McDermott joins fellow Australian representatives Matthew Wade and Nathan Ellis as the third player to announce a contract extension this week, signing a two-year deal, which will see him remain a Hurricane until at least the conclusion of BBL|13.
KFC BBL|10 was arguably McDermott’s finest performance in the Big Bash League to date. Despite missing the Hurricane’s first two games of the season due to Australia A commitments, he finished the tournament as the Hurricanes’ top run scorer, with 402 runs to his name, which came from 28 fours and 21 sixes.
Oh-so-close to a century on three occasions (89*, 91 and 96), McDemott’s 96 against the Sydney Thunder in Canberra was particularly special, including a boundary now dubbed as ‘the biggest six ever’ in the history of the Big Bash. McDermott was also unanimously voted by all eight coaches into the KFC BBL|10 Team of the Tournament.
Following the conclusion of KFC BBL|10, McDermott has been on several Australian white ball tours with the Australian Men’s team, but is now looking forward to getting back to the Big Bash.
“I’m really excited,” McDermott said, both of his contract extension and the upcoming season.
“Last year was a good season for me personally, but it was a bit of a heartbreaker with it ending like that. We are a good team and we had some good performances last year, but unfortunately just couldn’t get over the line at the pointy end of the season.
“It’s great to see so many of the guys committing to this team from the long haul and that we’re keeping so much of this core group together. That’s hopefully going to give us the confidence and the consistency to put together a better tournament this year.”
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McDermott is one of 15 players who have thus far been announced in the Hurricanes’ squad for KFC BBL|11.Squad: Scott Boland, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Peter Handscomb, Caleb Jewell, Josh Kann, Sandeep Lamichhane (o/s), Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, Mitch Owen, Joel Paris, Wil Parker, D’Arcy Short, Matthew Wade, Mac Wright.