Limping Lynn in eruption
CHRIS Lynn again lit up the Gabba but was given another reminder of the tricky tightrope walk ahead in his bold reentrance to international cricket.
Lynn’s turbocharged start helped the Heat ( 6- 191) record their fourth win from six games, ending the standardsetting Scorchers ( 142 off 19) unbeaten run with a run- rateimproving pasting. The teams now share the top of the table.
While Lynn ( 39 off 20) provided the spring- loaded start, Joe Burns ( 36 off 26) and rampaging Ben Cutting ( 46 off 20) gave it a fuel- injected finish before a Gabba record Big Bash crowd of 35,564.
Lynn went off during the Scorchers innings due to tightness in his calf, and while team physiotherapist Martin Love said it was not a major issue, it was a reminder Lynn’s greatest challenge is not a bowler or a team but his own body as he recovers from shoulder surgery and hamstring injuries.
Whether he is ready for the rigours of the 50- over Australian team he has been chosen for remains to be seen but one thing is for sure – his batting class is beyond dispute and his touch is returning by the innings after a lengthy lay- off.
“It would have been nice to get a real big one tonight but it wasn’t to be,’’ Lynn said.
“We tend to live and die by the sword and that is the way we play.’’
With Lynn to play perhaps just one last game for the Big Bash season due to his international commitments, the pressure is on the Heat batsmen to lift a gear and several did last night.
Cutting, now more of a batsman than a bowler, smacked five sixes with his long limbs mustering brutal power as Brisbane woke from a mid- innings slumber before the Heat bowlers, including pacemen Mark Steketee and Brendan Doggett, also had impressive nights.
Burns looks like going to South Africa as a reserve batsmen on the Test tour and continues to score runs in all forms of the game.
The Scorchers featured two bowlers – Jhye Richardson ( 1- 44) and Andrew Tye ( 1- 47) – who are about to play 50- over cricket against England but they were both rocked by the Heat onslaught and produced uncharacteristically poor figures. Youngster Ashton Agar though, impressively held his nerve with bat and ball.