes it look simple.
2nd over: Brisbane Heat 20-0 (Peirson 16, McCullum 4)
Ben Dwarshuis with the second over, and Peirson’s first-innings preference continues to make itself felt. Another pull shot fine for four, then he whacks one past mid-on - there were thoughts of a catch, but it wasn’t close enough. Clipped a couple of runs before those boundaries, and gives McCullum strike again for the last ball, but this time the former NZ skipper whacks it straight to point. Still, very nice start.
1st over: Brisbane Heat 9-0 (Peirson 5, McCullum 4)
It’s funny, the commentators are going on about Jimmy Peirson’s high strike rate, but he’s barely made a run this season. Especially chasing: 0, 1, 18, 2, 8, 1 in the second innings. Twice he’s batted first, 46 and 44. Lucky he’s on first today. Gets a short one from Jackson Bird first ball and pulls it fine enough to just beat the tumbling save into the rope, in a tangle of limbs. Watches three dots, darts a single to cover, and McCullum isn’t going to have any sighters. Skips down the wicket to Bird and slaps him over cover. Classic B-Mac start.
In other cricketing news, Australia’s Blind and Vision Impaired team has headed off to India to contest the Blind T20 World Cup. Also, the Australian captain’s name is Lindsay Heaven. Angelic.
And, Joe Mennie is going to be ok after a blow to the head in training that gave him a small skull fracture. Scary stuff. But the medical reports are good.
The teams
With Chris Lynn still missing after worsening an injury on Australian duty, the Heat will be very glad to have Brendon McCullum at least. He missed a game with suspension and Brisbane struggled, but he made 64 from 40 in their last outing as they fell one run short of chasing the Renegades’ 199.
Brisbane Heat
McCullum*
Peirson +
Heazlett
Ross
Burns
Labuschagne
Cutting
Wildermuth
Steketee
Swepson
Badree
Sydney Sixers
Lumb
Hughes
Munro
Henriques
Maddinson
Haddin
Abbott
Botha
Dwarshuis
Lyon
Bird
Sixers win the toss and bowl
As is the Big Bash trend. Moises Henriques, the Carnation Captain, wins the game of one-up out in the middle and chooses to fling. Brisbane will set a total, Sydney will try to surmount it. That’s the way this form of cricket works, if you’ve come here by mistake while trying to find the climate change page on the EPA website.
Good evening all in Australia, and all those enjoying other times around the world depending on your latitude, longitude, and the whims of the governments ruling over the lands in which you dwell. Governments aren’t exactly supposed to rule, are they, but that seems to be what we’ve ended up getting. So one half of the final will be orange, after Mitch J didn’t concede a run last night, and the other half will either be hot pink or teal. It’s like a chimaera but made of colours; a hideous hybrid creature of hue. A Dulux Paint sampler crossed with a dragon. The Sydney Sixers, the Brisbane Heat, at the Gabba, which is surely sold out by now. There were only a thousand tickets left last night. But there are always seats at the OBO Ground. Come on in.
Geoff will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s how last night’s first semi-final went down at the Waca:
Updated
