Chris Hartley scored four off the last ball of the innings to give Brisbane Heat a three-wicket victory over the Strikers at the Adelaide Oval in of the most dramatic Twenty20 matches ever played in Australia.
Callum Ferguson (52) and Kieron Pollard (48) took Adelaide to 8 for 185, the highest score in the Big Bash this season, and a total that looked eminently defendable.
But a destructive innings from Luke Pomersbach (65) opening the innings meant the Heat were always ahead of the run-rate.
When his wicket fell shortly after the dismissal of Joe Burns (37) - following their stand of 99 - the Strikers came back into the match.
Superb death bowling from Kane Richardson (1 for 22) left the Strikers needed 15 from the final over but out-of-form Peter Forrest hit a six off the third ball to keep the Heat in the game.
Then Hartley, off only his second ball faced and needing a four for victory, slashed the final delivery from Gary Putland (0 for 39) to the point boundary to give the Heat a much-needed first victory of the season.
An incredible game saw another juggled catch on the boundary, this time from Richardson, to dismiss Pomersbach, and a spectacular catch from Strikers wicketkeeper Tim Ludeman to dismiss Thisara Perera (12), after the Sri Lankan had hit two of his three deliveries faced for six.
There was also the bizarre run-out of Ben Cutting (13) - also after two maximums - when Chris Lynn smashed a delivery back to the West Indian only for the ball to ricochet off his instep and knock off the bails.
The first Big Bash League games of 2012 may have been one-sided but this match provided the sort of unpredictable drama organisers and Cricket Australia will hope is replicated throughout the summer.
Tags: sport, cricket, twenty20, adelaide-5000, brisbane-4000 First posted December 13, 2012 23:07:39
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