Table toppers extend lead with another win

Heat were in a good position after the fantastic partnership between Brown and McSweeney, however a huge collapse cut their first innings short.

Nathan McSweeney proved his worth and displayed to his home crowd the reason why he can be a part of the Australia next generation. An excellent 73 put Brisbane in the driving seat, leaving their middle order the freedom to play their natural game. However, their plan didn’t quite go as planned.

Brisbane Heat Innings 

Brisbane lost their star batter, Colin Munro, with a first ball duck. Leaving pressure on Josh Brown to play a little more sensibly and build his innings. He formed a 106 run partnership with McSweeney before losing his wicket. Heat were set for a good score until Thunder’s Daniel Sams stole the show with a five wicket haul, limiting Heat the 172 runs in the first innings 

Sydney Thunder Innings 

Sydney were left with a tricky chase against a good Brisbane bowling attack. However, they turned to the in-form Bancroft and powerful Hales to set the platform. Bancroft fell just short of a fifty, this proved to be the key turning point of the game with Thunder failing to get ahead of the game from that point onwards. Heat’s spin duo, Kuhnemann and Swepson, squeezed the middle overs successfully which won the contest for them. 

Up Next 

Heat leads the standings as we head closer to the new year. However, all sides have at least one game in hand on them. On Thursday evening, Hobart hosted Melbourne Stars who head into the clash off the back of their first win of the season against Sydney Sixers. Hobart will be hoping to win as many games in their home stadium, Bellerive Oval.