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Josh Brown, the winner of the BBL, was signed by the Melbourne Renegades for a two-year contract to replace the retired Aaron Finch.
After dominating Brisbane grade cricket, Brown, 30, made a big impression on the Heat during their two seasons together, guiding them to two finals and the championship last year. It is understood that there is a two-year option to extend the original agreement.
Brown has scored 624 runs with a strike average of 149.64 in his first 23 BBL games, averaging 27.13. He became well-known across the country during the previous season’s BBL finals, when he hit a BBL record-tying 140 from 71 balls in the Challenger against Adelaide Strikers to help Heat reach the final before backing that up with a matchwinning 53 in the final against Sydney Sixers.
Due to his performance, he received interest from foreign T20 teams and accepted an opportunity to play for Chattogram Challengers in the Bangladesh Premier League. Also, upon his return from Bangladesh, he made his List A debut for Queensland.
The struggling Melbourne team, Renegades general manager James Rosengarten, expressed his excitement at bringing Brown into a revamped roster for the upcoming campaign.
“We are extremely excited to have Josh join our squad,” Rosengarten said. “We’ve identified a clear role for Josh in our batting order which will have a new look this year.
“Josh possesses a good balance of aggression and composure, which we all witnessed in the recent BBL finals series. We’ve been watching Josh for a while so his strong season and BBL finals series were no surprise.”
Brisbane Heat admitted they were disappointed to lose Brown having offered what they believed was a strong offer.
“We provided Josh and his management with a two-year contract offer that was very lucrative and a significant uplift,” Joe Dawes, the new Queensland Cricket general manager, said. “However, we understand the lure of a four-year commitment for him as a player, even though we believed our offer was very competitive and more than fair.
“Our fans will justifiably be disappointed that he won’t be with us going forward, and as a club, we are sad to lose Josh, no doubt.”