An all-round display from Jonassen helps the defending champions to reach the second final in a row defeating Melbourne Renegades by 4 wickets at Brisbane on Saturday.
Winning the toss, Heat opted to chase on a batting-friendly surface. Like Scorchers even Renegades missed their key batters in the form of Wyatt and Beaumont. Renegades called in Sri Lankan T20 skipper Athapathu as the replacement for the English duo.
Batting first Renegades did not have an explosive start, the openers were cautious of not losing the wicket early. Lanning and Athapathu started well and both scored 15 plus runs but could not score high as they were dismissed by Johnson and Kerr respectively.
Renegades who were missing the services of Beaumont in the middle order were well replaced by young 19 year J Dooley who played an impressive and unbeaten 50 which helped Renegades to cross 160 mark. she got good support from the skipper Duffin who scored a quick 44. In the end, a lightning inning from Wareham of 22 runs in 8 balls with 3 fours and 1 sixes helped Renegades to end on 163 for 4 in 20 overs.
With the ball, it was the J & J of Heat provided a breakthrough when needed and put a brake from not crossing 175.
Chasing a score of 164 in a knockout match is never an easy task. If there is any team with the current form which could do is the Brisbane Heat.
The pressure was on the in-form batter Beth Mooney who had a terrific season with the bat. Sadly, she couldn’t do much as she was dismissed early for 15 in 18 balls by Strano. It looked like they gonna have a tough time. Unexpectedly it was the batter from Kiwis Maddy Green took the charge of chasing and scored an all-important 46 runs in just 29 balls. This innings had set a good foundation for the chase. Once Green got out, it was the turn of the power-hitting all-rounders of Heat to take the responsibility. Both Jonassen and Grace Harris made sure with both responsible and aggressive batting that Heat cross the line in just 18 overs. Though both the all-rounders lost their wickets on 38 and 43. It was not much left for other batters to finish.
The skipper Kirby Short and Johnson finished the chase within 18 overs which helped Heat to reach their second final in a row by defeating Renegades by 4 wickets.
Though Strano bowled well with 4 wickets, it was not enough for the day to stop Heat from Reaching the finals.
Brief Scores: Renegades 163 for 4 in 20 overs ( Dooley 50 & Jonassen 1 for 25) lost to Heat 166 for 6 in 18 overs ( Green 46 & Strano 4 for 28) by 6 wickets.
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