Heat wary of building Thunder

Brisbane Heat skipper Kirby Short admits she’s a little concerned her team poked the bear in Cairns last weekend, but is confident they can find another level against the Sydney Thunder in Saturday’s Rebel WBBL semi-finals.

The Heat claimed a narrow, final-over victory against the Thunder at Cazaly’s Stadium in Cairns last Saturday night, setting up a rematch in this weekend’s eliminator at Drummoyne Oval.

This time, it’s the Thunder who are on home turf and Short knows it won’t be easy replicating their most recent result against Alex Blackwell’s team, who finished the home-and-away season second on the ladder with 10 wins from 14 games.

“I actually think they’ve been the most consistent team in the competition,” Short said at Drummoyne Oval on Friday. “If they’ve lost they’ve not lost badly.

“They’re a quality side and you would expect them to be fired up regardless because it’s a semi-final and there’s no tomorrow.

“But it’s nice for us to have won ugly, I think there’s still a fair room for improvement for us for tomorrow.”

Honours were split between the teams in their two meetings in WBBL|04 to date, but the Heat are full of confidence, having also knocked off two-time reigning champions Sydney Sixers during the season.

Short believes the growing professionalism of the game means the gap is growing between the traditionally strong NSW teams and the remainder of the competition.

The form of the Heat’s domestic talent – who have outshone South African internationals Laura Wolvaardt and Sune Luus to date in WBBL|04 – is another factor.

“The monkey’s off the back, they’re not unbeatable sides so maybe there’ll be two upsets tomorrow,” Short said, referring to the second semi-final which will see the Sixers meet the Renegades.

“There was a fair bit of chat around our international signings early on in the season but I think what typified our performances through the season is we haven’t replied on one or two people.

“At different stages, different people have stepped up and it’s been positive for us.”

Meanwhile, Thunder captain Blackwell feels her team is primed for a tilt at a second WBBL title, despite their defeat last weekend.

“I feel like we’re peaking at the right time,” Blackwell said. “We’ve played really good cricket throughout, we’ve been challenged and we’ve had to win in tight situations and our losses have been pretty tight as well.”

The first semi-final between the Thunder and the Heat gets underway at 10.40am on Saturday before the Sixers and Renegades meet at 1.50pm.