Mitchell Owen on his 108 vs Sydney Thunder, the men's T20 leagues batting performance of the year
The Hobart Hurricanes batter's match-winning hundred in the BBL final was voted the men's T20 leagues bowling performance of the year
Before the 2024-25 BBL, Owen was a relatively unknown seam bowling allrounder who had batted in the lower-middle order. In a plan hatched by Hurricanes' brains trust, he was promoted to great success: he took batting in the four-over powerplay to new heights by swinging hard and repeatedly muscling the ball over the in-field.
Owen saved his best for last, with the most extraordinary innings in a BBL final to power Hurricanes to their first title in front of a rollicking home crowd.
Chasing a seemingly tricky 183, he decimated Thunder's attack and reached his century inside ten overs before falling with Hurricanes on the brink of victory.
He walked off in the 11th over amid a rapturous ovation, with fans chanting his name, having made 108 off 42, with a near-record 11 sixes, having suddenly risen to national prominence.
It started a memorable year for Owen, who went on to play 16 white-ball matches for Australia in 2025. He was in high demand on the T20 league circuit as well, and journeyed far and wide, including stints at the IPL, PSL and MLC. Before his rapid rise, Owen's only experience on the overseas franchise circuit was playing in a T10 tournament in the Cayman Islands.
His hard-hitting formula in the powerplay has since been mimicked by rivals in the BBL, notably seam-bowling allrounder Jack Wildermuth, who has looked to perform a similar role with Brisbane Heat in the 2025-26.
Key moment
Hurricanes' chase, especially in the pressure-cooker of a final, was supposed to be difficult. At the start of their innings, ESPNcricinfo's Predictor had Thunder at a 61% chance of winning. Owen made a mockery of that and showed absolutely no nerves in the biggest match of his career. On the fourth ball of the innings, he launched fast bowler Nathan McAndrew over deep midwicket, and then smashed consecutive boundaries off him to score a total of 23 in the opening over. He continued to accelerate and lifted Hurricanes to an astonishing 74 for 0 by the end of the four-over powerplay, with the wheels coming off for a flummoxed Thunder. His contribution to the score at that stage was 58 off 18 balls, and he was only getting warmed up.
The numbers
11 Number of sixes Owen hit, which is joint-second on the list of most sixes in a BBL innings, one fewer than Josh Brown's 12 in 2024.
39 Number of balls Owen took to get to his century, the joint-fastest hundred in BBL history alongside Craig Simmons, who set the record in January 2014.
What they said
"It's super special, it's a childhood dream and I'm so grateful."- Mitchell Owen
"I haven't seen too many blokes hit the ball like that and the way he can just keep going."
- Matthew Wade, Hurricanes keeper-batter
- Matthew Wade, Hurricanes keeper-batter
The closest contender
Shreyas Iyer
87 not out vs Mumbai Indians, IPL Qualifier 2
Despite facing a target of 204 - never before successfully chased in any IPL playoff or knockout - Iyer went about getting the runs in an unflustered way. His three consecutive sixes off Reece Topley in the 13th over helped turn the game Punjab's way and he wrapped it up in style in the 19th with four sixes off the hapless Ashwani Kumar.
87 not out vs Mumbai Indians, IPL Qualifier 2
Despite facing a target of 204 - never before successfully chased in any IPL playoff or knockout - Iyer went about getting the runs in an unflustered way. His three consecutive sixes off Reece Topley in the 13th over helped turn the game Punjab's way and he wrapped it up in style in the 19th with four sixes off the hapless Ashwani Kumar.