Brisbane superstar regains his mojo
THE re-emergence of “oldschool Chris Lynn” was the silver lining in Brisbane Heat’s 20-run BBL loss to the Melbourne Stars.
That’s Heat skipper Jimmy Peirson’s view after he saw telling signs in Lynn’s 34-ball innings of 57 on Tuesday night the Heat’s greatest run-scorer was nearing his best.
After scoring only 82 runs in the opening five games, Lynn regained his mojo with a cameo that included a towering 106m pull shot off Brody Couch that crashed into the big screen.
It was one of five sixes Lynn struck in a partnership with Ben Duckett (55) that gave the Heat a glimmer of hope of chasing down the Stars’ impressive 9-207. It was Lynn’s all-round game and mature approach that caught Peirson’s eye in a knock he will need to replicate if the Heat is to make finals.
“I thought he batted with a bit of responsibility as well; took the game a little bit deeper and got himself to the power surge like we planned and was able to do some damage,” Peirson said.
“He is thinking about his cricket and building nicely to what will hopefully be some good form.
“I saw a shot early, where he cleared his front leg and dropkicked it up towards the scoreboard. It was old-school ‘Lynny’. That is how he bats at the Gabba. When he is thinking about his game, he is playing the two sides (of the field).
“You’ll notice he ran some twos on the big side and then he targeted the short boundary. That is when you know Lynny is on.”
Earlier, the Heat’s bowlers were pummelled as Stars heroes Hilton Cartwright (79) and Joe Clarke (85) notched a BBL best-ever fourth-wicket stand of 151. Heat bowler Liam Guthrie’s figures of 2-70 will go down as the most expensive spell in BBL history.