'One great innings': Heat hope for last-minute turnaround

Marnus Labuschagne believes it is going to take a piece of individual brilliance to shift the momentum of the Brisbane Heat's ailing BBL|09 campaign as they head into their last two matches with their finals hopes hanging by a thread.

The Heat head to Melbourne for matches against the Stars (Saturday) and Renegades (Monday) on the back of three straight losses, all of which have included disastrous batting performances from what is on paper one of the better line-ups in the KFC BBL.

Currently in sixth position, they can still qualify for the finals with one win from their next two matches if the Thunder or Scorchers lose their remaining two games, the latter by sizeable margins.

However, even two wins would not guarantee them a finals spot; they would then want the Scorchers to beat the Thunder to ensure they finished in the top five.

"I think our side is very dangerous," Labuschagne told cricket.com.au. "When we're on, we're almost unbeatable.

"For us it's a matter of trying to get consistent, and guys getting used to their roles within the team.

"There's not greater time to start than now; we move to the MCG and then to Marvel (Stadium), if we can put two good performances on the board then all of a sudden we scrape into the five with a little bit of momentum and you never know.

"We just need one guy to stand up and just put an end to it. When that happens I think the rest of the team will follow and we'll put a very good performance together.

"I think it's going to take one great innings with the bat, from someone – someone in that top five just to put us back on the radar and get that alignment right again."

Paceman James Pattinson, who was a standout performer for the Heat with a top score of 27no and figures of 1-19 including the wicket of Steve Smith, suggested the issues facing the batting group presently are two-fold.

"It's a pretty mental game cricket, so there's a bit of that and a bit of execution as well," Pattinson said.

"You need to have those two both working well for things to come off and it's probably a bit of a mixture of that.

"So we've made it hard for ourselves but we're still in with a chance of getting through.

"What we do know is when it does click we play some good cricket. T20 cricket sometimes, if you just get out there and back yourselves, it can turn around pretty quick.

"It was disappointing for us to finish off like that but we move forward now and we've got two games away, and two wins on the board, we get into that final and you never know."