Left Arm Around

A clinical bowling performance and another Josh Brown supreme display sees Brisbane Heat defeat Sydney Sixers by 54 runs at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

This is their first BBL title since the 2012/2013 campaign- a match they also won in enemy territory against Perth Scorchers at the WACA.

Set 167 for victory, Sydney Sixers suffered the worst possible start when Michael Neser removed Daniel Hughes for just 1.

Jack Edwards flung the willow and attacked to combine for 31 with Josh Philippe, but Edwards’ departure to the brilliant Spencer Johnson (4-26) pulled the plug on any momentum the hosts were building.

Number 3 Philippe soon followed Edwards to the sheds as Johnson claimed his second, before Jordan Silk was gone for a duck when Mitch Swepson delivered the perfect leg-break and keeper Jimmy Peirson completed an extremely swift stumping.

Reeling at 57-4 and the required run-rate rising to a concerning 10 runs per over, captain Moises Henriques looked to claw his side back into the contest and shoulder the burden of the chase.

Unfortunately for the hosts, he was removed by a Paul Walter slower delivery as the ball looped high into the night sky and was claimed by Neser; the Sixers teetering at 70-5.

Further wickets tumbled as the hosts slipped to a perilous 94-8, but it was a brilliant relay catch on the boundary edge that signalled the end of the Sixers’ improbable heist as Sean Abbott was “caught” by Walter courtesy of Neser’s heavy lifting.

Replays showed that Neser released the ball at just the right moment for Walter to complete a simple catch.

39 year-old Stephen O’Keefe, featuring in his final BBL appearance, was then dismissed next ball by Xavier Bartlett as the Sixers ended 54 runs short on 112 all out.

Earlier, the Heat began cautiously having ended the 4 over powerplay 16-1, however Josh Brown was in confident mode and eventually hit his stride.

After a magnificent 140 on Monday night, Brown reached his fifty in 32 balls after crunching Hayden Kerr for 17 in an over, combining for a well-made 85 with his partner Nathan McSweeney.

The pair both fell within three balls as Abbott and the ever-reliable O’Keefe struck heavy blows, but the great work of Matt Renshaw (40) and Max Bryant (29) ensured the foundation set by the openers was not laid to waste.

Their partnership of 57 in just 35 deliveries on a testing surface was a key cog in the Heat’s total of 166-7.

Sean Abbott was the pick of the hosts’ bowlers with 4-32, including two in two in the penultimate over of the innings.

Disappointedly for Abbott, and a devastated Sydney crowd, the Sixers wait for a fourth BBL title goes on.

If this year is anything to go by, BBL 14 is sure to bring more excitement…