A FORMER overseas star at Taunton Cricket Club was named man of the match in the final of Australia's Big Bash competition on Saturday.

Josh Philippe struck 52 from 29 balls, including four fours and three sixes, as Sydney Sixers beat Melbourne Stars by 19 runs in a match reduced to 12 overs a side due to rain.

The innings capped a superb finish to the tournament for Philippe, who hit three half-centuries in his final four outings to end with 487 runs at 37.86 - the third highest tally in the 2019/20 Big Bash.

The 22-year-old said: "When I played my first Big Bash game I was terrified, so I definitely think after getting a few games under your belt you get used to a lot of the external pressure and noise that you don't really get playing state cricket.

"When there's twenty or thirty thousand people compared to a hundred it's a different feel.

"It's definitely something I've worked on and comes with playing a lot of games.

"I've had a few games this year where I haven't [seen it through], I've got out and it's really cost us.

"A few of them stuck in the back of my mind. I just knew if I was out there towards the back end, it's funny it somehow gets easier, you might nick a four, and you get away and it's a different game so I just try to take it as deep as I can."

Philippe represented Taunton in the 2016 season, scoring 614 runs in 16 innings across the summer at an average of 38.38.

His best knock came in the derby against Taunton St Andrew's, as he scored 111 in a match Taunton lost by 61 runs.

After his starring role in the Big Bash final, Philippe enjoyed a Taunton CC reunion with Somerset pair Tom Abell and Ollie Sale.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

An absolute superstar of the game! Congrats @joshphilippe you are crazy good! @osale1

A post shared by Tom Abell (@tabell28) on Feb 8, 2020 at 2:48pm PST