Strikers put the Heat on ice at the Gabba

The match in a tweet: Adelaide's title defence is underway, and the KFC BBL is on notice.

The Score: Brisbane Heat 146 (Lynn 33, Rashid 3-19) lost to Adelaide Strikers 5-147 (Carey 70, Pattinson 2-23) by five wickets with five balls left

The hero: The Adelaide Strikers decided not to burden Alex Carey with the captaincy this year to allow their star batsman and wicketkeeper time to focus on his batting. And early signs are it might have been another masterstroke from coach Jason 'Dizzy' Gillespie. Australia's white-ball vice-captain rewarded the club with the first fifty of BBL|08. He had a lucky break surviving a vociferous caught behind appeal off Mitchell Swepson – he later admitted he did in fact feather it behind. "I'm not like Gilly, I don't walk," Swepson said on Fox Cricket, with a bit of a sheepish grin to viewers. But Swepson eventually got his man, bowling Carey but not before the Adelaide opener had posted 70.

The supporting cast: Is this going to be another season of Rashid Khan collecting bags of wickets everywhere he goes? There were no signs of second-season syndrome for the Afghanistan wizard in the opening match as he continued to weave his bag of tricks to collect 3-19 from four overs. He’s the world's No.1 ranked T20 bowler for a very good reason!

The consolation act: James Pattinson was brought in by the Brisbane Heat to add firepower with the ball, an area they've lacked in for a few seasons, and his first outing showed just why he was recruited. Four overs, express pace, and figures of 2-23. Channel Seven commentators caught Chris Lynn predicting the wicket of Colin Ingram with a Pattinson short ball tempting the opposition captain into hooking to the long boundary where he was well caught. And when Lynn brought him back for a second spell in search of a breakthrough, Pattinson delivered again, getting Matt Short to miscue. Every outing gives confidence that Pattinson can return to his best following the surgery to fix his back issues, and this was another important step forward for the bowler, and Australian cricket.

The spirit of cricket: When James Pattinson dived to make his ground for a quick single, umpire Paul 'Blocker' Wilson sent it upstairs for a review that seemed pretty straightforward. The shock on Blocker's face said it all when the Gabba big screen displayed an 'Out' verdict from the third umpire. Pattinson stood bewildered mid-pitch, the umpires convened, nobody seemed to know what to do. Strikers captain Colin Ingram saw the replay, realised the confusion, and officially withdrew his team's appeal for the run out. Game on.

The new cult hero: Nobody knew quite what to expect from Mujeeb ur Rahman as the 17-year-old Afghani strolled out onto the Gabba with a clean skin bat. Perhaps the red cherries peppered across the middle of the willow should have given a clue. But surely nobody expected the teenager to reverse sweep Peter Siddle on his first ball faced in Big Bash cricket! He followed that by taking 12 off a Billy Stanlake over, clubbing two fours down the ground. He added a third boundary and finished with 27 runs from 22 balls, eventually caught on the fence slogging. The No.11 batsman had the Heat's second top score, in a vital 10th wicket partnership with Jimmy Peirson.

The collapse: Brisbane are undoubtedly top-heavy with their batting, and the all-guns blazing approach isn't always going to pay off. The score was a respectable 3-78 from nine overs when Joe Burns fell, but that quickly became 9-101 as the Heat lost seven wickets for 22 runs across six overs. It was only a BBL record last-wicket partnership of 45 runs between Mujeeb and James Pierson (24 not out) that gave them a target their bowlers could work with.

The bat flip: The what? Yep, gone is the coin toss and in its place is the bat flip. A custom-designed bat that has been weighted to be evenly balanced between "roofs" and "flats", is to be flipped instead of a coin at ever match. Queensland legend Matthew Hayden flipped the first bat at the Gabba, with Strikers captain Collin Ingram calling 'roofs' correctly. 

The next stop: For Brisbane, they have a short journey down the M1 to the Gold Coast for the first ever BBL game at Metricon Stadium. The first T20 international there saw heavy rain ruin a great contest between Australia and South Africa so anticipation is high to see the best the Goldie has to offer. They'll face D'Arcy Short, Jofra Archer and Hobart Hurricanes on Saturday. For the Strikers, they return home for their next match, and will host the Melbourne Renegades at the Adelaide Oval on Sunday, December 23.

Brisbane Heat XI: McCullum, Bryant, Lynn, Burns, Heazlett, Cutting, Peirson, Pattinson, Steketee, Swepson, Mujeeb

Adelaide Strikers XI: Carey, Weatherald, Ingram, Short, Wells, Lehmann, Neser, Rashid, Siddle, Stanlake, Laughlin