Jack Wildermuth elated after Brisbane Heat’s record run-chase as “A lot of goosebumps, but it’s an incredible effort.”
Jack Wildermuth, the opener for the Brisbane Heat, described it as “one of the best cricket nights of my life” following his century in a record BBL stand with Matt Renshaw, which propelled the team to a record chase of 258 against the 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.”
After the two batters hit nine sixes apiece to shatter numerous records, Renshaw scored 102 off 51 deliveries while still processing what had happened. With one ball remaining in front of their home crowd, the Heat scored their first points of the BBL thanks to the hundreds from Renshaw and Wildermuth, the first time two batters have hit hundreds in a T20 chase.
“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.”
“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.”
“[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.”