Heat hold their nerve to sink Stars on soggy Gold Coast

The match in a tweet: Heat make it three in a row! Stars outshone on a rainy Gold Coast as Lynn comes back with a bang #BBL10

The scorecard: Brisbane Heat 3-115 (Lynn 48, Bryant 31; Zampa 2-7) beat the Melbourne Stars 6-110 (Stoinis 34, Larkin 35no, Steketee 3-25) by 18 runs (DLS Method)

The points: Brisbane Heat 4, Melbourne Stars 0

The revised numbers: Persistent sub-tropical rain on the Gold Coast meant this was a rain-interrupted affair, with each side ultimately limited to 10 overs. It meant a maximum of two overs per bowler, while the DLS calculations revised the Heat's total up from 3-115 to a target of 129 for the Stars, and a Bash Boost target of 59 after five overs. Curiously, the Melbourne Stars received only two Powerplay overs, while the Heat had four, given they started their innings expecting to bat a full 20.

The hero: Chris Lynn has enjoyed a couple of blazing cameos amid an interrupted BBL|10 and this was another headline act from the Heat skipper. In a situation tailor-made for the big-hitting opener, Lynn delighted a small but raucous Queensland crowd which cheered his every shot. There were three fours and four sixes (including two straight off Glenn Maxwell as part of a three-ball session between rain breaks) and in 23 frenzied balls he had thrashed 48 vital runs, putting the Heat in the box seat in this shortened affair.

The support cast: Max Bryant (31) and Joe Burns (22no) each played vital hands at either end of the innings, with the latter continuing on from his match-winning half-century for the Heat last time out. With the ball, Jack Wildermuth conceded just two runs from the second over, before Mujeeb Ur Rahman only went for seven from the third. In the magnified context of a 10-over match, those two overs were enormous; it left the Stars requiring 105 from 42 balls, which proved too many even for a star-studded line-up with 10 wickets in hand.

The stat: Bryant has now made eight scores between 12 and 40 from eight innings in BBL|10, which can be looked at two ways: the hard-hitting right-hander is playing his part in consistently getting his side off to solid starts; or he needs to start going big.

The catch I: We're a touch blasé about these catches now but, well, we shouldn't be. Outstanding from Mark Steketee…

The consolation effort: Confronted with a wet ball and a rampant Chris Lynn, Stars leg-spinner Adam Zampa nonetheless used his guile and skill to turn the tables mid-innings. Zampa seems to only be getting better and better at his craft, and the leggie took two wickets in as many balls when he had Max Bryant caught at cover and then confounded Englishman Joe Denly with a first-ball wrong'un that trapped him lbw. Amid a chaotic innings in which each of his teammates went for at least 7.5 runs per over, Zampa finished with 2-7 from two.

The catch II: Incredible from Lewis Gregory…

The cameo: There were a few eyebrows raised when the Stars didn't include Glenn Maxwell in their top three and there's a strong argument they should have, but it certainly shouldn't have been at the expense of Nicholas Pooran. From the first ball he faced, the Trinidadian left-hander hit an audacious lofted cover drive – into the second tier! He was out an over later for 16 from five but gee, it was fun while it lasted.

The blade of glory: When Pooran, Maxwell, Stoinis and Cartwright exited stage left in the space of 10 balls, the Stars were left needing 57 from 16 balls and the contest was all over bar the formalities. Enter the unlikely figure of Nick Larkin (35no off 16) to breathe some last-minute drama into proceedings; 17 runs came from the eighth over, then 23 from the ninth, and suddenly another 23 from the final over looked eminently possible. Ultimately, the cool head of young Heat quick Xavier Bartlett prevailed, but it was nonetheless an impressive effort from the Stars batsman.

The next stops: The Heat are back on the Gold Coast in three days (Jan 10) against the Sixers, while the Stars play on January 11 against the Strikers in Adelaide.