Peirson ‘proud’ to bring up 100th BBL game for Brisbane Heat

Brisbane Heat wicketkeeper Jimmy Peirson has done a good job of keeping his 100-game milestone a secret, but he will walk out onto the Gabba tomorrow night a proud man.

“I didn’t think I’d play one game and I’ve played 100 so that’s fantastic and I am very proud,” said the 30-year-old gloveman.

“With 14 games a season and a finals series thrown in one year, I guess it does come around pretty fast.

“I feel very privileged to be playing my 100th game for the club.”

Peirson becomes just the fourth Heat player to register 100 games, behind former captain Chris Lynn, current WBBL captain Jess Jonassen, and batter Laura Harris.

Peirson is second on the list of runs scored for the Heat on 1,503 — still a country mile behind Lynn, who is well past 3,000 runs.

Peirson has missed a few games along the way, including the time he was dropped to fit South African superstar AB de Villiers into the side.

“He took my spot one year which is fair enough. You don’t mind being dropped for some like AB de Villiers,” he laughed.

Peirson believes he has adapted his game well to be suited dropping down to the middle order and taking on the power surges which have been introduced into the format in recent years.

“I was a slasher when I started but the game is a different beast now and I have changed to suit it,” he said.

The trend for wicketkeepers to pick up the run pace is a key part of the game these days and Peirson enjoys the challenge every time he goes out in the middle.

The Heat looked out of contention for a spot in the finals until a few recent results have thrown them a lifeline, but they have to win tomorrow night at home.

READ: Brisbane Heat v Hobart Hurricanes betting tips – Friday, January 20

“Look, we got on a roll of losses in the middle part of the year but things have turned and the really exciting thing for us is that we haven’t really put a game together yet,” he said.

“We’ve batted well and bowled poorly or we’ve bowled well and batted poorly.

“Once we click, I think it will be pretty exciting.

“If we win every game from now we’re in the finals. We’ve got Hobart twice and Melbourne, and we want to win all three of them and make a run for the finals.

“We’ve done it before a few years ago and no reason why we can’t for it again.”

Peirson said the players were disappointed with their performance last match against the Melbourne Stars even though they won thanks to Matt Renshaw’s unbeaten 90, which included a boundary off the final ball to win the game.

“Matt kept a cool head the other night when some of us didn’t and it was a match-winning performance,” he said.

“We should have put them away earlier but we didn’t and I was part of that but likely Matty steered us home.

“We know we can improve and play finals.”

Online bookmakers have the Heat at $1.96 to win Friday’s clash at the Gabba, with the Hobart Hurricanes slender favourites at $1.85.

Brisbane are $26 outsiders to win the T20 Big Bash League.

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