Freed-up Lynn ready to launch in BBL|11

The Brisbane Heat hope the decision to replace Chris Lynn with Jimmy Peirson as the club’s captain will allow the dynamic batsman to return to his best as they chase an elusive second BBL title.

Lynn stepped down as Heat skipper in June and the club confirmed on Wednesday that Peirson will take over on a full-time basis having filled in last summer.

Lynn has consistently been the Heat’s leading run-scorer in recent years, even though he’s been unable to replicate the astonishing impact he had on the competition between 2015 and 2017.

New Heat coach Wade Seccombe, who has taken over the top job after Darren Lehmann also decided to take a step back, believes a change of leadership could see his most damaging player return to his absolute best.

“I think it’ll free him up,” Seccombe said.

“He likes the idea of taking on the role of a senior player, and that brings responsibility in itself.

“He’s still going to be a leader in the group, just without the pressure of having the ‘c’ beside his name.”

Lynn became the competition’s biggest star in a stunning 12-game stint across BBL|05 and BBL|06 when he slammed 687 runs at a strike rate of 175, form that launched him onto the international stage.

He’s since dropped out of the national set-up and while he’s remained one of the competition’s most consistent and exciting players, he’s been unable to replicate that stunning form.

The right-hander was the BBL’s fourth highest run-scorer last summer, despite playing less games than the top three on the list, and his strike rate of almost 155 was the second highest of the league’s top 20 run-getters.

Having missed a handful of games due to a hamstring injury, and then watched Peirson lead the side admirably in his absence, Lynn also handed the captaincy back to Peirson for a brief period when he first returned from injury.

Peirson, Queensland’s youngest ever Sheffield Shield winning captain, said Lynn is often harshly scrutinised and unfairly judged by the eye-watering standards he set during his golden run of form five years ago.

“I think he’s really scrutinised, probably unfairly at times, because he’s always been our best player,” Peirson said.

“He was still scoring runs, probably not as many as he would have liked, but he was still scoring runs and averaging nearly 40.

“The most important thing for Lynny is to get back and enjoy his cricket and I think he will in our environment.

“The pressure’s not quite there with the other stuff that comes with (captaincy) for him.

“He was so unselfish in the way he stepped down from the captaincy. He thought it was best for the team to do that, and that’s a hard thing to do. So hats off to him, that’s fantastic and that shows the sort of bloke that he is.”

Having finished third last season, the Heat have kept largely the same squad together for BBL|11, with a handful of notable changes.

Joe Burns has joined the Melbourne Stars while Michael Neser has returned after nine seasons in Adelaide with the Strikers.

The club have also signed English left-hander Ben Duckett and confirmed a return for Afghan spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman, but the withdrawal of Englishman Tom Banton leaves them with one international spot remaining on their roster for this season.

Brisbane Heat BBL|11 squad (so far): Xavier Bartlett, Tom Cooper, Ben Duckett (ENG), Sam Heazlett, Marnus Labuschagne, Chris Lynn, Jimmy Peirson, Michael Neser, Mark Steketee, Mitchell Swepson, Mujeeb Ur Rahman (AFG), Matthew Willans