There was no Chris Lynn but the Brisbane Heat may have a new hero in English all-rounder Lewis Gregory.
Key points:
- The Brisbane Heat had lost their three opening games of the season
- Missing injured star Chris Lynn, the Heat survived a mid-order collapse to chase down Hobart’s total of 148
- English all-rounder Lewis Gregory, who cleared quarantine on Christmas Day, made an immediate impact taking 3-22
With hamstrung captain Lynn watching from the sidelines, Gregory became the first player to take three wickets on debut for the Heat in Sunday’s four-wicket Big Bash League win over the Hobart Hurricanes at the Gabba.
The victory is the Heat’s first of the summer and takes them off the bottom of the competition ladder.
Prior to the game, Brisbane’s only point of the season had come from a bonus point in getting a higher 10-over score than the Sydney Thunder in Canberra on December 14.
Gregory, whose mandatory quarantine period ended on Christmas Day, took 3-22 off his four overs including the key wickets of D’Arcy Short, Dawid Malan and Peter Handscomb as the Hurricanes were restricted to 7-148 in their innings.
Brisbane chased down their target despite a collapse in the middle of the innings, reaching 6-152 with 16 balls to spare.
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Bowling on the Gabba for the first time in his career, Gregory took just three balls to make his impact when he removed Short for 27 in the eighth over of the match.
In his next over the 28-year-old dismissed English international teammate Malan (15) and ex-Test batsman Handscomb (7) with consecutive balls.
At that stage, Gregory had 3-5 off 1.4 overs and was an instant fans’ favourite with the stacked Hurricanes’ batting line-up reduced to 4-66.
“It’s not easy. It’s not nice being away from your family on what is quite a nice time to be with your family.
“Equally, the UK is not the best place to be in at the moment as well so it’s just nice to be out playing some cricket, playing in front of supporters and hopefully coming out and winning a few games.”
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An unbeaten 26 to James Faulkner lifted the Hurricanes to set a victory target of 149 but that target always looked under par.
Sam Heazlett, who creamed three consecutive sixes off teenage debutant Wil Parker’s (0-27) first BBL over, top-scored for the Heat with 48 off 27 balls in a quickfire opening stand with Max Bryant.
The pair smashed 73 off 38 balls before Bryant fell for 31 to seemingly put the Heat on a downhill cruise to victory.
Short (3-11), however, sparked a collapse by the home side where they lost 6-29 to send a scare through the Gabba crowd.
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Included in that three-for was an amazing reflex caught-and-bowled where the Heat’s Tom Cooper (7) did a full-blooded straight drive only for Short to pluck it, leaving Cooper to walk off shaking his head.
Stand-in captain Jimmy Peirson (16 not out) and debutant James Bazley (31 not out off 19) steadied the ship with an unbeaten 50-run stand to secure the much-needed win for the Heat.
“I think par winning total here batting first is about 179-180, so we knew we were short, but we also knew it was a slightly different wicket,” Hurricanes skipper Handscomb said.
“We were hoping that would be enough if we bowled well.
“Credit to their openers, they came out and played their way, played to their game and hit some nice shots, hit some hard shots and got them off to a flyer and got us behind the game.”
The two teams meet again at the Gabba on Wednesday.
AAP/ABC
