Photo Credit: Queensland Cricket
A host of talented regional cricketers will have the chance to showcase their skills and put themselves in the mix to be spotted by KFC Big Bash League scouts when they play Premier Cricket in Brisbane next month.
The latest list of players to be secured for the inaugural KFC T20 Max competition in Brisbane features rising stars and established senior players from the country.
Leading Queensland Country batsman Sam Lowry will return to Sandgate-Redcliffe where he played as a youngster, while Caboolture’s Preston White will turn out for his former Premier Cricket club Toombul where he was as an established allrounder for almost a decade.
Lowry, who made his reputation playing in Gladstone before shifting to Townsville, is a two-time Queensland Country player of the year who has starred for the Brahmans in their Toyota Australian Country Championship campaigns prior to the pandemic.
Promising pace bowlers Arden Lankowski (Sunshine Coast) and Travis Busch (Wynnum-Manly) will also test themselves in the competition.
Lankowksi, from Bundaberg, and Townsville-based Busch are both recent Queensland Country selections.
Promising teenage batsman Rex Tooley (Western Suburbs) and Finn Churchward (University of Queensland) have also linked with Premier clubs for the tournament, which will be played across First Grade and Second Grade.
Tooley, a Toowoomba Grammar School product originally from the Sunshine Coast, and Cairns-based Churchward, a Queensland Country Under-19 rep at the National titles in Mackay earlier this year, will benefit from the additional exposure.
Each Premier club can sign three interstate recruits, as well as regional players to complement their existing teams, with contracted Queensland Bulls and Brisbane Heat players available for selection.
Matches will be played at Premier club grounds and under lights at the newly redeveloped Allan Border Field.
Games will be played across two weeks from 18 August to 4 September, with the Final at Allan Border Field coinciding with the Brisbane Heat Family Day.
The Heat will keep open two contract spots on its 2022-23 list to provide opportunities for players who impress to potentially join the BBL club.
Among the recruits for the KFC T20 Max competition announced to date are current or recent BBL contracted players such as Jordan Silk (Sydney Sixers), Beau Webster (Melbourne Stars), Nick Larkin (Melbourne Stars), Josh Lalor (Melbourne Renegades), Nick Hobson (Perth Scorchers), Jake Lehmann (Brisbane Heat), Arjun Nair (Sydney Thunder), Chris Sabburg (Perth Scorchers), Nick Bertus (Sydney Sixers), Ryan Gibson (Adelaide Strikers), Spencer Johnson (Adelaide Strikers) and Nathan McSweeney (Brisbane Heat).
