Brisbane Heat opener Jack Wildermuth called it "one of the best cricket nights of my life" after his century in a record BBL stand with Matt Renshaw powered Brisbane Heat to a record chase of 258 against Perth Scorchers at the Gabba.
"Not quite, still in a bit of shock to be honest," Wildermuth said soon after the eight-wicket win as he remained unbeaten on 110 off 54 balls. "Sitting here winning the game is pretty surreal."
Renshaw scored 102 off 51 deliveries, and was still trying to process what had unfolded after the two batters had smashed nine sixes each to send many records tumbling. "Still don't really believe it," he said. "A lot of goosebumps, but it's an incredible effort. I think a lot of people probably put us out of the contest, and I think probably we did as well when we got to that first ball."
Renshaw and Wildermuth's centuries was the first time that two batters scored hundreds in a T20 chase as Heat got home with one ball to spare in front of their home crowd while earning their first points of this BBL.
Heat's task of chasing down an improbable 258 became harder when Colin Munro was out first ball. At that stage, ESPNcricinfo's forecaster gave Heat only a 4.78% chance of turning the game in their favour, before the 212-run partnership in 15.3 overs between Renshaw and Wildermuth lit up the game.
"We didn't speak too much, to be honest," Wildermuth said. "We knew we had to go at 13 per over, so we were going to have a crack."
"It was one of those weird ones," Renshaw added. "We didn't talk too much. It was more - just take the right option, see the ball, try and hit the ball where you need to."
Wildermuth and Renshaw powered Heat to 54 in the powerplay, past 100 in 49 balls and then to 131 for 1 at the halfway mark, with another 147 to get in the remaining 10 overs.
"[We] just wanted to set up the first four overs, and try and give us a good start," Wildermuth said. "Then go from there, get a good partnership with Renners. If he hit two or three boundaries an over, we felt like we could stay with the run rate. That was it. Just kept going with that. About the 10-over mark, I thought we were a real chance. We talked about how you can really backend this game, and go at 12s [runs an over] for the last 10."
Renshaw, batting at No. 3, did much of the early damage with his 29-ball fifty, striking five fours and nine sixes in his 48-ball century. "I just like playing the game," Renshaw said. "Feeling the crowd and the expectation and that nervous energy, I've always enjoyed that."
Even though Renshaw was run out in the 16th over, Wildermuth stayed to the end, after Max Bryant had also retired hurt for 28 off 16 balls. "Just in front of my home crowd here, unbelievable," Wildermuth said. "Honestly, one of the best cricket nights of my life."
The left-right combination of Wildermuth and Renshaw feasted on the Scorchers bowlers on a very flat Gabba surface, with one side of the boundary shorter than the other. That had already been on display when Finn Allen (79 from 38 deliveries) and Cooper Connolly (77 off 37 balls) had powered Scorchers to 257.
"There was a little bit of tennis-ball bounce," Renshaw said. "That first ball Munner's got looked like it exploded. Jhye [Richardson] is obviously a pretty good bowler, so I was a bit nervous walking out there thinking I might get my shoulder ripped off. But it started to skid on."
"Definitely [helped]," Wildermuth said of the short boundary. "Especially with Renners out there. He's a great player of spin, and as a left-hander, I knew he could target the short side from that end, and then I could probably target it from the top-end a little bit."
When it was all done with one ball and eight wickets to spare, Renshaw, the Player of the Match, was quick to share the credit with his batting partner.
"Just having him up the other end [helped]," Renshaw said while collecting his award. "I'll definitely be sharing this with him [Wildermuth]. He deserves probably half of it, probably more. Just that never-say-die attitude."
Wildermuth said: "For the Heat to give me an opportunity at the top, it means the world. To finally get my opportunity, I'm stoked just to be out here in front of my home crowd, and my friends and family. I actually did my hamstring twice in about six weeks during [Sheffield] Shield cricket, so I got a bit of an opportunity to work on my white-ball game going into the Big Bash.
"This is going to give us a lot of confidence having this sort of win early in the season. We'll go and look at our bowling and some of the things we can improve there, and I've no doubt we hope to go deep in the tournament."