Hurricanes seal win despite Lynn 101

In May this year, Dan Christian traded the Brisbane Heat for the Hobart Hurricanes. One week ago, as the Heat batted against the Hurricanes, he made a nuisance of himself, taking two vital wickets and four catches, one a spectacular effort to dismiss Chris Lynn. This time, he played a key role again, but with the bat, providing his old side (and their 30,000 partisan and noisy fans) with a third uncomfortable reminder of what they are missing. Christian's 56 not out helped the Hurricanes to 4 for 194, setting up a 15-run win that propelled them to fourth place on the points table.

The Heat, with the exception of their outstanding captain Lynn, who scored a brilliant 101 to take his tournament tally to 212 runs from 132 balls, looked callow and raw in losing their fourth consecutive game. The loss cemented their place at the bottom of the BBL ladder. No team in the competition is as inexperienced (Hurricanes had a combined total of 969 T20 appearances to the Heat's 512) and no team is more reliant on one player. Unsurprisingly, their tournament is all but over.

Even after losing their openers in the first eight balls for a combined total of 1, the Heat never looked out of it when Lynn was at the crease. Chasing 194, Lendl Simmons was bowled by a hooping full toss, before Jimmy Peirson sent Jake Reed straight to square leg.

Lynn beat a diving mid-on with a perfectly timed, checked drive first ball and struck it stunningly until he fell in the 18th over. Twice he sent Shaun Tait - who he took for 46 runs in 14 balls - for consecutive sixes, as he peppered the boundary from long-off to deep square-leg. Lynn, the first player to score a BBL century in a losing cause, did his international prospects no harm ahead of the World T20. National selector Mark Waugh said on Channel Ten later that "he's got to be in the top six [Australian T20 batsmen]".

He was joined for a productive partnership of 79 by the composed 20-year-old debutant Sam Heazlett, who got off the mark with a stylish six over long-on and followed it with a sliced slog for four. When Heazlett faintly edged Darren Sammy behind and walked, Lynn continued the Heat's charge, but was short on fluent partners. Nathan Reardon became the superb Cameron Boyce's first victim, pulling a short ball to Clive Rose in the deep, and when Lynn charged the same bowler and feathered through to Tim Paine, the game was up. The Heat unravelled, losing four wickets in the final eight balls, including a pair of run-outs.

Earlier, coming in to bat in the 14th over, after a series of fast top-order starts for the Hurricanes were curtailed, Christian bludgeoned three fours and four sixes in his 24-ball 56. Mark Steketee was bunted over point for six, then ramped for four. Christian sent the second ball of the penultimate over of the innings, bowled by Luke Feldman, 117 metres over cow corner and onto the Gabba roof. Christian's partner Sammy, who suffered a bad night with the bat (7 off 14 balls), could only laugh, offer a high-five and inspect his partner's bat. Christian's mouth was momentarily agape, but he recovered his composure to take two more sixes - one over backward square-leg (this one travelling 112 metres) and the other straight down the ground - from Feldman's torrid 25-run over. In large part due to Christian, both Feldman and Steketee conceded more than 50 from their four overs.

After Tim Paine and Ben Dunk, who appeared to re-find his touch after a sluggish start to the competition, made fine starts to the match, the introduction of Samuel Badree's leg-breaks for the final over of the Powerplay slowed the Hurricanes. Badree had Dunk caught at deep midwicket in his first over, then Paine stumped with the last ball of his second.

Kumar Sangakkara and George Bailey came together with the score on 58 and doubled it, the former flat-batting Steketee and tracking Badree for sixes before a Feldman yorker bowled him. Bailey ran hard and manipulated the field for 31, but miscued a pull off Feldman just as he looked set to motor. Never mind, Christian would take care of that.