Big-hitting cameos from Brisbane Heat's Colin Munro and Michael Neser, and a typically clever spin stint from veteran Sydney Sixer Steve O'Keefe counted for little as rain forced the first no result of 2022-23's BBL.
The Heat scored 6-147 off a reduced quota of 13 overs after the game at North Sydney Oval on Wednesday started 65 minutes late.
Persistent drizzle returned near the end of the Brisbane innings and did not stop in time to allow play to resume.
Munro (38 off 14 balls) and Neser (45no off 18) provided the momentum at the beginning and end of the Heat innings respectively.
In between they lost 6-50, with 38-year-old slow left-arm tweaker O'Keefe (3-26 off three overs) the chief architect of Brisbane's mid-innings wobble.
Watched by a big crowd, Heat's hitters plundered 11 fours and as many sixes over the short boundaries at North Sydney Oval.
New Zealand import Munro belted six sixes in an explosive cameo as Brisbane bashed 29 off their two powerplay overs.
The Heat hoisted seven sixes before hitting their first four off the bat.
Munro hit maximums off two of the first three balls of the innings off Ben Dwarshuis and then struck legside sixes off successive balls in overs from Sean Abbott and O'Keefe.
Veteran spinner O'Keefe, back after three games out with a hamstring injury, triggered a Heat collapse by getting Munro to glove a reverse sweep up to wicketkeeper Josh Philippe.
Neser and Nathan McSweeney (28no off 20) wrested back the initiative for Brisbane with a quickfire seventh wicket stand of 56, as the rain returned and prevented the Sixers' run chase.
"I was seeing them a bit better than in the last couple of games," Neser told Fox Cricket after his highest T20 score.
"Boof (coach Darren Lehmann) told me, 'Keep it simple mate, just watch the ball and stay still', so I gave it a crack and thankfully it paid off today.
"It was a beautiful wicket out there, as soon as the rain came about the ball skidded on a bit, so it was a nice surface to bat on."
O'Keefe bowled eight dot balls as he helped drag the Sixers back into the match after Munro pummelled them in the early overs.
"It was a tough night," he said.
"It just seems that when the boundaries are that small it takes out a lot of your variations - not that I have a lot.
"But you've just got to try not to bowl the same ball twice and hope that Colin Munro misses one.
"With a bit of age you just keep your composure."
