A lively debut from Stephen Parry and stunning slip catch by Andrew Flintoff were not enough to prevent Brisbane Heat from falling to a five-wicket defeat to Melbourne Renegade in the Big Bash League.
Parry took a wicket, a catch and a run-out in his first performance since signing for Brisbane as a replacement for Daniel Vettori, but the Heat were made to pay for being skittled for 80 and slipped to a sixth loss in seven games.
About 40 mins post @RenegadesBBL@HeatBBL match and @flintoff11 is still signing autographs... pic.twitter.com/aBowiUI62e
— Annie Hateley (@anniehateley) January 13, 2015
The sixth-placed Renegades now likely need victory against Adelaide Strikers in their final game on Monday to have a chance of advancing to the semi-finals.
Flintoff and Parry made little batting impact, the former run out for three by Shakib Al Hasan, who also took 4-13, and the number 11 facing just two balls before the innings ended midway through the 18th over.
Flintoff made his mark on the game with a fantastic catch at slip from the second ball of the reply, leaping superbly to dismiss Matthew Wade for a duck.
With the Docklands Stadium pitch in Melbourne offering plenty of assistance, Ben Stokes struggled with the bat but was unlucky to be out when he hammered a straight drive back at Dan Christian, the all-rounder clinging on to a catch while trying to protect his face.
Parry was then significantly involved as he ran out Alex Doolan, bowled Callum Ferguson and held a catch to get rid of Shakib to give the Heat hope. However, the Renegades got home with six overs to spare.
