The Brisbane Heat have been set 160 for victory as they look to give their BBL finals chances a much-needed boost against the Melbourne Stars.
Nick Larkin led the way for the Stars at the MCG on Monday night, top-scoring with 58 from 36 deliveries in a total of 7-159 after they were sent in to bat.
Michael Neser (4-25) was outstanding for the Heat during the power play and power surge, taking 3-11 from his three overs with fielding restrictions in place.
But Larkin took 14 runs from the first four balls of Neser's final over - the last of the innings - before the Test quick finally got his revenge by dismissing the Stars batter.
Test star Usman Khawaja and Joshua Brown will open for the Heat, who entered the match with a 3-6-1 record.
They will need at least three wins from their last four matches to reach the finals.
Beau Webster (36 off 34) and Tom Rogers (26 off 23) provided some fireworks for the last-placed Stars, as did James Seymour (13 off 6), whose brief innings included two sixes.
Neser claimed the wickets of Webster and Nathan Coulter-Nile in consecutive deliveries during the 16th over but missed out on what would have been his second hat-trick of the season.
The Stars are without high-profile allrounder Marcus Stoinis for a fourth consecutive match because of a hamstring injury.
Stoinis was named in the extended squad but was not included in the final team after pulling up sore following a fitness test.
