After lighting up the Gabba to inspire the Brisbane Heat’s 15-run triumph against the Sydney Sixers with a blazing half-century, Josh Brown builds his own bats and he can wield them too. He was the driving force behind the Brisbane Heat’s victory.
When Heat all-rounder Michael Neser caught Sixers’ Jordan Silk (41 off 23 balls) in the 19th over just inside the boundary line, he threw the ball in the air, ran beyond the field of play, and then flung it up again while flying, creating a dramatic finale to the match. As the Sixers moved closer to breaking the BBL record for most runs scored in a single game, he then finished the catch within the boundary rope, which was completely legal.
Brown
who is 29 years old, delivered his lightning-fast innings to score 62 runs off of only 23 balls, contributing to the Heat’s 224 for 5 total. On a night filled with pure batting entertainment, the Sixers made a valiant return in their quest, but they were ultimately unsuccessful and were all out off the penultimate ball.
Brown delivered the goods in front of 23,689 spectators while using a Cooper Cricket bat when the Heat needed something special to get their season rolling in the right direction. He reached his fifty in only 19 deliveries, making it the equal fifth quickest in Heat history in just his second BBL game. This was also the fastest fifty scored by the Heat in any of their games.
Brown hit the ball over the fence six times with a variety of spectacular strokes, including a lofted cover drive against Jackson Bird that oozes sophistication from every pore. He is a member of Cooper Cricket’s founding team alongside Rod Grey. He has personally made hundreds of Cooper bats and mended thousands more during his career.
After his knock, Brown told Fox Cricket, “That is my full-time job outside of cricket.” Brown is a cricket commentator. “My own bats are handmade by myself. It is a good deal of enjoyment. The majority of the [Heat] lads’ repairs are taken care of by me.”
Brown has been in brilliant form for his Brisbane club team Norths this season, but he has said that he did not realise he was any good at cricket until he was 24 years old. There is little question that T20 franchises located all over the globe will be doing more research on him. In the course of his analysis, Adam Gilchrist said, “I have discovered my new favourite player.”
Allrounder Nathan McSweeney (84 off 51 balls) kept Brown’s momentum going with a brilliantly timed first BBL half-century to lead the Heat to their biggest total in their BBL history. He did this by lifting the Heat to their highest score in their BBL history.
Josh Philippe and James Vince
The openers for the Sixers, scored a club record 54 runs off of the four overs of the power play while chasing the target. Silk and the all-rounder Hayden Kerr combined 54 runs in 26 balls for the sixth wicket, but it was Jimmy Peirson’s magnificent stumping of Kerr off of Matt Kuhnemann’s spin that proved to be the deciding factor. After taking three wickets and scoring 41 runs with the ball, Neser’s dismissal of Silk thanks to a catch he made was the defining moment in the race for runs.