BBL|08 season preview: Brisbane Heat

The Brisbane Heat will be looking for a much-improved BBL|08 campaign after a lacklustre season in 2017-18.

BBL|07 brought a seventh-placed finish for the Heat, and while they do have one BBL championship in franchise history, they also have the third-worst record of all eight sides since the start of the competition.

Outside of their premiership, which was way back in BBL|02, they only have a single semi-final appearance to speak of and the pressure will be on to make the finals this season.

Whether they can or not is anyone’s guess, as there are a mountain of questions over a side which simply may not have the manpower to get the job done.

Despite that, there is talent in the squad, but they won’t be going in as favourites.

Can the Heat turn it around in BBL|08? (AAP Image/Darren England)

Squad

Chris Lynn (c), Max Bryant, Joe Burns, Ben Cutting, Brendan Doggett, Sam Heazlett, Matt Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Lalor, Chris Lynn, Brendon McCullum (New Zealand), James Pattinson, Jimmy Peirson, Jack Prestwidge, Mujeeb Ur Rahman (Afghanistan), Matt Renshaw, Alex Ross, Mark Steketee, Mitchell Swepson

Captain: Chris Lynn
Coach: Daniel Vettori
Imports: Brendon McCullum, Mujeeb Ur Rahman

Batsmen
The batting line-up will need to go big regularly if the Heat are to get anything out of this season.

Skipper Brendon McCullum is one of the best short-form cricketers we have ever seen. He is likely to be joined at the top of the order by youngster Max Bryant, who should absolutely be given an opportunity by the Heat after his JLT Cup campaign, which showed he may have the most natural eye of Aussie players outside the suspended David Warner.

From there, Chris Lynn, who had some success recently batting for Australia in T20s, will probably bat at first drop, with Sam Heazlett, Marnus Labuschagne and Jimmy Pierson leading the race for the remaining positions.

That would leave out Joe Burns and Matt Renshaw. Neither are the greatest of T20 players, with a tendency to graft their runs rather than flog them all over the place, but there could be an argument to play one or the other and ensure someone is there to lock things down should a collapse start at any point.

Chris Lynn is the man. (AAP Image/Dan Peled)

All-rounders
Ben Cutting is the immediate name which springs to mind when you’re thinking about all-rounders at the Heat. While he is more of a bowler who can bat, his massive hitting, which sometimes hasn’t quite reached its potential, means he has to be considered as an all-rounder.

He needs to have a strong season, with few other options to bowl four overs and bat at number 7 in the Heat squad.

Outside of Cutting, Marnus Labuschagne has bowled some occasional leg spin, but has to be classed as a batsman.

Bowlers
The make-up of the bowling attack for the Heat is a little bit up in the air.

Provided he can stay fit, signing James Pattinson is a great move and gives them a genuine strike bowler for the first time in years.

Pattinson has pace, accuracy and, more than anything, the ability to get wickets at crucial times.

Given Cutting is likely to be played at number seven and the need to play two spinners in Mitchell Swepson and Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Pattinson will probably only be joined by one other frontline quick.

While Mark Steketee and Josh Lalor would probably both be a little bit stiff to miss out based on their form over previous years, it’ll be near-on impossible to leave out Brendan Doggett, who had a strong BBL season last year and was included in a recent Australian Test squad for a tour of the United Arab Emirates.

International cricket impact
This is the one area where the Heat get a giant thumbs up. While Lynn will almost certainly be selected for the one-day series against India, there are almost no other players even close to the national side. Matt Renshaw and Marnus Labuschagne have both played Test cricket, but don’t appear to be close to the squad at the moment.

Best XI

1. Brendon McCullum (c)
2. Max Bryant
3. Chris Lynn
4. Joe Burns
5. Marnus Labuschagne
6. Sam Heazlett
7. Ben Cutting
8. James Pattinson
9. Brendan Doggett
10. Mitchell Swepson
11. Mujeeb Ur Rahman

Keys to the season

How much does not having a home ground hurt?
The Heat have two of their seven home games on the Gold Coast. While they should be commended for trying to expand the game, cricket is one of those sports where home ground advantage really does matter.

You get used to conditions, boundaries, and pitches which suit the team you build, rather than conditions that don’t.

When you only get seven home games and the fight for places in the top four is expected to be so very, very tight, dropping even one of those games they may have otherwise won back at The Gabba could come back to bite the Heat badly.

Sure, this might be an overreaction, but it doesn’t make a great deal of sense for a team like the Heat to be playing games elsewhere when they have a pretty solid record at the Gabba and have seemingly recruited with that ground in mind – both Mujeeb and Pattinson should go well in the Queensland capital.

Does Brendon McCullum still have it?
There is no doubt Brendon McCullum is one of the best short-form batsmen the world has ever seen. But there is also the undisputable factor that age is starting to catch up with him, which could cause problems when it comes to playing the shortest form of the game against some of the world’s best players.

While McCullum scored 248 runs last year, he struggled at times throughout the season. It has to be pointed out that he is now 37, so his reflexes will be getting slower.

Brad Hogg was an exception to the rule, but 35 seems to be about the mark where players start heading on a downwards slope.

I’m not putting McCullum on that trajectory yet, but when the Heat have so much riding on him given the weaknesses in their middle order, the pressure on the skipper is immense.

Does McCullum still have it? (AAP Image/David Mariuz)

James Pattinson and Chris Lynn – fire or fail?
Chris Lynn and James Pattinson are two of Australia’s most talented cricketers.

Lynn is one of the cleanest hitters of the ball we have seen, and when he gets going, there are few sights quite like it in the sport.

Pattinson has the potential to be one of the best bowlers in the country as well, challenging Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins for spots in the Test team.

The problem is, neither have been able to put prolonged periods of form or health together.

Lynn has had issues with both, while Pattinson has simply been unable to string a summer of cricket together without getting injured.

If they can overcome their respective issues this summer, the Heat will go better than expected. If not, it’s going to leave a huge hole in the side.

Where are the runs coming from?
Having already talked about McCullum, Lynn and the questions surrounding the bash brothers, there is a problem the Heat have to answer before they can dream about having too much success during BBL|08.

Outside of the duo, the runs just don’t look like they are coming.

They had issues with this last year, putting up totals which were never going to be defended far too regularly or not being able to chase down other teams’ totals.

Joe Burns and Matt Renshaw – who, if we are serious – should be competing for one spot between them, are both grafters. They can score runs, but neither are going to do it at a high strike rate and while that’s great if there is a collapse, it puts pressure on others.

Sam Heazlett and Jimmy Pierson aren’t quite up to the level required for middle order batsmen, while Marnus Labuschagne still has a lot to prove.

Ben Cutting at seven is also a risk. He is a big hitter, but inconsistency has struck him time and time again during the BBL, although he did come up with 190 runs last year which isn’t a bad return.

Full fixtures

Prediction

The Heat are anything but a poor side, but at the end of the day, there are only four spots for the finals and some teams are going to miss out, even though they maybe don’t quite deserve to.

Brisbane could well be impacted by their lack of a consistent home ground this season and with that biting them in the rear end, there is a strong chance they will just fall short of the finals, especially when you add in some questions about form and fitness to their key players.

Fifth.

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