The coronavirus pandemic continued to wreck the Big Bash League, with 12 Brisbane Heat players testing positive for COVID-19 while Glenn Maxwell also tested positive.
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The coronavirus pandemic is continuing to decimate the Big Bash League in Australia. After several games were postponed, the Brisbane Heat managed to field a playing 11 made out of eight debutants. 12 of their players, including their head coach Wade Seccombe, tested positive for COVID-19. In other developments, Glenn Maxwell of the Melbourne Stars also tested positive as the franchise continued to suffer.
If the Brisbane Heat situation is woeful, then the Melbourne Stars are facing the brunt of the coronavirus outbreak. Eight players and 12 coaching staff, a total of 20 members are in isolation after testing positive. The common factor is that both the Melbourne Stars and the Brisbane Heat’s last games were against the Melbourne Renegades.
The coronavirus outbreak has already postponed Brisbane Heat’s game against the Sydney Sixers. The Adelaide Strikers vs Sydney Thunder game was on the cusp of being postponed after several members of the Sydney Thunder team tested positive. But, only when the RT-PCR Tests conducted in the hours before the match turned negative results, the sides were allowed to play.
Read – Big Bash League News: Coronavirus decimates schedule, 11 players test positive
The misfortune for the Brisbane Heat and the Melbourne Stars has proven to be a blessing in disguise for the Melbourne Renegades. They have won two consecutive matches for the first time in the Big Bash League 2021/22 season. After a win against their cross-town rivals Melbourne Stars, the Renegades put in a fantastic performance against a Brisbane Heat ‘B’ team.
Fakhar Zaman, the Pakistan left-hander, played for the Brisbane Heat for the first time in the BBL. Apart from Fakhar, Tom Cooper, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, and Sam Heazlett, the rest of the Brisbane Heat team was made up of new faces. Melbourne Renegades chose to field at Geelong in Victoria and they had Brisbane Heat in trouble early.
Zahir Khan struck twice in the powerplay as Brisbane Heat struggled. Heazlett and Lehmann looked to get going with a couple of lusty blows and strung a solid partnership. But, Melbourne Renegades substituted James Pattinson with Mohammad Nabi and immediately reaped rewards. He sent back Heazlett for 12 and skipper Tom Cooper for 4.
Lehmann, at the other end, was in fine touch and reached his fifty with a cut shot off Kane Richardson’s short ball. Lehmann kept the fight going and pummeled a couple of boundaries but he fell in the final over. Nabi conceded just two runs in the final over and Melbourne Renegades restricted them to 128/6.
The Renegades started off poorly when Sam Harper fell for a three-ball duck to David Grant. But, Shaun Marsh was in fine touch. He thumped two fours off Will Prestwidge and hammered StevenMcGiffin for two fours and a six.
Shaun Marsh is taking it to the Brisbane Heat!
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) January 6, 2022
He's raced to 52 from 31 with a pair of massive sixes #BBL11 pic.twitter.com/tYMz6Pwrs6
Marsh notched up his fifty with two sixes off Heazlett and the landmark came off 31 balls. Aaron Finch was enjoying proceedings from the non-striker’s end but he too joined the act with two boundaries off Prestwidge. Finch hammered Tom Cooper for two sixes in one over as the Melbourne Renegades reached 96/1 in 10 overs.
As the team neared the victory line, both Finch and Marsh fell in quick succession. But, Nic Maddinson hit a couple of sixes to seal a five-wicket win. Melbourne Renegades have now moved to fifth in the points table while Brisbane Heat have slipped to sixth.
