BBL 2016/17 Match 10 Review: Glitzy Chris Lynn scripts another spectacular chase for Heats

Chris Lynn capitalised in the superb platform provided by Blackcaps veteran Brendon McCullum and smothered the Hurricanes bowling attack completely to script a highly entertaining 7 wicket win at the Gabba, Brisbane.

Batting first, the Tim Paine led side managed to put up a challenging 173/9 on the board despite their batsmen struggling to show consistency with the bat. The Heat, after a poor start, rode on the attacking knocks from Brendon McCullum and Chris Lynn to make the target look pea sized and knock it off with 3.4 overs to spare.

The duo was exceptional tonight. While McCullum finally came out of the shell and batted in his natural avatar, Lynn added one more matches winning score while chasing to his tally. The Gabba was raining with sixes and four as the pair combined and went hammer and tongs, decimating the helpless Hurricanes bowling attack.

Lynn, batting at No. 3, was required to walk in early in the 2^nd over of the match after Jimmy Peirson lost his wicket to Broad for a just mere one run. But his wicket became a boon in disguises as the explosive men came together and blasted 109 runs 8.5 over at a run rate of 12.23 to set the stage on fire.

During the course of the stand, Lynn mostly chose to play the role of a supporter as McCullum led the charge with full aggression. The former New Zealand skipper smashed 72 off just 35 deliveries in the stand and looked menacing after having earlier struggled to connect the deliveries few times.

The stand ended off the last ball in the 10th over by leg-spinner Cameron Boyce when McCullum hit a loopy delivery cleanly but straight down long on’s throat bringing an end to his sublime knock.

Baz’s departure did not hurt the momentum at all as Lynn took over the responsibility from there. He quickly changed the gears and put on the aggressor’s hat and batted in the same vein as McCullum was doing earlier. His superior hitting eventually enabled him emulate his efforts a couple of days back against Thunders and end up as Heat’s highest scorer today with 84 runs off just 50 deliveries.

He smoked 4 sixes and 7 sixes, including a 121 meter monster against Shaun Tait in the 7th over. It seemed he was sort becoming impatient as the target was coming closer and batted as if he wished to finish the match at the earliest. The evidence was the bunch of sixes he hit towards the end of the match. Hurricanes, in the end, could not do much and had to walk out accepting the loss.

The match itself began on a losing note for Hurricanes as they lost the flip of the coin and were put to bat first. The top order met with failure as opener D’Arcy and Tim Paine along with Kumar Sangakkara and George Bailey failing collectively.

Fortunately, the middle order men – Dan Christian (33) and Jonathan Wells (28) – succeed in reviving the innings with knocks that don’t qualify as extraordinary but did the job for the batting side. Hamish Kingston (17) and Clive Rose (17) also made small contributions towards the end which helped the Hurricane manage a respectable total on the scoreboard.

Brief Scores; 

Watch: George Bailey’s bizarre dismissal: