Big Bash Is Under Way

This for me was the deciding moment of the game.

Well the Big Bash is under way.  Here I was all buzzing and excited especially after Brisbane Heat won the toss and decided to bat.  Walking out to the crease were two destructive batsmen including my favourite player, Matthew Hayden.  With Brett Lee firing in, the fireworks were set to explode.  But with a crack it all fizzled out to be a game that I honestly can say I tuned off to before it was over.  Once Lee forced McCullum off the field with a crack to the nose, the game did not live up to the hype it deserved.  With a pitch that offered more than it normally would to a bowling attack in twenty20 cricket, the Heat could never get going with the continual fall of wickets.

Once NSW started batting, just by listening to the commentators one could tell it was all over.  How quickly they forget the form of past and how quickly they jump back on the bandwagon of a player scoring runs again. Haddin batted well but not too much should be read in to the form of a player in a game where he didn't really face any quality bowling.  And this for me is where the Heat lost the game.  The inexperience of the young bowlers let them down and there was no real threat from any bowler in the team.  For the Heat to have any hope in this competition they have already found out that you cannot rely solely on a batting attack, especially when the batting attack does fire.  Twenty20 cricket is just as much about stopping runs and getting wickets as it is hitting big shots.

The Heat do have promise though as Hayden looked good on his return, McCullum may have been a match winner had he not been hit and Christian showed his worth.  I can see the Heat bouncing back with a big performance at the Gabba.

Also of note for this game was the very average crowd that turned up, when the SCG management were expecting 20,000, getting a crowd of 12,285 is somewhat worrying.  Sydney will keep telling you they are up there as a sporting capital so to only have this many turn out on a Friday night is another example this year that Sydney is by no means a sporting mecca.