BBL 7, Match 29, Preview: Heat and Hurricanes set to meet again after the controversial affair

Brisbane Heat and Hobart Hurricanes will face each other for the second time in Big Bash League (BBL) 7 on Monday. Their first encounter in the tournament had taken place only four days ago and that had ended in a Hurricanes’ win. That game was not short of action at all, not only in terms of the cricket that was played but also with some of the decisions made by the umpires.

The Heat’s middle order batsman Alex Ross was controversially given out obstructing the field at a delicate stage of the game and it didn’t please the Heat management at all. The captain Brendon McCullum was absolutely fuming with that decision and he didn’t mince his words in the post-match presentation ceremony.

However barring that decision, the standard of cricket in the game was very high with the Hurricanes opener D’Arcy Short scoring a scintillating century, his first in the tournament. Short remained unbeaten on 122 which was not only the highest score of his T20 career but was the highest score of any batsman in the history of the BBL.

Riding on that hundred, the Hurricanes managed to post a big total on the board, but the Heat came out all guns blazing in the chase and made the game interesting. In fact, at one stage with the partnership between McCullum and Seam Heazlett going strong, the Heat were ahead in the game and it seemed they would be able to chase the total down.

However, once the opening partnership was broken, wickets fell at regular intervals as the Hurricanes bowled well and also backed it up with some outstanding piece of fielding. One of the catches that Jofra Archer took off his own bowling was nothing less than magic as he managed to hold onto a fiercely struck lofted drive by Ben Cutting with one hand in his follow through to leave the batsman absolutely shocked.

Going into this game, Heat would probably want a bit more contribution from the lower order. Ben Cutting is the man who has got plenty of T20 experience and he will have to make sure he finishes the innings well for the team.

The wicketkeeper Jimmy Peirson, who was opening at the start of the tournament has been slotted down the order now and the management will be expecting useful contributions from him as well in the latter stages of the innings.

Predicted XI

Brisbane Heat: Sam Heazlett, Brendon McCullum (C), Joe Burns, Alex Ross, Ben Cutting, Jimmy Peirson (WK), Brendan Doggett, Mitchell Swepson, Mark Steketee, Yasir Shah, Cameron Gannon

Hobart Hurricanes: Alex Doolan, D’Arcy Short, Ben McDermott, George Bailey, Dan Christian, Matthew Wade, Jofra Archer, Cameron Boyce, Clive Rose, Tymal Mills, Aaron Summers