Heat debutant holds nerve to win thrilling final over<\/p>\n
Nine months ago, Tom Balkin was embarking on the long journey that a shin stress fracture necessitates.<\/p>\n
Two months ago, the young fast bowler was beginning to return to full training, bowling off his full run up in the nets after a seven-month absence.<\/p>\n
On Saturday night, nine months after his stress fracture, Big Bash debutant Balkin was entrusted with bowling the final over that saw him help the Brisbane Heat sneak home by seven runs against the Adelaide Strikers.<\/p>\n
It was a performance that had Australian cricket fans asking one question.<\/p>\n
Who is Tom Balkin?<\/p>\n
The background<\/p>\n
Balkin, a 21-year-old born only two days after Steve Waugh\u2019s final Test match, has long been earmarked as a player of interest by those in the cricket pathway.<\/p>\n
A product of the Toombul District Cricket Club in Brisbane, he was a member of Queensland\u2019s underage teams throughout his teenage years and found himself in Australia\u2019s extended squad for the 2022 U19 World Cup. While he didn\u2019t play in that tournament, he represented the U19 team against England\u2019s U19 side the following year.<\/p>\n
Last summer, he claimed the Bob Spence Trophy as the most improved player aged under 21 in Queensland Premier competition.<\/p>\n
Balkin\u2019s talent was recognised by state selectors who opted to sign him on a rookie contract for the 2025\/26 season.<\/p>\n
A meteoric rise to the big stage<\/p>\n
That aforementioned stress fracture in his right shin put Balkin\u2019s prospects on ice during the 2025 pre-season.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just before Christmas (that) I got the green light to come back and play,\u201d Balkin told reporters on Sunday morning.<\/p>\n
\u201cThings happened really quickly. I got thrown into the squad as a replacement player. I probably only started bowling eight weeks ago off my long run.\u201d<\/p>\n
Balkin\u2019s not wrong when he says things moved quickly.<\/p>\n
A player capable of bowling in excess of 145kmp\/h, he was formally added to the Heat\u2019s squad as a local replacement player less than ten days before his debut, and, as such, found himself wearing a particularly high number on his playing shirt against the Strikers.<\/p>\n
It turns out his decision to don the No. 95 was a nod to a childhood hero from the movie Cars.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re a replacement player, you don\u2019t pick your number,\u201d Balkin laughed during his chat with the Fox Sports commentary team after Saturday\u2019s match.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt had to be a number (in) the 90s. (No. 95) was actually my second preference for Queensland this year. It\u2019s just a bit of a laugh with Lightning McQueen. I would prefer No. 8, but I just picked No. 95.\u201d<\/p>\n
A night to remember<\/p>\n
Chosen to debut against the Strikers, Balkin became the 96th player to represent the Heat. It was a particularly special moment, given he had spent his childhood in the Gabba grandstands watching the likes of Chris Lynn, who just happened to be representing the Strikers on Saturday night.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a crazy few days, obviously coming off the back of Christmas and debuting here in front of a big crowd,\u201d a smiling Balkin told Fox Sports post-match.<\/p>\n
\u201c(My heart rate was) very high, it was pretty high the whole night, to be honest. I\u2019ve been coming here since I was really young and to play against guys like Chris Lynn who I\u2019ve been looking up to since I\u2019ve been coming here, it\u2019s a dream come true to be out here in front of a packed house.\u201d<\/p>\n
With a target of 180 to defend, and without a single match of cricket to his name in the past nine months, Balkin was thrown the ball by his captain Xavier Bartlett in the fifth over of the Strikers\u2019 chase.<\/p>\n
Brisbane Heat v Adelaide Strikers | BBL|15<\/p>\n
That first over saw him bowl to his childhood hero Lynn, who crunched back-to-back fours off the fourth and fifth balls of the over. Balkin ended it with figures of 0-12, but was not to be deterred.<\/p>\n
He returned to the fray in the ninth over, and again leaked 12 runs, including a fence-clearing six from Harry Manenti.<\/p>\n
But the trials of recent months served Balkin well. Recalled for the 15th over, bowling to a rampant Jerrssis Wadia, himself a fellow BBL newcomer, Balkin conceded only three runs thanks to some clever bowling that cramped Wadia and twice struck him on the body.<\/p>\n
Held back again as senior pair Bartlett and Jack Wildermuth tried to snuff out the Strikers\u2019 charge, it all came down to that final over.<\/p>\n
At 8-170, Adelaide needed 10 from the final six balls of the night. With Shaheen Shah Afridi unavailable due to a bruised knee, the responsibility fell on Balkin\u2019s shoulders.<\/p>\n
Nerves? Yes, Balkin had a few.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was very nervous. I would have been nervous regardless if it was a club game or any game of cricket, but just to be back on the field feels great,\u201d he explained to Fox Sports.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels like longer than nine months.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo come out here and to have won my first game in front of a crowd, yeah, I\u2019m still pretty shocked.\u201d<\/p>\n
Balkin held his nerve, conceding only two runs, one of which was via a wide, and collected the first two wickets of his Big Bash career.<\/p>\n
His changes of pace kept Harry Nielsen guessing, right down to the penultimate ball when, needing eight runs from two deliveries, the Adelaide \u2018keeper skied one down Wildermuth\u2019s throat at fine leg.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was trying to bowl to the long side,\u201d he explained to Fox Sports.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe saw in the last game a lot of runs are scored to that short side, and playing on the same wicket, I just thought to utilise the long side as much as we could, bowling off pace on the wicket and then on pace and making them hit to the long side.\u201d<\/p>\n
The final-ball wicket put the icing on Brisbane\u2019s cake, and it was Balkin who found himself in the middle of all the celebrations.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a hell of a feeling,\u201d he gushed.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo get the first (wicket) was a hell of a feeling and then to get that to win the game was even better.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was probably with three overs to go I realised (I was going to bowl the final over) \u2026 I wasn\u2019t thinking about it, and then I realised Xavier was bowled out and I went, oh, gee, this could be me.<\/p>\n
\u201cXavier was just trying to say stay relaxed\u2026 He was great and really helped settle me there.\u201d<\/p>\n
What\u2019s next?<\/p>\n
Figures of 2-30 from his 3.2 overs go quite neatly with his eleventh-hour heroics, and hint at a cricketer Australia is likely to hear a lot more about in the years to come.<\/p>\n
With six pre-finals matches remaining in the Heat\u2019s season, and fast bowling trio Michael Neser (Ashes squad), Spencer Johnson (injury) and Callum Vidler (injury) all otherwise occupied, Balkin is set for further opportunities to show his wares on the big stage.<\/p>\n
And from there?<\/p>\n
Balkin knows better than most how quickly a player\u2019s fortunes can change. From the physio table to the final over of a Gabba thriller, who knows where the next twist in his tale will take him?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Heat debutant holds nerve to win thrilling final over Nine months ago, Tom Balkin was embarking on the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":376052,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85,83],"class_list":{"0":"post-376051","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-cricket","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-text"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376051\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}