Forget Mission Impossible. The Brisbane Heat just filmed their own sequel at the Gabba in the greatest chase the BBL has ever seen.<\/p>\n
The Friday night baseball blitz, where Brisbane (2-258) tracked down Perth\u2019s 257, will be remembered as the night the Heat laughed at the laws of probability.<\/p>\n
In the greatest advertisement of the short format, a record 36 sixes were tonked and a best-ever partnership of 212 between Matt Renshaw (102, 51 balls) and Jack Wildermuth (110 not out, 54 balls) gave 24277 Gabba fans tremendous value for money.<\/p>\n
Perth young gun Cooper Connolly (77, 37 balls) and Finn Allen (79, 38 balls) had humbled the Heat bowlers in a routing that ended with Brisbane needing 258 off 120 balls.<\/p>\n
When Jhye Richardson nicked off Heat opener Colin Munro on the first ball, Brisbane\u2019s already low chances took a deeper dive.<\/p>\n
But like a Christmas miracle, Brisbane miraculously recovered. A 212-run second-wicket partnership ensued, giving Perth a mighty fright as the hosts required 44 from the final 22 balls and then nine from the last over.<\/p>\n
Renshaw, once touted as just a long-format batter, was audacious in everything he did en route to scoring the fourth ton in the club\u2019s history. He was given a life because, on 20 in the third over, Renshaw was caught by Ashton Turner \u2013 only for the replay to show a no-ball by Richardson.<\/p>\n
Across the 14 overs that followed, Renshaw and Wildermuth had mouths watering in anticipation of a historic chase. Every boundary peeled another layer off the impossible.<\/p>\n
Astonishingly, Brisbane were 1-79 after six overs and scored quicker than Perth the entire way.<\/p>\n
This was, in large, thanks to Wildermuth whose high score before throwing his cape on to steer the Heat home was just 31. Indeed the Valley all-rounder from Toowoomba went from zero to hero after conceding 47 runs off his four overs the innings prior.<\/p>\n
Earlier, Brisbane were at base camp of the Himalayas, awaiting a mammoth hike of Mount Everest. By the end, they were planting a flag atop its peak. Max Bryant (28 not out, 16 balls) was pivotal before popping his left shoulder with two balls left.<\/p>\n
Allen and Connolly provided the one-two punch that spearheaded the visitors toward 6-257 after smashing 150 runs from the first 12 overs.<\/p>\n
The powerful pair were exhilarating during a 142-run stand and 258 looked an impossible total to chase.<\/p>\n
Boom boy Connelly had reached his half century from 27 balls and brought it up with a six over mid-on.<\/p>\n
Allen, who blasted eight sixes and twice showed how clean he was hitting it when tonking two big ones with one-handed follow throughs, emphasised a similar intent when he struck two sixes the over after Connolly departed.<\/p>\n
It led to Perth bringing up its highest-ever score in the 19th over and also put returning Heat spinner Matt Kuhnemann (1-60) in the wrong chapter of the history books.<\/p>\n
No spinner in competition history had ever leaked that many runs. But that meant little once his batting mates smacked the Perth bowlers between the eyes.<\/p>\n
The Scorchers were spurred on by poor Heat fielding. They dropped four catches and bowled 14 wides.<\/p>\n
It meant whenever Brisbane took a wicket, they rarely capitalised to mount any pressure.<\/p>\n
Instead, the Scorchers had belted 17 sixes and 10 fours even before the power surge was activated 17 overs in (5-213).<\/p>\n
The Perth bowlers are due to shout their batters a feed, or better yet a Christmas feast, after they failed to hold up their end of the bargain as Brisbane cleared the previous highest-ever successful chase of 230 (Strikes over \u2018Canes) in frantic fashion.<\/p>\n
From tormenting the Heat bowlers to conceding six after six, it was a rollercoaster plucked from Movie World for the visitors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"