Perth Scorchers overcome Brisbane Heat in low-scoring encounter
An all round performance from Perth Scorchers saw them register a comfortable victory over Brisbane Heat by 9 wickets, in Perth in their Big Bash League match on Saturday. Michael Klinger scored a half century to drive his team home, as Perth won with more 4 overs to spare.
Brisbane Heat who won the toss earlier and chose to bat, were in trouble right from the start of the innings, as they lost their opener Lendl Simmons for a golden duck. The pacers continued to press the advantage further as none of the batsmen, barring Chris Lynn, showed any resistance.
Lynn scored most of the runs for his team, as he remained unbeaten at 75* off just 58 deliveries. His knock included 3 boundaries and 4 massive sixes. Lynn's knock also made sure that Heat total crossed the 100 run mark.
The pacers, however, were the real heroes of the Scorchers side, as they bowled good lengths, to restrict the Heat batsmen. Andrew Tye was the pick of the bowlers for Scorchers, as his figures of 3/23 turned the match on its head.
He was provided with ample support from Jason Behrendorff, who managed to snarl 2 wickets. Veteran Brad Hogg and David Willey finished with identical spells of 1/15, as Heat finally managed to score just 117/7 in their allotted 20 overs.
Perth in reply, got off to a blazing start, as they crossed the 50-run mark in just the 7th over of their innings. Opener Marcus Harris was the only victim for Perth, as the duo of Michael Klinger and Ashton Agar steered the side home comfortably.
Klinger remained unbeaten on 53, which came off just 42 balls while Agar scored 24. The pair's 70-run stand ensured Perth won without losing any more wickets in the middle, to hand another defeat to Heat.
Scoreboard: Brisbane Heat
| Jimmy Peirson | 10(12) |
| Lendl Simmons | 0(1) |
| Chris Lynn | 75*(58) |
| Peter Forrest | 6(17) |
| Nathan Reardon | 2(7) |
| Jason Floros | 5(8) |
| Ben Cutting | 8(13) |
| Josh Lalor | 3(4) |
| Total (20 overs) | 117/7 |
Bowling:
| Bowlers | Overs | Runs | Wickets |
| Jason Behrendorff | 4 | 32 | 2 |
| Joel Paris | 4 | 25 | 0 |
| David Willey | 4 | 15 | 1 |
| Brad Hogg | 4 | 15 | 1 |
| Andrew Tye | 4 | 23 | 3 |
Perth Scorchers
| Marcus Harris | 36(22) |
| Michael Klinger | 53(42) |
| Ashton Agar | 24(27) |
| Total (15.1 overs) | 118/1 |
Bowling
| Bowler | Overs | Runs | Wickets |
| Josh Lalor | 3 | 19 | 0 |
| Mark Steketee | 2 | 21 | 0 |
| Samuel Badree | 4 | 26 | 0 |
| Andrew Fekete | 2 | 16 | 1 |
| Ben Cutting | 2 | 12 | 0 |
| Jason Floros | 2.1 | 20 | 0 |