Finn Allen

An opening batter who can also keep wicket, Finn Allen is arguably the hardest hitter of a cricket ball in New Zealand. His ability to go hard from ball one, and keep going hard, makes him a model opener in T20 cricket. He needed just four overs at the SCG in the 2022 T20 World Cup to put Australia on the brink of elimination.

Two years later, Allen smashed a 48-ball hundred against Pakistan in Dunedin, with a New Zealand T20I record of 16 sixes. Allen, who was born in Auckland, had first demonstrated his explosive hitting when he moved to Wellington and scored a chart-topping 512 runs in 11 innings at an average of 56.88 and strike rate of 193.93 in the Firebirds' run to the 20-over Super Smash title. Even before Allen had made his T20I debut for New Zealand, he earned his maiden IPL deal with Royal Challengers Bengaluru for IPL 2021, when Mike Hesson was the director of cricket of the franchise.

Allen continues to be in demand in short-format leagues around the world, including the Major League Cricket in the USA and the Hundred in the UK.

After three seasons with Wellington, Allen returned to Auckland and celebrated his homecoming with a one-day career-best of 168 off just 110 balls.