Peirson's 'tough' omission a sign of Heat depth: Seccombe

Brisbane Heat coach Wade Seccombe has backed club stalwart Jimmy Peirson to have an impact in the finals despite a "tough" season spent entirely on the sidelines as his teammates won seven straight games to secure top spot.

Peirson, who captained Brisbane in last season's final, was unable to crack the Heat's starting XI until their last match of the home-and-away season when they left out internationals Colin Munro and Sam Billings who are unavailable for the finals series.

The 31-year-old right-hander top scored for the Heat in his first time opening the batting since January 1, 2022, with 42 from 41 balls in their 35-run loss to Perth Scorchers – their first defeat of KFC BBL|13.

Seccombe revealed they identified at the start of the season there was a chance Peirson could be out of the side until the finals, but despite the loss last Saturday, he spent valuable time in the middle alongside Max Bryant, who was the Heat's equal second top scorer with 29 off 17 in his second appearance of the season.

"It's a really tough move on Jim (Peirson), he captained the side in the final last year, and we've left him on the bench," Seccombe said this week ahead of the Qualifier final against Sydney Sixers on Gold Coast.

"It's a sign of a pretty good side when you're leaving such depth and experience sitting on the bench.

"He's been professional about it, which we expected, but we identified early on that this was a possibility.

"There's parts of his game that he knew he had to work on, and he's gone out and worked on it and we saw elements of that unfold in his innings (on Saturday) and expecting that to continue going forward."

While Peirson's last three seasons for Queensland have been exceptional with the bat – which earned him a call up to the Australian squad for the second and third Ashes Tests last year – his T20 strike-rate and percentage of runs from boundaries have declined during the same period.

Despite BBL|12 being the most productive runs wise of his 10 Big Bash seasons (334 at 23.86), his strike-rate of 116.8 was his slowest in three seasons.

Even his knock against the Scorchers last Saturday could have been quicker, according to Seccombe, and with regular opener Munro departing and Usman Khawaja back with the Test team, the Heat will be relying on Peirson and Josh Brown to get them off to a fast start in the finals.

"Obviously, he's been disappointed he hasn't been playing," Seccombe said of Peirson post-match in Perth.

"But he hasn't neglected his skills at any point in time.

"He's (been) waiting for his opportunity, got it at the top of the order, so good that he got some runs on the board and time out in the middle.

"(He) probably could have gone a little bit faster clip with that but we got him out there."

Peirson said he wasn't at his "fluent best" during his first innings of the season, but was grateful to get an opportunity to play before the finals rather than going in cold.

"The team's been so successful while we've been running water so we really want to be having an impact in the team as well and continue on the momentum we've had with the whole tournament," he said in Perth post-match.

"I felt, both Max and myself, were probably out of a bit of rhythm but getting a game under our belt is fantastic.

"Obviously, you want to be playing cricket so certainly it was a little bit frustrating to start with, but as the team was having success you sit back and go, 'well, I'm happy to be a part of that and do my part until I'm required'.

"Going into the finals, Max and myself have got a big role to play and we'd like to bring home a flag for Brisbane so plenty of work to do."

Peirson won't captain the Heat in the finals with regular skipper Khawaja away for national duties, and BBL|13 stand-in Munro off to the ILT20 in the UAE, with Seccombe instead promoting emerging leader Nathan McSweeney to the top job.

McSweeney has been identified as a leader of the next generation of Australia cricketers and was appointed captain of Australia A and the Prime Minister's XI for four first-class matches against New Zealand A and Pakistan last year.

Seccombe said his appointment for the Heat in the finals was as much about his proximity to the bowlers in the field.

"Nothing against Jimmy, but it's just where he is as a keeper it's very hard with your time constraints to get to the other end and actually have those conversations, whereas if Nathan's at mid-off or cover, he can just jump straight and have a quick conversation and the game flows from there," he said.

KFC BBL|13 Finals Schedule

The Qualifier: Brisbane Heat v Sydney Sixers. January 19, 7.40pm AEDT, Carrara Stadium, Gold Coast

The Knockout: Perth Scorchers v Adelaide Strikers. January 20, 7.40pm AEDT, Optus Stadium

The Challenger: Loser of the Qualifier v winner of the Knockout. January 22, time, venue TBC

The Final: Winner of the Qualifier v winner of the Challenger. January 24, time, venue TBC