By Joel Gould
Brisbane Heat’s key international recruit Colin Munro can’t wait to have a crack at getting one back on the Melbourne Renegades after the 22-run BBL loss in Cairns.
The Heat will play the Renegades again in Geelong on Wednesday after failing to chase down their opponents 7-166 on Thursday night in the season opener.
Colin Munro and Sam Billings of the Heat congratulate each other during the Big Bash League match against the Melbourne Renegades on Thursday. Credit:Emily Barker/Getty Images
“The key is we play them in a couple of days so we can’t dwell on what we’ve just done,” Munro said.
“We will dust ourselves off and come back stronger.”
Former New Zealand international Munro has 358 T20 games and 8952 runs of experience behind him, and it showed against the Renegades.
Former New Zealand international Colin Munro says there is a lot to like about his new team.Credit:Getty
The confident left-hander made 35 off 30 balls in his first BBL game for the Heat before being run out on the last ball of the 13th over when he’d put on 54 for the fourth wicket with skipper Jimmy Peirson (43 off 30).
“We put on a good partnership so it was disappointing to get out to the last ball of the (power) surge,” the former Perth Scorcher said.
“If we had batted another two overs I think that game could have been a different story.
“You’ve got to give credit to those (Renegades) guys. They put us under a bit of pressure at times and just bowled a little bit better.”
The best bowler on the night was Renegades’ new 29-year-old left-arm orthodox spinner, the West Indies international Akeal Hosein, who took 3-15.
“Akeal is a class act,” Munro said.
“I have played with him a lot (at Trinbago Knight Riders) in the CPL and he just gets better and better.
“He has got no mystery. He is just really clever in what he does. He has a great arm ball, he changes his pace really well and he puts a lot of spin on the ball.
“He has all the ingredients of being a good T20 bowler and he has shown that for a number of years now with the West Indies and the franchises that he has played for around the world.”
Munro said Renegades skipper Nic Maddinson (87 off 49 balls) was on another level in Cairns. He said the Heat bowlers also showed form.
“We were aggressive with the ball up front and went looking for poles.
“Unfortunately, they were one step ahead of us in the powerplay but James Bazley and Mark Steketee came back and bowled really well and the spinners (Mitch Swepson and Matt Kuhnemann) were class acts.
“There is a lot to like. We will look at the positives and keep reinforcing those.”
– AAP
