Brisbane Heat beat Sydney Sixers by 4 wickets, Mark Steketee picks a four-fer
Brisbane Heat registered their second win of the BBL season as they defeated last year BBL winners Sydney Sixers by four wickets. Chasing 166 for the win, the Heat won with seven balls to spare.
All-rounder Lewis Gregory was the star with the bat as he played a brilliant 31* off 16 balls to see his side home. The Sixers, however, claimed the BBL boost point as they were ahead of the Heat's total at the ten over mark.
Brief BBL score: Sydney Sixers 165-8 (Philippe 48, Steketee 4-33). Brisbane Heat 171-6 in 18.5 overs. (Bryant 40, Dwarshuis 2-45)
Wildermuth and Gregory give Heat their second BBL win
The Brisbane based outfit got off to a poor start as Joe Burns' woeful run continued when Jackson Bird dismissed him for 1. Opener Max Bryant looked in good touch, and he formed a decent partnership with Joe Denly. After six overs, they were 46-1. Dan Christian dismissed Bryant for 40 as he top-edged a flick to Philippe.
The Sixers reached 78-3, needing 88 runs off the last 10. There were some hiccups along the way as the Heat lost wickets in quick succession. The score was 121 for six, and the Heat needed 48 off the last five overs.
Lewis Gregory and Jack Wildermuth then batted sensibly as they picked some crucial twos and hit the odd boundary to keep the run rate in control. Some sloppy fielding from the Sixers also helped them. In the end, the Heat registered a comfortable win as Wildermuth finished the game with a six.
Steketee stops the Sixers with a 4-wicket haul
Earlier, winning the toss and batting first, Josh Philippe and Jordan Silk powered the Sixers to the total of 165-8. The Sydney-based outfit were off to a slow start as they only managed 39 runs in their first six overs for the loss of opener Jack Edwards (10).
James Vince and Philippe picked up the scoring after that as they took 17 runs off the 7th over against Mujeeb Ur Rahman. Vince, however, didn't last long as he was dismissed for 20 by Lewis Gregory.
In form captain Daniel Hughes failed to get going as he was caught behind off the bowling of Steketee for 2. Xavier Bartlett then provided the vital breakthrough as he dismissed a set Philippe for 48. The Sixers took the BBL Power Surge with Ben Dwarshuis and Jordan Silk at the crease in the 15th over. The two overs yielded 23 runs. After 16 overs, they were at 133-6
Mark Steketee then cleaned up Silk who was looking dangerous in the 19th over. The latter departed for a well made 43. Steketee was the star of the show with the ball for the Heat as he finished with figures of 4-33 which included crucial scalps of Hughes, Silk and Carlos Brathwaite.
With this win, the Heat moved to 8 points on the BBL points table and stopped Sixers' four game-winning run.