Queensland Cricket: KFC T20 Max Set To Launch!

Ex-Test player Kurtis Patterson and recent Australian regulars Elyse Villani and Nicola Carey are among a host of current and potential BBL and WBBL players who will flock to Brisbane from today for the third season of the KFC T20 Max competition.

The return of the popular pre-season T20 format as part of the KFC Queensland Premier cricket competition has again seen the premier clubs deliver strongly competitive line-ups in the men’s and women’s competitions.

As of the opening round tonight when Western Suburbs take on Wynnum-Manly in the opening game of the women’s competition at Allan Border Field, there were more than 50 current BBL and WBBL contracted players, and a total of 78 interstate or international players aligned to play across the three-week competition.

Villani and Carey will play for Wynnum-Manly tonight, alongside fellow guest WBBL players Chloe Piparo (Scorchers), Hayley Silver-Holmes (Hurricanes) and Tahlia Wilson (Thunder).

Wests will call upon Bridget Patterson (Strikers), Mathilda Carmichael (Sixers) and the experienced Holly Ferling in their opening line-up.

The men’s round one clash tomorrow night at Allan Border Field pits Valley, resplendent in their new pink playing kit, against Redlands. Both teams will welcome Australian players Usman Khawaja (Valley) and Marnus Labuschagne (Redlands) to their line-ups later in the tournament.

Labuschagne, who re-signed this week for the Brisbane Heat for his ninth season in the KFC Big Bash League, has committed to play two games on Saturday for the Tigers at Peter Burge Oval as well as participating in Play Cricket week sign-on activities at the club.

WBBL and BBL Heat players as well as Queensland Bulls and Fire squad members will all play for their clubs across the tournament depending on injury and representative availability, with Australia ‘A’ women’s players linking with clubs after their four-day clash with India ‘A’ in Mackay later this week.

There are also a healthy contingent of international players who are looking to enhance their skills and potentially use the competition to springboard to higher honours, as New Zealand allrounder Zak Foulkes did.

Foulkes, from Canterbury, played the first two T20 Max seasons with Wynnum-Manly, with the potential that was on show in Brisbane quickly matched by a rapid rise to make his T20 International debut for the Black Caps earlier this year.

Experienced NZ domestic players Joe Carter, Nick Kelly and Brett Hampton will play with the Gold Coast while 22-year-old South African-born right-hander Bevon Jacobs will link with South Brisbane which also welcome back Christchurch-based left-hander Dylan Hunter.

Other internationals on show will be Pakistan paceman Muhummad Irfan Jnr (Sandgate-Redcliffe), PNG T20 World Cup pace bowler Chad Soper (Sunshine Coast), Dutch batter Ben Cooper (Sandgate-Redcliffe) and University of Queensland allrounder Jack Carty (Ireland).

There are also several NZ players in the women’s competition, including Jess McFadyen and Rebecca Burns (Ipswich), Emma Black (UQ) Molly Penfold (Sandgate-Redcliffe, Shriya Naidu (Valley) and English player Laura Marshall (UQ).

The BBL player list includes home-grown success story Josh Brown (Norths, Renegades) who got his start with the Brisbane Heat and was a key member of the championship team last season.

Spread throughout the club line-ups are the likes of Paddy Dooley (Wests, Hurricanes), Ben McDermott (Gold Coast, Hurricanes), Kane Richardson (Gold Coast, Renegades), Gurinder Sandhu (Souths, Renegades), Ollie Davies (UQ, Thunder), Cam Boyce (Valley, Strikers), Mark Steketee (Valley, Stars), Kurtis Patterson (Norths), Mackenzie Harvey (Sunshine Coast, Renegades) and Jake Weatherald (Valley, Strikers).

In the women’s competition, former Heat allrounder Sammy-Jo Johnson (Gold Coast, Thunder) and spinner Jemma Barsby (Sandgate-Redcliffe, Strikers) will be joined by the likes of last year’s success story Emma de Broughe (Valley, Renegades), Stella Campbell (Sunshine Coast. Scorchers), Sasha Maloney (Valley, Stars), Maddie Penna (UQ, Strikers), Katie Mack (Sandgate-Redcliffe, Strikers) and Anika Learoyd (Sunshine Coast, Thunder).

All Big Bash clubs have at least one player involved in the T20 Max this season, with the competition timed to complement Play Cricket Wicket activations that got underway earlier this week.

Admission is free for all games. Fixture details are available online at PlayHQ

For the third year in a row, Kayo Freebies will stream games during this month’s competition, with 11 games to be broadcast including the Finals.

All games will be streamed online through the FrogBox platform, Queensland Premier Cricket’s streaming partner.