After a season filled with mixed performances and flashes of brilliance, the Brisbane Heat's BBL|08 campaign is set to reach an exciting crescendo this Friday against the Melbourne Stars with the club still in the mix for finals.
After last Tuesday's loss to the Hobart Hurricanes, the Heat's second in the space of three days, it appeared all was lost for the season.
However, two consecutive wins over the Perth Scorchers and Adelaide Strikers, and a run of results dropping in the Heat's favour, has seen the club's campaign still miraculously alive.
As it currently stands, the Heat sit in sixth spot on the BBL ladder, behind the fourth placed Melbourne Stars by one point who have a game in hand, and the Sydney Thunder on net-run-rate.
The Heat will have the opportunity to move into the treasured top-four with victory over the Stars this Friday, though other results would still need to fall our way for us to stay there.
The Stars will secure a semi-final spot with victory in either of their final two games, with their final match of the season to come against the Sydney Sixers on Sunday.
With the Thunder to meet the Hobart Hurricanes on Saturday, the green men from Sydney will go above the Heat should their net-run-rate remain better than ours. It could potentially come down to how big a winning margin we can muster against the Stars.
'Baz' has had a profound effect on the Heat and the BBL with his remarkable stroke play and entertaining mindset. As one half of the 'Bash Brothers' and the club's fourth-highest run-scorer, the Heat will be doing their best to ensure his Heat career sees another week.
Friday will be a great celebration of Baz's time in teal and an opportunity for Brisbane fans to say farewell to an icon of the game.