Star turn as Nathan Coulter-Nile ruffles the Heat

Injuries have made him the forgotten man of Australian cricket, but Nathan Coulter-Nile could be back on the radar after his heroics with the ball.

Nathan Coulter-Nile and the Stars celebrates after taking the crucial wicket of Chris Lynn Picture: Getty Images

Injuries have made him the forgotten man of Australian cricket, but Nathan Coulter-Nile could be back on the radar after his heroics with the ball guided the Melbourne Stars to a comfortable win over the Heat.

The bowling allrounder has been in and out of the national team in white ball cricket since he made his debut in 2013, and while he may be down the pecking order at the moment, his form will have him back in the conversation in no time.

Coulter-Nile (4-10) and Dilbar Hussain (2-25) ripped through Brisbane’s line-up, with the former also producing two run-outs off his own bowling as the Heat forgot how to run between the wickets at Manuka Oval.

The run chase got off to a disastrous start when Marcus Stoinis was sent packing in the first over, but Hilton Cartwright (46 off 42 deliveries) and skipper Glenn Maxwell (46 off 26) added 75 for the fourth wicket as the Stars won with 17 balls to spare.

The Stars didn’t even use their power surge, although that should change with last year’s grand finalists set to take on the Sydney Thunder on Saturday.

Jordan Silk may be the Big Bash League’s number one fielder, but his reign at the top could be in jeopardy after Cartwright produced two moments of magic

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Batsmen will think twice about taking him on, something Englishman Dan Lawrence found out the hard way when Cartwright raced in from the boundary, picked the ball up in one hand and hit the stumps while slightly off balance. He showed he is equally adept under the high ball when he raced around to claim a sublime catch on the boundary to remove Simon Milenko.

One game doesn’t make a season, but someone needs to check the thermostat in the Brisbane dressing room. This was their first match of the competition and a chance to show some intent. Instead, they looked pedestrian with the bat, scoring just 19 runs in the power play; a trend that didn’t improve.

The top six all got starts, but they never threatened to post a big score once Chris Lynn fell for 20. The Heat’s squad is significantly weaker than it was last year which is concerning given they finished seventh, but at least they’ll welcome back some quality bowling in the coming weeks.

It’s the most debated shot in cricket, and when Maxwell had his bails disturbed attempting a switch hit off the bowling of Jack Wood. The superstar batsman had already blasted two sixes from the over with traditional shots over mid-wicket, but he wasn’t as fortunate on the fourth delivery when he tried to hit the spinner the other way.

Maxwell has mastered the shot over the years and Even though it failed him on Friday, don’t expect the master blaster to put the shot away this summer.