Usman Khawaja will head to India full of confidence after helping Brisbane Heat past Melbourne Renegades by seven wickets in their BBL knockout final at Marvel Stadium.
Australia’s Test opener blasted 59 from 43 balls on Sunday night as the Heat secured victory with seven balls to spare in the Renegades’ first BBL final for four years.
Khawaja was caught on the boundary in the 16th over to give the Renegades some renewed hope of defending their total of 5-162.
His Test teammate Marnus Labuschagne (23) also departed soon afterwards, but fellow Australia squad member Matt Renshaw (27 from 13 balls) and Sam Hain (eight no) guided Brisbane home.
Without star quick Kane Richardson, who missed the clash due to personal reasons, the Renegades bowlers were punished to all parts of the ground by the Heat.
Tom Rogers was the Renegades’ best bowler with 2-25 but Brisbane’s batters took a liking to allrounder Will Sutherland (0-42).
After beating Sydney Thunder in a rain-affected first final on Friday night, Brisbane will now face the Sydney Sixers at the SCG on Thursday for a shot at making Saturday night’s decider against Perth at Optus Stadium.
But the Heat will have to battle the fancied Sixers without Khawaja, Labuschagne and Renshaw, who all head to India this week for Australia’s Test tour.
Earlier, star Renegades veteran Shaun Marsh clubbed an unbeaten 82, his second BBL fifty of an injury-interrupted summer, after Khawaja won the toss and elected to bowl.
Marsh was given a life in the second over when Brisbane bowler James Bazley dropped a regulation catch.
The 39-year-old made the most of the chance, racing to his 24th BBL half-century and 54th overall in Twenty20s.
Marsh had solid support from Englishman Matt Critchley (23), who belted two mammoth sixes, and wicketkeeper Sam Harper (22) to boost the Renegades’ score.
Paceman Xavier Bartlett, who has been left out of the Heat’s line-up for almost three weeks, was comfortably Brisbane’s best bowler with 3-18 from his four overs.
Bobbo7
Guest
Sadly Guptill had been a shadow of his best for a few years. There is a reason NZ dropped him.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
For us, Eskinazi was a winner, because he's essentially a West Aussie who lives here, plays here, then goes back home to captain Middlesex.
Chum
Roar Rookie
Brownie to hit 100 and the Heat to win!
matth
Roar Guru
The thing is, if the only players from overseas that we can attract are effectively other countries' Moises Henriques types, then it's pretty pointless.
Doctor Rotcod
Roar Rookie
I see Henriques is suggesting that the Sixers don't have any "gap-fillers" and that Daniel Hughes is a perfect replacement for Smith and he will be advocating for no foreign players at all for next season. All of which makes perfect sense coming from a player who has one or two good games left.
Chanon
Roar Rookie
If you put them in a sandwich with lettuce & mayo l guess it’s sorta healthy!
matth
Roar Guru
Great run from the Heat, but with Khawaja, Labuschagne, Renshaw and Swepson now missing, plus having to win effectively their 5th or 6th sudden death game in a row, against a Sixers side that has been superior all season, and who are only missing Smith - well ....
matth
Roar Guru
A strong team like the Scorchers really had no need for hired guns. I wonder whether there was any pressure from CA to bring in 'marquee' players. A decent professional like Heat's Sam Hain is often a better bet than a fading star.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
The big problem is that T20 even exists. I know there's some good things about it but it's like eating a packet of Twisties thinking it's a health food
The Bush
Roar Guru
If the RSA ODIs had happened, there's no way they would have released the Test players back to the BBL, because they'd have needed some down time before going to India, so I reckon none of them would have participated. This is what happens when you have a congested calendar, in an ideal world, we're not going to India so early, but we have to, so them's the breaks.
Sgt Pepperoni
Roar Rookie
Scheduling fail. Finish the BBL before the test squad leaves for India I suppose CA might argue that the top teir of test players may well have been in the ODI squad to play SA although that was only 3 matches on Jan 12, 14 and 17 The concept of the BBL team becomes empty with so many players coming and going
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
That's the problem with picking foreign players when their careers are over. Scorchers had to wait until Faf and Lyth went home before Bancroft and Hardie got a fair go. Renegades with Finch, Marsh and Fawad in the field needed 200 to make up for fielding runs conceded.
The Bush
Roar Guru
As nice as it's been to watch the Heat actually win some games of cricket lately, you feel this is a false outcome; with their three best batsmen unavailable for Thursday, it's hard to see them winning. It's far more likely they'll revert back to how they were performing at the start of the season... poorly. This is where the integrity of the competition suffers due to it's length - all the foreign talent has gone and now the test players are gone too.
Omnitrader
Roar Rookie
Hasn’t Guptill been a fizzer.