A new Big Bash hero? Josh Brown smashed 62 off just 23 balls with a bat of his own making in a rare innings for Brisbane as Adam Gilchrist declared him his new ‘favourite player’
The Big Bash found itself a new hero on New Year’s Day as Josh Brown announced his arrival on the scene in exhilarating style.
The 29-year-old hit 62 off just 23 balls against the Sydney Sixers at the Gabba on Sunday, helping the Brisbane Heat to 5-224 – their highest BBL score and the competition’s fifth-highest ever .
Brown made his Big Bash debut on 15 December against the Melbourne Renegades, but was dropped for Brisbane’s next four games.
Josh Brown smashed 62 off just 23 deliveries as Brisbane Heat posted 5-224 on Sunday
He returned to the line-up on Sunday and seized his opportunity brilliantly, hitting a half-century in just 19 balls.
Brown hit a strikerate of 269.57 in his blistering innings, which included six sixes and four fours before he was caught by Ben Dwarshuis off the bowling of Sean Abbott.
Brown’s innings won many new fans, including Adam Gilchrist.
‘Just found a new favorite player,’ said the former wicket-keeping legend on commentary. ‘I love him!’
Brown had only played one BBL game earlier in his career, making his debut on 15 December
The 29-year-old ran up his half-century in just 19 balls, the fifth-fastest in Heat history
A bit of a latecomer to cricket, Brisbane’s new star revealed he didn’t take the game seriously until he was in his mid-20s.
‘I didn’t know I was good at cricket until I was about 24,’ he told Fox Cricket.
‘And then it all started from there. I went from playing third grade to second level cricket in 18 months. Everything happened so fast.’
Brown was so unmentioned before his extraordinary performance on Sunday that his name was not even printed on his kit as he walked out in the middle with fellow opener Colin Munro.
Aussie legend Adam Gilchrist has declared the Brisbane opener is his new favorite player
What made Brown’s innings even more special was the bat he carried with him that he made himself.
‘That’s my full-time job outside of cricket, I make my own bat and it’s quite fun,’ he explained. ‘I do most of the repairs for the boys.’
Brown works with Cooper Cricket founder Rod Gray and has made hundreds of Cooper bats himself, and repaired thousands for his fellow cricketers.
‘I made my own bat, the Cooper Bison […] it is completely cannon off. It’s one of the new ones I’ve done myself and I fell for it,’ Brown told AAP after his innings.
Nathan McSweeney plundered 84 runs off 51 balls before being run out
Everyone I’m with calls me ‘Bison’.’
Brown told AAP he would ‘wanted’ to take his T20 game to the world and T20 franchises will no doubt come calling after Sunday’s performance.
His exciting innings was matched by Nathan McSweeney, who joined the 29-year-old in the team for the game against the Sixers.
McSweeney plundered 84 runs off 51 balls before being run out.
