The Big Bash League (BBL) - Australia’s action-packed franchise Twenty20 tournament - returns on Tuesday with a Sydney derby between the Thunder and the Sixers.
Ahead of the competition’s seventh edition, we take a look at some of the best facts relating to the BBL.
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3 - Perth Scorchers are the most successful BBL franchise with three titles. No other team has won the event more than once.
6 - Two bowlers have taken six wickets in a BBL innings. Adelaide Strikers spinner Ish Sodhi claimed outstanding figures of 6-11 against the Thunder in last season’s competition, yet even that was not enough to top Lasith Malinga’s absurd return of 6-7 for Melbourne Stars against the Scorchers in December 2012.
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69 - Ben Laughlin is comfortably the BBL’s most prolific wicket-taker. A haul of 69 scalps from 50 appearances puts him 15 clear of nearest rival Brad Hogg.
{{/usCountry}}69 - Ben Laughlin is comfortably the BBL’s most prolific wicket-taker. A haul of 69 scalps from 50 appearances puts him 15 clear of nearest rival Brad Hogg.
{{/usCountry}}94 - Only three players have hit more than 50 sixes in the BBL. Aaron Finch and Chris Gayle boast 56 and 51 respectively, but Chris Lynn leads the way with a remarkable 94 at an average of just under two a match!
117 - Former England opener Luke Wright is responsible for the highest individual score, having hit 117 from just 60 balls in January 2012 for the Stars against Hobart Hurricanes.
223 - Hobart made the competition’s highest score last January, thumping 223-8 against Melbourne Renegades to overhaul a total of 222-4, which had previously represented a record.
1,608 - The number of BBL runs accumulated by the competition’s all-time leading scorer, Michael Klinger, who starred with 71 not out from 49 balls as the Scorchers stormed to a third title in four years by thumping the Sixers in last year’s final.