Gregory quickly makes himself at home after quarantine

Englishman Lewis Gregory only had one net session in the three weeks leading into tonight's KFC BBL clash with the Hurricanes but that didn't stop the allrounder producing the best-ever figures by a Heat debutant in a player-of-the-match performance.

Gregory, who came out of a two-week quarantine on Christmas morning, claimed the key wickets of D'Arcy Short, Dawid Malan and Peter Handscomb en route to a return of 3-22 from four overs, employing his clever variations to great effect on a Gabba surface that he laid eyes on for the first time only hours before the match.

In a sense though, it was a pitch that reminded him of home.

"At Somerset back home we play on a really good batting surface and it's not the biggest (ground) either, so we've tried to create an environment there where you have to mix it up; if you are too predictable, you do get met quite a bit," said Gregory, who trained on Saturday night in the Gabba nets for the first time since landing in Australia earlier this month.

"It was just a matter of trying to mix things up, it's a pretty decent surface and they're some pretty powerful players, so it was a case of mixing it up and keeping a bit of variety … you get on a good surface it's a case of trying to keep them guessing, not being too predictable, get a few to grip as well. 

"They came out OK, considering I've had one bowl in the last three weeks."

Gregory was able to catch up with the rest of the Heat squad for Christmas lunch after a quarantine period he said was more challenging than he had anticipated. He will be joined in the coming days by compatriot Joe Denly, who has also been recruited by the Heat after another Englishman, big-hitting opener Tom Banton, withdrew on the eve of BBL|10 citing 'bubble fatigue'.

"It's difficult, and I may have underestimated just how difficult that two-week quarantine is," he said. "I think a lot of the guys have struggled, and obviously some pulled out.

"It was a pretty long two weeks to be fair, but we lucked out a little bit – we had a one-bed apartment which enabled me to cook a little bit, kill a bit of time, and we had a little balcony.

"So there was a lot of Netflix watched, and I was speaking to Joey a little bit, he's not had it easy, he's shoved in a little box of a room but he's out in a couple of days so it'll be nice to catch up with him.

"It's not easy, it's not easy being away from your family at (Christmas) but equally the UK is not the best place to be at the moment as well."

Hurricanes captain Handscomb was surprised by the nature of the Gabba surface, and praised Gregory for the way he was able to use it to his advantage.

"It was a different Gabba wicket to what we've seen before, so when you looked down it there was a lot of mosaic cracking, so it seemed very dry," he said.

"The ball wasn't coming on as much – it was just stopping in the wicket and guys like Gregory were quite hard to face.

"He bowled well to the conditions … I saw he got one up to 138kph so he was still letting them go when he could but he was bowling good slower balls, good cutters, bowling to his field and executing plans, so credit to him, that was really well done."

The two sides square off again on Wednesday back at the Gabba and Gregory is hopeful the Heat's first win of the season – which lifts them into sixth position – will mark a change in fortunes as they battle to stay in touch with the top four in the absence of superstar batsman Chris Lynn.

"Obviously we've not started well but a couple of games we lost could've gone our way and it's a completely different story," he said. "It's T20 cricket a little bit – it's quite easy to get on a run, win or lose … you can quite easily go on a two, three, four-match winning run.

"But today's really important to get that win."