Photo Credit: Brisbane Heat
The Brisbane Heat have strengthened their ties with pace spearhead Mark Steketee and batter Max Bryant as both eye personal milestones in the coming KFC Big Bash League.
The duo have signed new two-year deals with Brisbane, bringing the Heat’s list of contracted players to ten so far for the coming summer.
Steketee, currently in Sri Lanka with the Australia A and Australian touring squads, will bring up his 10th season with the Heat after originally being signed as a Warwick-based teenager in 2013.
Bryant, who made his debut in 2018, will play his 50th game for the Heat in 2022-23.
The hard-hitting right-hander has a career strike-rate of 132.63 for the Heat and brought up his 1000th run for the club last season.
Steketee is the club’s all-time leading wicket-taker with 78 scalps so far in his career with the Heat, notching up 61 games to date for Brisbane.
Both players have had busy winters, with Steketee playing for Essex in the English County competition at the start of their season before linking with Australia ‘A’ for the tour of Sri Lanka.
He has had plenty of company, with Queensland Bulls and Heat teammates Marnus Labuschagne, Mitch Swepson, Matthew Kuhnemann and Jimmy Peirson all in action in red and white ball formats on the tour.
Bryant is gearing up for a stint playing T20 games in Darwin as part of the NT Strike League over the next month.
The Heat has secured 10 players so far, with a further eight signings to be completed including three overseas players from the upcoming International player draft.
Brisbane is keeping open contract spots on its 2022-23 list to provide opportunities for players who impress in the inaugural KFC T20 Max competition in August and September to potentially join the BBL club.
Queensland Premier clubs this week announced that BBL-linked players Josh Lalor (Redlands), Nick Larkin (UQ), Nick Hobson (Wynnum-Manly) and Arjun Nair (Wests) would play in the T20 Max competition alongside other contracted Bulls, Heat and BBL players.
Brisbane Heat Squad
BBL|12 signings (to date)
Xavier Bartlett
James Bazley
Max Bryant
Sam Heazlett
Matt Kuhnemann
Michael Neser
Jimmy Peirson
Mark Steketee
Mitch Swepson
Jack Wildermuth
Name of Author: Brisbane Heat
The Brisbane Heat are an Australian professional cricket team competing in the Big Bash League (BBL), representing both men’s and women’s cricket. Based in Brisbane, Queensland, the Heat succeeded the Queensland Bulls, who played in the former KFC Twenty20 Big Bash. The team wears a teal uniform and plays at the Brisbane Cricket Ground, known as The Gabba.
