The evening started with a Leeds crowd conflicted as they ‘welcomed’ the Fire opening pair to the crease – cheering Yorkshireman Bairstow before booing former Australia skipper Smith.
But with Bairstow playing for the visitors, there was rather less enthusiasm when he began flaying the ball to all parts of a ground he knows so well.
Smith was going well, too, on his Hundred debut and the two former Ashes foes looked to have Fire well on their way to a big total.
However, when Smith was bowled for 29 trying to reverse scoop Potts, who had Wells caught behind the next ball, momentum began to shift.
Bairstow kept going briefly before he was caught at long-on and the innings fell away.
Superchargers made no such mistake. Crawley and Malan combined for four sixes to take the home side to 52-0 after the powerplay.
Malan, dropped on 28, eventually fell to a Riley Meredith slower ball just past the halfway point of the chase and Michael Pepper was dismissed soon after.
But Andrew Flintoff’s Superchargers remained in control – as emphasised by captain Harry Brook, who came in and clobbered his first ball high over extra cover for six.
Fire could not fight back. Paul Walter put down Crawley shortly before he brought up his half-century from 29 balls and Saif Zaib grassed a skier off Brook when he was on 10.
The Headingly crowd was lapping it up as Brook, who finished 23 not out, hit a couple more boundaries before Crawley finished the job with a trademark cover drive.
