Ben Duckett half-century helps Brisbane Heat defeat Adelaide Strikers

The Nottinghamshire batter scored 78 runs from 47 balls to help the Heat post an imposing 208 for 7 from their 20 overs before taking two catches in a comfortable 39-run win

Adelaide: Brisbane Heat 208-7, Adelaide Strikers 169-8 – Brisbane Heat won by 39 runs

A half-century from Ben Duckett helped Brisbane Heat secure a comfortable 39-run win over Adelaide Strikers and move up to fourth in the table.

The Nottinghamshire batter, who endured a lean start to BBL11 after scoring just 60 runs in his first four outings, smashed 78 runs from 47 balls as the Heat posted an imposing total of 208 for 7 in Adelaide.

Mark Steketee and Matthew Kuhnemann then picked up three wickets apeice as Adelaide Strikers posted 169 for 8 from their 20 overs, Duckett popping up with two catches to complete his player of the match performance.

Batting first, Brisbane Heat lost Chris Lynn and Tom Cooper inside the powerplay before the arrival of Duckett flipped the game in their favour.

The 27-year-old enjoyed a productive 40-run stand with Max Bryant to put the Heat well on their way to an unreachable Bash Boost total before joining forces with Sam Heazlett to put on a 114-run fourth-wicket stand off just 64 deliveries. 63 of those runs came from the bat of Duckett off just 35 deliveries before he was eventually removed by Rashid Khan in the 18th over.

^{Mark Steketee celebrates the wicket of Jake Weatherald [Sarah Reed/Getty Images]}

Rashid picked up his third of the day with the following delivery, dismissing Heazlett for 49 (30 balls) to reduce Brisbane to 188 for 6, but missed out on a hat-trick as James Bazley drove to long-off for a single.

The Heat lost two more wickets before close, with Bazley (caught George Garton, bowled Wes Agar) and Jimmy Pierson (bowled Peter Siddle) departing, but made it beyond the 200-mark to set the Strikers an intimidating 209 to win.

In reply, the home side lost two wickets of their own in the powerplay, with Kuhnemann and Steketee removing Matthew Short (15) and Jake Weatherald (1), respectively, and never really got going after that thanks to the steady fall of wickets.

Matt Renshaw and Jonathan Wells shared a 71-run third-wicket stand but coming off 58 balls it was too slow given the size of the chase, while Garton’s six-ball 19, though impressive, was too little too late.

Steketee was the pick of the bowlers, taking 3 for 27, while Kuhnemann collected 3 for 47 and Bazley 2 for 27.

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