Brisbane Heat’s Chris Lynn in furious mood as he wallops 35-ball 94 against Sydney Sixers
He’s back and at his brutal best after Brisbane Heat captain Chris Lynn smashed his way to 94 off 35 balls, including 11 sixes, to engineer a thumping win against the Sydney Sixers.
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The Sydney Sixers paid the full price for Chris Lynn’s fury at being dumped by Australia’s selectors then being short-changed at last week’s Indian Premier League auction.
The Brisbane Heat skipper produced one of the most explosive innings ever witnessed in the Big Bash League with a brutal 94 off 35 deliveries to send a stinging message to everyone who thinks he’s a spent force in the shortest form of the game.
Dispatching the Sixers’ bowlers to every part of the Sydney Cricket Ground, Lynn belted a BBL record equalling 11 sixes as well as four fours and was on course to better Craig Simmons’ fastest hundred in the tournament’s history (39 balls) before he holed out to Sean Abbott in the deep in the 10th over.
“It would have been nice to get triple figures. Saying that, I was just happy I got double figures the way I have been hitting them,” Lynn said.
“At no stage do you panic. Obviously there’s a bit of hype, a bit of press that you haven’t performed but you’ve just got to put that to the side and go out and play without freedom and fearless I guess and that’s what my intentions were tonight and it came off.
“I asked Santa for one wish for Christmas and that was to get a win.
“I think we’ve been bowling really well the last couple of games, we just haven’t turned up with the bat.”
Lynn goes full send with the double-decker 6ï¸âƒ£
— Fox Cricket (@FoxCricket) December 22, 2019
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SNUBBED BY SELECTORS AND PAYMASTERS
That was Lynn’s polite way of saying that while he has been struggling of late, he’s still got plenty to offer after copping a double snub.
First, he found out through social media that he had been left out of the Australian Twenty20 squad then taking an eye watering pay cut in the IPL when he was released from his $1.8 million contract with Kolkata and bought by Mumbai for the bargain price of just $410,000.
“I reckon that innings cost him about a million bucks,” Fox Sports analyst Brendon Julian said.
“If he was a week early, that’s an extra mill in the kitty for him,” added Brett Lee agreed.
This is #Lynnsanity right nowâ€¼ï¸ Oh and we got a CROWD CATCH ðŸ‘
— Fox Cricket (@FoxCricket) December 22, 2019
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IMPRESSING HIS CRITICS
Even Mark Waugh, who strongly defended the selector’s decision not to call Lynn about his axing and said his early season slump was because he’d gone from “fearless to fearful”, was impressed, tweeting: Special innings by @lynny50 for the @HeatBBL. Great to see him batting without fear. #way to go”
“I actually read that tweet, I was going to text junior because I was actually thinking that over the last couple of days,” Lynn pointed out.
“I’ve been going out there trying to put the world on my shoulders and that’s not the way I play, so go out there and play that free spirit cricket. Obviously it’s not going to come off every time but obviously games like this it’s always handy.”
Lynnsanity’s incredible knock — in which he belted sixes off each of Sydney’s five bowlers — saw the Heat rebound from two defeats at home to post their first win of the season with a record total of 4-209, the highest BBL score ever at the SCG.
There's no stopping Chris Lynn, not even the sight screen 😲
— Fox Cricket (@FoxCricket) December 22, 2019
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SETTING THE STANDARDS
Matt Renshaw finished unbeaten 0n 60 off 39 balls (four fours, three sixes) to take over ownership of the golden cap as this season’s leading runscorer with a total of 125.
The Sixers’ dynamic wicketkeeper-batsman Josh Philippe had started the game as the top runscorer but dropped to second spot, five behind Renshaw, after he could muster just 15, his lowest score this season.
STRUGGLING SIXERS
James Vince top scored for Sydney with 39 as the Sixers managed just 7-161 to lose by 48 runs. It was their second straight defeat after they started the season with a win but doesn’t auger well with a tricky schedule coming up between Christmas and New Year.
Their next match is in Perth against the Scorchers before a quick turnaround for the first Sydney Smash against the Thunder on December 28.
RECORD WITHIN SIGHT
Chris Lynn fell six runs short of the fastest hundred in BBL history, which was set by Craig Simmons (39 balls) in 2014.
“I wonder what Brisbane Heat would have got if Lynn had batted 20 overs. Millions,” former teammate Brendon McCullum said in commentary. Lynn was out cheaply against the Stars (six and nine) and Thunder (nine from nine balls) but turned his form in the most spectacular fashion.
“Obviously missing a key player in Tom Banton as well, one of the top three had to go big,” he said on Channel 7. “There was an opportunity to go really big out there.”
When asked about the record being within reach, Lynn said: “I actually wasn’t aware but I knew I’d hit a couple of over the ropes so I was half a chance but it’s not something when you’re batting out there, to break records. The team was in a good position.”