BBL: Ben Cutting stars with bat but Heat fall short against Hurricanes

Ben Cutting fell agonisingly short of being Brisbane’s hero on Saturday night as the Heat’s winless start to the Big Bash League season continued on the Gold Coast.

Ben Cutting goes big for the Brisbane Heat on Saturday night. Picture: AAP

Update: Ben Cutting fell agonisingly short of being Brisbane’s hero on Saturday night as the Heat’s winless start to the Big Bash League season continued on the Gold Coast.

The Heat are anchored to the bottom of the BBL ladder after two matches following a rain-affected Big Bash debut at Metricon Stadium.

Chasing Hobart’s 6-159 in 19 overs, the Heat were bowled out for 144 after another batting collapse put a dent in their BBL title hopes.

Australian star D’Arcy Short was the hero for the Hurricanes, blasting 67 from 52 balls in what proved to be a match-winning knock.

The Heat have a nine-day break to ponder their poor start to the BBL season before hosting the Sixers at Metricon Stadium on New Year’s Day.

Ben Cutting goes big for the Brisbane Heat on Saturday night. Picture: AAP

CUTTING IT CLOSE

Cutting had a night to remember in the first ever BBL game on the Gold Coast.

While hail and heavy rain pelted the stadium an hour before play, the Heat looked well in the contest when they restricted Hobart to a modest 6-159.

Brisbane captain Chris Lynn (29 from 37 balls) played an important innings, but it was Cutting who nearly got Heat home.

The former Australian all-rounder racked up 58 from 32 balls, including five sixes, and could have guided the Heat to victory if he had stuck around until the end.

Once again, it was Brisbane’s batting which poorly let the Heat down.

Brendon McCullum (4), Joe Burns (4), Sam Heazlett (0) and Jimmy Peirson (4) failed and put too much pressure on the rest of the batters as the Heat were bowled out for the second time this summer.

HEAT LACK SPEED

THE Heat’s pace attack was looking awfully thin without spearhead James Pattinson.

Pattinson was Brisbane’s best quick in the first game of tournament but missed last night’s match due to best man duties at a friend’s wedding.

Heat quicks Mark Steketee (2-36), Josh Lalor (1-29) and Cutting (0-27) just didn’t have the same intimidating factor as former Test quick Pattinson.

Despite a nine-ball over, Cutting only went at 6.75 runs-an-over in one of his more promising bowling efforts in recent time.

Brisbane Heat’s Max Bryant scored 30 from 15 balls.

THE MYSTERY MAN

Mystery man Mujeeb Ur Rahman is the Heat’s new cult hero.

The teenager from Afghanistan showed his class with a fantastic performance in his second BBL game on Saturday night.

The 17-year-old picked up the wickets of Matthew Wade (5) and Alex Doolan (5) and finished with 2-23 from four economical overs (5.75/over).

Young spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman put in a top showing for the Heat. Picture: AAP

Mujeeb learnt to bowl from watching footage on YouTube and has at least six different deliveries in his repertoire, making him incredibly difficult to pick.

He rattled Doolan’s stumps with a wrong-un despite being listed as an off-spinner.

Hurricanes batsman Johan Botha’s bat breaks on the first ball on Saturday night. Picture: AAP

RUN OUT MADNESS

The Gold Coast produced some moments of run-out madness.

First it was local product Ben McDermott being run out for the sixth time in his past 13 innings across all formats.

The Hurricanes batsman was involved in a mix-up with Short and run out for 25.

The Heat had their own mix up when openers McCullum and Max Bryant ended up at the same end.

McCullum sacrificed himself to leave Bryant at the crease and the teenager went on to rack up a quickfire 30 from 15 balls.

The bottom of Johan Botha’s bat goes flying on Saturday night. Picture: AAP

LYNN BLOWS UP

Heat teammates Lynn and Cutting engaged in some great banter on Saturday night.

Mic’d up for Fox Sports, Lynn was captured ripping into Cutting on the field with some ripper one-liners.

“Cuttsy, Cuttsy! Square leg!” Lynn barked at Cutting.

“Some of these blokes…you have meetings…I don’t know why.”

Later on, Lynn had to remind Cutting the match was reduced to 19 overs.

Chris Lynn scored 29 from 37 balls for the Heat. Picture: Getty Images

“Mate, it’s a 19-over game,” he said.

“Jesus, look at what I’m dealing with here. He still thinks there’s 20 overs in the game. That’s a fast bowler.”

Cutting followed up that exchange with a nine-ball over that had his skipper scratching his bald head.

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