50 Short Facts About the BBL
Explore a selection of useless BBL-related stats ahead of the BBL|14 season starting this weekend.
IMAGE: The BBL Trophy
The KFC BBL|14 season kicks off on Sunday night with the Melbourne Stars making the long trip west to play the Perth Scorchers at the Furnace (aka Optus Stadium).
As part of the build-up, I’ve spent the last 48 days counting down to the start of the season by posting an interesting, unique, or just plain useless BBL-related stat on my Twitter (X) and Instagram feeds each day.
If you haven’t been following along online, here’s what you missed – and an early peek at what you’ll see for the remaining days of the countdown as a special bonus for reading this post.
50: West Indian Chris Gayle holds the record for the fastest 50 in BBL history, scoring 51 off just 12 balls against the Adelaide Strikers on January 18, 2016. Gayle was dismissed shortly after setting the record for 56 off 17 balls, clubbing seven sixes and two fours at a strike rate of 329.4.
49: Veteran all-rounder Dan Christian played for four BBL teams across his career (Sydney Sixers, Hobart Hurricanes, Melbourne Renegades, and the Brisbane Heat) but ended an innings on 49 on three separate occasions – December 9, 2012 (Heat v Hurricanes), December 23, 2018 (Renegades v Strikers), and January 26, 2021 (Sixers v Stars).
48: While Steve O’Keefe was picked as a bowler towards the end of his BBL career, he batted up the order on multiple occasions back in the early days of the league. In fact, O’Keefe struck his highest score in the BBL (48) in the BBL|01 final when he opened the batting with Moises Henriques.
47: Leg spinner Fawad Ahmed scored 47 runs in his BBL career. Despite this, at least Fawad never forgot his bat when walking out onto the field in the BBL, like he did during a Sheffield Shield game back in 2017.
46: There have been 46 occasions where a player has scored the same number of runs batting as they conceded while bowling. The most recent player to do this was Aaron Hardie, who scored and conceded 32 runs for the Perth Scorchers against the Sydney Sixers on January 16, 2024.
45: English fast-medium bowler Chris Jordan has taken 45 wickets in 44 BBL matches but is the only man to have taken at least one wicket for five different BBL clubs. Over the course of his career Jordan has nine wickets for the Strikers, five wickets for the Thunder, 15 wickets for the Scorchers, seven wickets for the Sixers, and nine wickets for the Hurricanes.
44: James Vince has been out caught (including caught behind) 44 times in his BBL career.
43: Left arm quick Jason Behrendorff is certainly a fan of an early wicket, having taken the first wicket in a BBL match 43 different times. Behrendorff is the league-leader in this particular stat, ahead of Jackson Bird (38), Michael Neser (34), and Sean Abbott (29).
42: The Adelaide Strikers have won the toss (or bat flip) and elected to bat on 42 occasions. It’s not clear what was going through Travis Head’s head during this particular coin toss.
41: The Melbourne Stars smashed 41 boundaries (30 fours, 11 sixes) on their way to 2/273 (the highest BBL total at the time of writing) against the Hobart Hurricanes back on January 19, 2022. Skipper Glenn Maxwell was the chief destroyer with 22 fours and four sixes on his way to 154* off 64 balls.
40: There have been 40 different players who have won a game by hitting a six off the last ball of the innings. Five players have done this more than once: Michael Klinger, Glenn Maxwell, Josh Philippe, Ashton Turner (all twice), and Marcus Stoinis (three times).
39: Aaron Finch and Josh Philippe share the record for the number of times a player has scored the first boundary of the innings (39). Will Philippe take the record outright when the Sixers host the Renegades on December 16?
38: Former Sri Lankan international Thisara Perera scored and conceded 38 runs while playing for the Brisbane Heat against the Melbourne Renegades back in BBL|02. This is the highest number of runs where the runs scored and conceded by a single player are equal.
37: There are 37 players who have taken 50 or more wickets in the BBL. Xavier Bartlett needs two more wickets to join the club.
36: The Perth Scorchers have brought up a century with a six more times than any other team in BBL history (36).
35: The Perth Scorchers have played 35 matches at Optus Stadium (23 wins, 12 losses), one less than the number of games they played at the WACA, the original Furnace (25 wins, 11 losses).
34: Matt Short has opened both the batting and the bowling in the same match 34 times, by far the most in BBL history (no other player has done this more than four times).
33: Last season the Melbourne Renegades lost 33 wickets to catches, including this athletic effort by the Brisbane Heat.
32: The 2015/16 season was one to forget for the Melbourne Renegade bowlers, who took just 32 wickets across their eight matches. This is the lowest number of wickets taken by a team over the course of a season (next lowest: 35, by the Renegades in the 11/12 season).
31: There have been 31 BBL matches decided by the Duckworth-Lewis or Duckworth-Lewis-Stern methods. Every team has won at least one rain-affected match, but the Brisbane Heat have won the most (seven).
30: Alex Hales holds the record for the most sixes hit in a BBL season (30), including the eight he hit on his way to 110 for the Sydney Thunder against their crosstown rivals on January 22, 2021.
29: George Bailey captained the Hobart Hurricanes on 29 occasions between 2012 and 2018, finishing with the surprisingly balanced record of 14 wins, 14 losses, and one no result.
28: There have been 28 different batters that have been involved in one of the 10 BBL hat-tricks, with Daniel Sams and Matt Gilkes being the only two players to appear in multiple separate hat-tricks.
27: The record for the most runs scored off the first over of a BBL match is 27, when Chris Gayle (playing for the Renegades at the time) dispatched the Adelaide Strikers’ Greg West for four consecutive sixes at the end of the over: wd 2 . 6 6 6 6. Despite the strong start, the Renegades would lose the match by 27 runs.
26: The most commonly occurring team score in BBL history is 151, which has occurred on 26 different occasions. The last time a team made 151 was on January 12, 2024, when the Sixers (7/151) defeated the Thunder (132).
25: AJ Tye and Mark Steketee hold the unwanted record of conceding the most sixes in a single season (25).
24: There have been 24 players who have both hit and conceded a six off the last ball of an innings.
23: Doug "The Rug" Bollinger took a combined 23 wickets playing for the two Sydney-based BBL teams, and also took a further 12 for the Hobart Hurricanes.
22: During the countdown I posted that 22 different grounds had hosted a BBL match, but that was an error on my part – it has only been 21.
21: Glenn Maxwell has been bowled on 21 occasions (more than any other player), including this absolute shocker against the Brisbane Heat. Talk about a bad leave.
20: Brett Lee bowled the first and last over of a BBL match on 20 separate occasions. No other player has done it more than eight times.
19: There have been two occasions where a team has hit a boundary in 19 of the 20 overs in a BBL match – Heat v Hurricanes on January 3, 2020 (no boundary in the 13th over) and Thunder v Sixers on January 22, 2021 (no boundary in the first over) – but no team has hit a boundary in each of the 20 overs in a single innings.
18: Michael Neser has batted at 18 different grounds throughout his BBL career, the most of any player. He is yet to bat at Cazaly’s Stadium, Junction Oval, and Lavington Sports Oval, but it is unlikely he will add to his total this season.
17: The Perth Scorchers have the best coin toss (or bat flip) win differential among the eight BBL teams (+17). The next best team is the Melbourne Stars, with a +9 differential.
16: There have been 16 occasions where a team has lost a wicket on the first ball of their innings. The Scorchers and Hurricanes have lost the most wickets on the first ball of an innings (three), while the Thunder have taken the most wickets on the first ball of an innings (four).
15: The lowest team total in BBL history is the Sydney Thunder’s 15 against the Adelaide Strikers in BBL|12. Brendan Doggett top scored for the Thunder with 4, while Henry Thornton was the pick of the bowlers for Adelaide, taking 5/3 off 2.5 overs.
14: The longest streak of dot balls in BBL history is 14, bowled by Chris Tremain and Cameron Gannon for the Melbourne Renegades against the Hobart Hurricanes on January 4, 2016. The Hurricanes lost 2/0 from the start of the fifth over to midway through the seventh over.
13: Veteran batter Jono Wells has been dismissed in the 13th over on 13 different occasions, the most of any batter in BBL history. Moises Henriques is second on the list, being dismissed 12 times in the 13th over.
12: There have been 12 instances of a player retiring hurt during their innings, including the somewhat controversial retirement of Jordan Silk back in BBL|11. Silk, who had injured his hamstring earlier in the match, was pulled from the crease with the Sixers needing two off the final ball as he would otherwise would not have been able to run if required.
11: Shane Warne took 11 wickets in two seasons for the Melbourne Stars, including this beauty against Brendon McCullum.
10: Nathan Coulter-Nile, Sam Harper, and Alex Hales have registered the highest number of ducks in the BBL, with 10 each.
9: There have been nine BBL games that ended without a result, including the match between the Melbourne Renegades and Perth Scorchers at GMHBA Stadium that was abandoned due to an unsafe pitch.
8: Eight players have been dismissed hit wicket in BBL history. The most recent instance of a player being dismissed in this fashion was Cameron Boyce while batting for the Melbourne Renegades against the Sydney Sixers on February 15, 2019.
7: Riley Meredith bowled seven no balls during the Hobart Hurricanes’ 2018/19 campaign, the most of any bowler in a single season. He bowled one against the Sydney Thunder on December 28, three against the Melbourne Renegades on February 7, and then another three against the Thunder on February 9.
6: The most commonly occurring winning margin in BBL history is six – regardless of whether you are talking about wickets (62 times) or runs (16 times). The Sydney Sixers have won the greatest number of matches by six wickets (10), although the most recent team to win a match by six wickets was the Melbourne Renegades against the Melbourne Stars (January 13, 2024). The Adelaide Strikers have won the most matches by six runs (four times), with the most recent team to win by six runs was the Sydney Sixers against the Perth Scorchers (January 15, 2024).
5: Josh Philippe is the biggest bunny in BBL history, having been dismissed by Jason Behrendorff five times.
4: There have been four matches decided by a super over in BBL history. The Sydney Sixers have been involved in all four matches and have a 2-2 record.
3: Ben McDermott has scored three BBL centuries, the most of any player. He scored back-to-back centuries in BBL|11 against the Adelaide Strikers (110*) and the Melbourne Renegades (127) in December 2021.
2: AJ Tye has taken two BBL hat-tricks, the most of any player. His first hat-trick came during the 2016/17 season against the Brisbane Heat, with his second coming the following season against the Sydney Sixers.
1: Ricky Ponting bowled two overs in his BBL career and took one wicket – Scott Coyte, caught in the deep – on December 23, 2012. You can watch it in all its glory here, and debate whether Punter’s achievement is overshadowed by Xavier Doherty claiming the first hat-trick in BBL history in the same innings.
0: The number of BBL titles won by the Melbourne Stars and the Hobart Hurricanes, who are the only two teams not to win at least one title in the 13 completed seasons of the BBL. The Stars came closest in the BBL|08 final, when they restricted the Renegades to 5/145 and were cruising at 0/93 before losing 7/39 in the last 43 balls to end up at 7/132.
The timeframe of this stat is limited based on what data are freely/easily available and/or accessible. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you spot any errors in what I have presented.
Brilliant facts delving Lincoln