In the Big Bash tournament, the Brisbane Heat were defeated by the Melbourne Renegades by four wickets, despite the fact that Michael Neser took a hat-trick throughout the match.
Neser struck with the first ball of the innings, and then he proceeded to take the consecutive dismissals of Jake Fraser-McGurk, Nic Maddinson, and Jon Wells, leaving the Renegades with a score of 9-4 while they were attempting to chase 138.
But Andre Russell blasted 57 runs off of 42 balls, Akeal Hosein slammed 30 runs off of 19, and Aaron Finch added an unbeaten 31 runs off of 43 to get the Renegades across the finish line in Geelong with four balls to spare.
Prior to that, Heat had previously produced 137-8 after skipper Jimmy Peirson added 45 not out late on, with Tom Rogers taking 4-23 and Hosein claiming 3-26 for the Renegades.
Despite Peirson’s flurry, the total for Brisbane appeared to be below par at the midway point of the game. However, Australian seamer Neser put his side in a position where they appeared to be in control.
The Glamorgan player took out Sam Harper for a duck, and then with the final delivery of his first over he had Fraser-McGurk caught behind by the wicketkeeper Peirson.
After that, he completed the ninth hat-trick in the history of the Big Bash League by striking with the first two balls of his second over. Before Wells’ delivery, Maddinson, the captain of the Renegades, whacked the ball onto his own stumps. Wells then bowled a delivery that seemed in but smacked back off the stump.
Russell responded with an outpouring of sixes, hitting six in all, one of which brought up his fifty off of only 32 balls before he edged Mark Steketee behind. In total, Russell blasted six sixes.
At that point, the Renegades needed 48 runs to win from 33, and Russell’s fellow West Indian all-rounder Hosein stepped up to the plate to lead the assault. Hosein smacked two fours and two sixes.
Will Sutherland insured that there would not be any suspense in the final over by hitting his first ball for six over the roof of the GMHBA Stadium. This meant that the Renegades needed nine runs from seven balls to win the match.
Finch, who played an innings that was mainly reserved in support of Russell and Hosein, then sealed the victory for his team by smashing the second ball of the last over for four runs, bringing his team’s total to 139-6.
Renegades are now in second place behind Adelaide Strikers after winning all three of their first games of the season, while Heat is in second-to-last place after losing both of their matches.
