JoshBrown

Signed by Brisbane Heat as a replacement player in late 2022 as cover for their Australian stars Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne, the big-hitting Josh Brown carved out an instant reputation in the Big Bash on New Year's Day in 2023 with an electric 23-ball 62 against Sydney Sixers in just his second game.

That led legendary Australian wicketkeeper-batter Adam Gilchrist to declare Brown his "new favourite player" and the feeling is definitely mutual with 'Gilly' as childhood hero of the Queenslander's.

A bat-maker with Cooper Cricket by trade (who regularly fixes his teammates' broken ones), Brown's crowning moment would come just over 12 months later with a club record 57-ball 140 to put the Heat into the BBL|13 Final.

The right-hander's breathtaking knock included the most sixes in a Big Bash innings (12) and was the third highest individual score in the competition's history.

He backed it up in the decider with 53 from 38 balls to help down the Sixers and secure the Heat's second men's Big Bash title, with his exploits in the knockout phase rewarded with his first overseas T20 franchise deal with the Chattogram Challengers in the Bangladesh Premier League the following month.

Brown was recruited by the Heat after bursting on the scene with two centuries (147 off 68 balls and 159 off 59) in the space of a week in the inaugural season of Queensland Premier Cricket's T20 Max competition, slamming 27 sixes in those two innings alone.

As a result of his breakout tournament the other teams came chasing, and the explosive opener signed with Victoria and Melbourne Renegades ahead of the 2024-25 summer.