Opener Michael Lumb produced a heroic innings to guide the Sydney Sixers to what seemed an unlikely victory over the Melbourne Renegades when he blasted five massive sixes - or 30 runs - in his knock of 63.
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After being laughed at by Sydney Thunder fans in the season-opener when he dropped a sitter, Lumb was a beacon at Etihad Stadium after the Sixers' were set 173 for victory.
The South African-born English international watched as Brad Haddin was dismissed for a golden duck and then Nic Maddinson fell for 17.
He and skipper Moises Henriques were brought together at 2-21 in the fourth over and in the next nine overs they hammered 101 runs at breakneck speed.
The 35-year-old Lumb took control of the partnership and it reached the stage where each of his shots became a talking point.
He hammered three sixes off one Xavier Doherty over; at one point he'd hit four sixes off the eight balls he'd faced and after he and Henriques combined to hit 23 runs off Chris Tremain's bowling in the 13th over, they'd swung the momentum in the Sixers' favour.
Lumb, a foundation member of the Sixers, fell for 63 off 35 balls, caught by keeper Matt Wade when he chased a Nathan Rimmington delivery. It was a cruel ending to a great innings but he'd placed the Sixers in a winning position.
While Lumb said he'd copped plenty for the dropped catch in the season-opener, he described Wednesday night's innings as rewarding.
"When the team wins and you feel as though you've contributed, it's a great effort," said Lumb. "The boys are happy, they're buzzing, so it's pretty sweet. We'll get a lot of confidence out of that."
Henriques, who'd allowed Lumb to assume the dominator's role, took over and he unleashed some great power hitting before falling to Dwayne Bravo for 62. While Lumb was the enforcer, the skipper was the anchor of the innings.
"When we needed 10 runs an over with about 12 [overs] to go I knew we needed a big over to let us settle," he said. "We had eight wickets in hand ... 'Lumby' hit a couple of sixes [off the Doherty over] and from there that changed the momentum of the game. We only needed 8.5 runs an over from 10 and that's very gettable."
Henriques' dismissal brought Johan Botha and Jordan Silk to the crease and the 20,805-strong crowd's collective stress levels rose dramatically when Botha was run out by Finch with 18 needed off 21; Silk hit a six when the ball went through Tom Beaton's hands; Silk then fell LBW to Rimmington with 11 needed for victory and then Stephen O'Keefe was dismissed with eight runs required and three wickets in hand.
In the end, Sean Abbott and Trent Lawford steered their team to it's highest ever run chase.
It was a tough win and days after bamboozling Hobart with a three-pronged spin attack, the Sixers all but ignored their tweakers.
As the Renegades' West Indies master blasters Chris Gayle and Bravo, and Perth-born Tom Beaton plundered 132 runs between them, Botha was given only two overs - and he dismissed Gayle - while O'Keefe wasn't thrown the ball by Henriques.
The strategy left plenty of people scratching their heads, although as Gayle asserted himself wicketkeeper Haddin explained to the Channel 10 commentators there was a reluctance to bowl O'Keefe's left-arm orthodox spin at Gayle.
When Henriques explained the decision he said it would've been akin to throwing O'Keefe to the wolves to bring him on late in the match.
"With someone as big a reputation as Chris Gayle playing left-arm spin, especially in this format, it's Twenty20 not Test cricket. If it was Test cricket I'd have been backing 'SOK' every day of the week.
"Even in Twenty20 cricket I back him but we had five quicks and I didn't think I needed to. Once Gayle was out I felt the game was a bit too deep to bring in a bowler who hadn't bowled on the wicket, yet. He wouldn't have known its conditions.
"I know he would've been capable but I'm not too often comfortable throwing a bowler - especially a spinner - late in the game when they haven't bowled an over; it would've been like throwing him to the wolves."
Gayle, who is thriving on his reputation as the biggest and meanest hitter in the BBL, needed a dozen deliveries to crack his first boundary. For the first 11 balls the charismatic batsman seemed weighed down by his heavy gold chain and the demand from the crowd to entertain them.
Hitting Lawford to the boundary unleashed Gayle's inner-beast and before he was caught by Abbott, he hammered three big sixes and as many fours to score 46 runs off 33 deliveries.
The Renegades made it clear they wanted to belt the Sixers' attack and their other West indian import Bravo rode roughshod over them.
He scored 45 from 29 deliveries and his being joined by a kindred spirit in Beaton, who finished with 41 from 23, helped post a big total.
