This wasn't the script the Melbourne Stars had expected. Missing two of the Big Bash League's master sluggers, the Brisbane Heat had been expected to be put under major, well, heat, in Tuesday night's clash at the MCG.
No Brendon McCullum, no Chris Lynn, so no Heat was how many had expected the order of the night to unfold, despite this being a contest between the competition's top two franchises. But the visitors had other ideas, posting a seven-wicket win, and in doing so have endangered the Stars' hopes of not only making the finals, but certainly of hosting a home final.
So tight is the race for the finals that several permutations are in play. What the Stars do have in their favour is a healthy net run rate, as they now look to regroup against the fourth-placed Sydney Sixers at the MCG on Saturday in what shapes as something of a quarter-final. This will be the final regular-season clash for each side.
The Heat are confirmed starters in the finals and now appear to even have a home semi-final, regardless of Friday night's last regular season clash when they host a desperate Melbourne Renegades.
On a difficult, two-paced deck, Luke Wright, who became the first Star to play 50 BBL matches, batted through the innings in a steady 60 off 55 balls. But the fact he would post the only two sixes of his team's innings - and Kevin Pietersen's golden duck - highlighted the Stars' disturbing lack of punch.
"It was a tough pitch, to be honest. I know watching the game other night when Australia played, it looked quite hard work," Wright said.
"I thought they (Heat) bowled really well, loads of slower balls. We lost wickets at key times. Obviously, being on two hat-tricks didn't help. We never really got that momentum .. we were 10 or 15 (runs) short."
Leg-spinner Adam Zampa, overlooked for the Test tour of India, would later be superb with the ball but he couldn't deliver the crucial wicket of either stand-in Heat skipper Joe Burns (42 not out) or Alex Ross (46 not out), who guided their side to victory.
In need of quick wickets, paceman Scott Boland had Heat opener Jimmy Peirson caught of a slicing, skied drive, while Nathan Reardon also fell to a questionable shot when he mistimed a pull shot off Ben Hilfenhaus and skied a ball to deep backward square leg. At 2-26 in the fourth over, the pressure was suddenly on the Heat.
While the wickets fell, Sam Heazlett was in good touch and an aggressive mood, thumping a pair of sixes. He was largely responsible for 15 runs off Marcus Stoinis' opening over, which left the visitors 2-44 at the completion of the power play. But just as Heazlett appeared to be the man who could anchor victory, he crunched a half-volley off Evan Gulbis to Scott Boland at long on.
The Stars looked to Zampa and fellow spinner Michael Beer, the hero of the weekend victory over the Scorchers, to increase the pressure, and even inflict the damage their Heat counterparts had done earlier in the evening. The wickets didn't come but the required run rate, with former Test opener Burns beginning slowly, jumped to seven an over.
Burns, though, would soon find his groove and the 15th over would be pivotal when he and Alex Ross crunched 14 runs, including three boundaries, off Boland. Burns would all but end the contest when he thumped successive sixes off Ben Hilfenhaus in the 18th over.
While the Stars won the toss, it didn't take long for their struggles to emerge, with Mark Steketee setting the tempo for the Heat. His first ball to Rob Quiney was a wide but the first two legal deliveries had Quiney chopping a wide delivery on to his stumps, and Pietersen trapped lbw.
The former England captain has a propensity to step across his stumps to flick the ball to leg side. This time he missed, and replays showed the delivery would have clipped leg stump.
Seb Gotch, on debut for the Stars, having replaced Peter Handscomb who is on national duty, joined Wright, and the pair set about a rebuild.
Gotch, small in stature but full of confidence, survived the hat-trick delivery and was immediately busy, scampering between wickets when the boundaries weren't flowing.
After two strong overs each by Steketee and English left-armer Tymal Mills, Jack Wildermuth was taken to with glee, the Stars ending their boundary drought and taking 13 from it.
Gotch was given a life on 29 when Peirson botched a stumping off leg-spinner Marnus Labuschagne, and he and Wright would post a 50-run stand off 43 balls. But just as the Stars looked dangerous, another leggie, this time Mitchell Swepson, would strike on successive deliveries.
Selected for next month's Test tour of India, Swepson fooled Gotch, who had stepped across the crease, with a wrong-un and was bowled, and Marcus Stoinis would fall next ball when he looked to punch through the off-side but the delivery held up and he, too, played on.
This time it was David Hussey's turn to survive a hat-trick delivery and he and Wright began a second rescue mission.
The runs, however, would not flow against the clever Swepson (2-14 off four overs), who enjoyed a two-paced deck.
It would take until the 15th over for the first six to be struck when Wright blasted a Ben Cutting delivery back over his head, the over generating a profitable 14 runs. It's rare to see have seen Wright struggle to build momentum but the tight bowling and tricky conditions contributed to this.
He would also begin to run out of partners when Hussey and Gulbis quickly fell.
The 18th over was an eventful one, for Gulbis would fall to a catch in the deep off Wildermuth, but the paceman would find himself removed from the attack with one delivery remaining, having been no-balled twice in the over for two beam balls. Cutting's one delivery - a free hit - would be smacked to the mid-wicket boundary.
