MELBOURNE: Mitchell Marsh’s brilliant 59 trumped Max Bryant’s 81 as Perth Scorchers sealed a thumping victory over Brisbane Heat in the 52nd match of the ongoing Big Bash League (BBL), here on Monday.
Set to chase 156, the Scorchers had a decent start to their innings as the openers provided a fair 45-runs opening stand, but, the side soon slipped to 48/2 as both the openers – Kurtis Paterson and Josh Inglis walked back to the pavilion in a space of six deliveries.
Paterson scored 26 off 20, while Inglis only managed to score 18. Following their departure, Marsh and Colin Munro put on a handy 84-runs partnership to cement the table-toppers position in the run chase.
Marsh scored a quickfire 59 off just 34 balls, laced with six boundaries and three sixes, while Munro approached rather defensively as the batter scored 24 off 28; smashing two boundaries including a six.
Ashton Turner (18*) and Aaron Hardie (6*) finished the run-chase for the Scorchers in the 19th over.
For the Heat, Mitchell Swepson bagged two wickets, while Matthew Kuhnemann and Michael Neser claimed one wicket each.
Batting first, the Heat batters struggled throughout the innings, and apart from Bryant, none of their batters could able to make an impact with the bat. The side kept losing the wickets at a consistent rate as their batters kept departing after scoring cheaply.
Bryant, on the other hand, stood firm and played a valiant inning of 81. He faced 56 balls; smoking seven boundaries and four sixes. With the late contribution from Jimmy Peirson, the Heat finished at 155/7 in their allotted 20 overs. Peirson scored a quickfire 31 off 19 balls, including a boundary and two sixes.
For the Scorchers, Jason Behrendroff and Peter Hatzoglou took two wickets each, while Andrew Tye, Ashton Agar, and Marsh made one scalp each.
For his brilliant all-round performance, Marsh was adjudged as the player of the match.
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