BBL, Big Bash League, Brendon McCullum, Adelaide Strikers, Brisbane Heat.
Brendon McCullum's superb captaincy guided the Brisbane Heat to a much deserved victory.Reuters

The second match of the Big Bash League took place today at the Adelaid Oval as the Brisbane Heat managed to pick up a win against the Adelaide Strikers in what turned out to be a really close match. The Adelaide Strikers won the toss and chose to field first.

Jimmy Peirson (46, 29b, 5x4, 1x6) and Brendon McCullum (42, 21b, 4x4, 3x6) started the innings for the Brisbane Heat and they put up a strong partnership of 88 runs before Kieron Pollard got them both out in two continuous balls. Alex Ross (64, 36b, 6x4, 4x6) had a wonderful innings with the bat for the Heat as his batting ensured that the Brisbane Heat put up a formidable total of 206 for the Adelaide strikers to chase.

The Adelaide Strikers had a tough time with the ball as Michael Neser, Kane Richardson and Ben Laughlin were expensive as all three bowlers conceded more than 30 runs each. At one point it looked like the Brisbane Heat might score even more, but Chris Jordan got the all important wicket of Alex Ross who looked unstoppable with the bat.

Jake Weatherald (52, 30b, 3x4, 4x6) and Ben Dunk (85, 42b, 8x4, 5x6) got the Adelaide Strikers to an outstanding start as they managed to put up a partnership of 133 before Mark Steketee got Weatherald out. After the first two wickets fell the pace of the match slowed down a little, but Travis Head (23, 25b, 3x4) and Brad Hodge ( 27, 17b, 3x4) picked things towards the end, but despite that they they fell short as they lost a lot of wickets in the last few overs. 

Ben Cutting and Mark Steketee stole the show towards the end of the match as they took the wickets of Pollard and Lehmann which proved to be the turning point of the match as Brisbane Heat managed a narrow win against the Adelaide Strikers. 

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Score

Brisbane Heat: 206/5 in 20 overs

Adelaide Strikers: 196/6 in 20 overs

The Brisbane Heat won by 10 runs.

Bowling

Adelaide Strikers: Neser 2-0-32-0, Richardson 3-0-37-1, Lehmann 1-0-110, Jordan 3-0-29-2, Laughlin 3-0-37-0, Pollard 4-0-27-2, O'Connor 4-0-28-0

Brisbane Heat: Badree 4-1-22-0, Cutting 4-0-46-2, Floros 3-0-40-0, Wildermuth 2-0-27-0, Swepson 3-0-26-1, Steketee 4-0-32-3

Fall of wickets

Brisbane Heat: 1-90 Peirson (8.1 overs), 2-90 McCullum (8.2 overs), 3-130 Lynn (14.2 overs), 4-159 Cutting (17.1 overs), 5-206 Ross (19.6 overs)

 Adelaide Strikers: 1-133 Weatherald (11.1 overs), 2-142 Dunk (12.3 overs), 3-182 Head (17.5 overs), 4-190 Pollard (19 overs), 5-192 Lehmann (19.2 overs), 6-196 Jordan (20 over)

Click here to watch all match highlights.