Lynn goes to town in explosive return

It only lasted nine balls: 4, 0, 6, 4, 4, 4, 2, 1, W.

But to say Chris Lynn's electrifying 25 was the most anticipated – and exciting – performance of BBL|07 would be akin to suggesting the Bash Brothers are passable T20 batsmen.

Lynn wasn't meant to play this summer. Then he was meant to play last week. In the end, he played last night. The Heat publicists had been screaming about his return for the past four days, and with good reason: 'Lynnsanity' equals bums on seats.

And so when he hit his first ball for four – slapped it in fact, through extra cover with as much power as anything seen this tournament, according to the revered Ricky Ponting – the sellout Gabba crowd roared as one.

Lynn was back.

"To hit one out of the guts first ball was a nice feeling, it shook off a lot of nerves early," Lynn said after his team's thrilling win over Sydney Thunder with a ball to spare.

"(But) because I started in fifth gear, I found it hard to go down the gears."

So he didn't. After watching a couple of wides sail by, he slapped again – this time picking out Kurtis Patterson at mid off on the edge of the circle, who looked quietly chuffed to have managed to stop a Lynn rocket.

Then the Bash Brother went to town. A crashing pull shot over midwicket for six was followed by a streaky inside edge for four.

"I always want to dominate any bowler in any situation of the game," he said. "I felt like I was in control."

Four over extra cover followed, and so it went again, this time along the carpet, bisecting the men protecting that region. It was as close as he came to delicate.

With the first ball of the sixth over, he took on Shane Watson and lost – the veteran allrounder's slower bouncer was spanked straight to Chris Green at deep midwicket, with the catch greeted by silence and perhaps a little disbelief that the action had ended almost as quickly as it had begun. Did anyone check to see if he over-stepped?

"It would've been nice to have faced a few more balls, but it wasn't to be," he said. "I'm pretty confident I can build on that."

Twenty-five, of course, does not win a match. But when Lynn gets going, he is the event, with the other 21 players and even the scoreboard little more than supporting actors in his show.

As much was evident in the tweeting of Glenn Maxwell, one of an army of fellow players who hit social media to voice their approval of the return of the most exciting individual currently wielding a cricket bat around the country. 

"Welcome back Lynny" wrote Maxwell, with the accompanying hashtags "#nosighters #bang!!!!"

Around 15 minutes later, as Lynn was exiting stage left, the Victorian was at it again.

"TV… off…" he wrote, summing up the flat, anticlimactic feeling that settled upon the Gabba, despite the game remaining very much on a knife's edge.

So Lynn fans can now turn their attention to December 31 at Adelaide Oval, where the locals will flock to see their Strikers … but also to see the Bash Brothers do their thing. And for Lynn, his expectation is more of the same.

"Don't fix what's not broken," he said. "Even though my shoulder is broken, my batting style isn't. I'm (confident) I can really build an innings when I go out there in Adelaide on New Year's Eve."