For the second time in three days the rain wreaked havoc for the Heat and Sixers as Brisbane maintained their unbeaten run in BBL|13
Match Report:
ScorecardHeat beat surprise rain shower to down Sixers tense DLS finish
Big-hitting from English allrounder Paul Walter has carried unbeaten leaders Brisbane Heat to a three-run win over the Sydney Sixers in a rain-affected top-of-the-table KFC BBL clash in Coffs Harbour.
Put in to bat at the C.ex Coffs International Stadium, the second-placed Sixers struggled to score quickly on a slow pitch, finishing at 8-141.
Rain interrupted the match with the Heat at 4-80 after 12 overs, two behind where they needed to be under the Duckworth Lewis Stern system.
Three overs were lost with Brisbane then needing 44 off five overs for a revised target of 124 off 17 overs.
Walter smashed a huge legside six off Tom Curran, the first ball after the break.
He then whacked two fours in the first three balls of the only Power Surge over to lift the Heat to 4-104, three runs ahead of the score required after 14.3 overs, when the second shower ended the game.
Heat moved four points ahead of the Sixers, who were second going into the game but had each of their two previous games end in a no result due to rain.
The Sixers were sloppy in the field early in the Heat innings, dropping the dangerous Josh Brown on one and 36.
The latter reprieve gifted to him by Curran came after the hard-hitting opener smashed successive sixes off spinner Todd Murphy from the first two balls of the over.
The Heat were well placed at 1-60 in the eighth over, but Brown (43 off 31 balls) was then bowled by veteran spinner Stephen O'Keefe and they lost 3-12 before the rain arrived.
Walter and Nathan McSweeney (22 not out off 25) put on 32 for the fifth wicket and made sure their team was in front when the rain returned.
The Sixers struck six sixes, but just nine fours in their innings with Ben Dwarshuis taking 10 off the last two balls of the innings to lift them above 140.
Left-arm spinner Matt Kuhnemann (2-19 off four overs) bowled particularly well, claiming the first two wickets to fall.
A third wicket stand of 47 between opener Josh Philippe (41 off 36 balls) and Moises Henriques (22 off 22) lifted the Sixers to 2-82 in the 13th over.
But the Sixers lost a wicket in each of the next four overs as their innings declined, losing 6-39.
Jack Edwards (22 off 15) and Dwarshuis (13 not out off 6) added some late substance.
Brisbane's bowling variety, execution and slick fielding were instrumental in keeping the score down.
KFC BBL|13 standings
| Team | M | W | L | T | N/R | NRR | Ded. | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1
HEA
|
10 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0.972 | 0 | 16 |
|
2
SIX
|
10 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0.339 | 0 | 14 |
|
3
SCO
|
10 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0.725 | 0 | 13 |
|
4
STR
|
10 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0.331 | 0 | 11 |
|
5
HUR
|
10 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 0 | -0.268 | 0 | 8 |
|
6
STA
|
10 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 0 | -1.051 | 0 | 8 |
|
7
REN
|
10 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 2 | -0.288 | 0 | 6 |
|
8
THU
|
10 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 2 | -0.652 | 0 | 4 |
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
PTS: Total points
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