Evergreen duo Brad Hogg and Michael Klinger weaved their magic yet again as Perth Scorchers cruised to a nine-wicket victory over Brisbane Heat in Saturday's BBL clash at the WACA Ground.
Hogg played a crucial role in restricting the Heat to a paltry 7-117, with the 44-year-old returning figures of 1-15 from four overs.
Klinger then smashed an unbeaten 53 off 42 balls as Perth breezed to the victory target with 29 balls to spare, finishing at 1-118.
Opener Marcus Harris (36 off 22 balls) and Ashton Agar (24no) also chipped in with handy scores in front of 19,225 fans.
The result means the Heat are winless after three games, leaving their title hopes hanging by a thread.
Perth are now 1-1 as they attempt to win a third straight championship.
Hogg has played a crucial role in the Scorchers' success in recent years, and he was a key figure yet again on Saturday night.
The Heat made a solid enough start after moving to 2-48 from seven overs.
But from there Hogg, David Willey (1-15), and Andrew Tye (3-23) put the brakes on to dramatic effect, with only Chris Lynn (75no off 58 balls) putting up any real resistance.
Opener Jimmy Peirson (10) was the second highest run scorer as the Heat's batting line-up got stage fright.
Brisbane were dealt an added blow when top-order batsman Peter Forrest injured his right hamstring while running between the wickets.
But not everything went perfectly for the Scorchers in the field.
Returning paceman Jason Behrendorff was solid in finishing with figures of 2-32.
But he endured an embarrassing moment when he dropped a skied shot and the ball rolled 15m to the boundary.
Klinger, 35, hasn't given up hope of earning an international call-up in either the Test, one-day, or T20 format, and his latest performance with the bat will help his cause.
The Scorchers' win was made even more impressive considering they were missing star quartet Adam Voges, Shaun Marsh, Mitch Marsh, and Nathan Coulter-Nile.
"I just love playing the game of cricket," Hogg said.
"It's something that's given me so much in my life. It's just great to have a packed house that really enjoy what you're doing."
Heat coach Daniel Vettori said his team's batting performance let them down.
"To have a top-order batsman play so well like Lynny and to have no one be able to complement him was really disappointing," Vettori said.
"It's pretty simple where we went wrong."
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