Mitch Owen's meteoric rise - A journey from obscurity to glory

INTERVIEW

Mitch Owen's meteoric rise - A journey from obscurity to glory

by Smit Patel • Last updated on

Owen is currently plying his trade in MLC. © MLC

There are scores of cricketers at the T20 franchise level who, for a few seasons, merely make up the numbers. Getting that occasional game, batting at number 7, and bowling a token couple of overs. It's a role often treated with a quiet irreverence, slipping under the radar. These names flirt with the fringes of obscurity before gradually fading into oblivion. Never to be heard of again, save for a random social media quiz years later that throws up an obscure stat no one really remembers.

Mitch Owen, 23, seemed destined for the kind of career that quietly slips into obscurity having faced just 66 deliveries and bowled a mere 21 overs across four BBL seasons with the Hobart Hurricanes. But instead of resigning to that slow walk to oblivion, Owen flipped the script on its head. He shot to fame as one of the greatest exponents of the much frenzied 10 year challenge on social media. He was captured in a TV shot celebrating the winning moments after Tasmanian great George Bailey had aced a 180 odd chase for the Hurricanes in 2015 at the Bellerive Oval. A decade later, on the same Bellerive turf and the same delirious Hobart crowd he notched a match winning hundred in the all important finals that handed the Hurricanes their elusive first BBL title.

After a quiet first four seasons, Hurricanes entrusted him to open the batting and he seized the opportunity with both hands. Before his heroics in the final, he had already notched up a century during the round-robin stage and remained prolific throughout the tournament. Often bursting through the gates at most opponents with an imposing frame. Drawing enough power in his shots to unnerve the close in ring.

"I'm still sort of coming to terms with the whole experience of winning that title that night. The emotion that I felt after it was so surreal. I was just so in shock of what had just happened, and after reflecting on it, and I think it'll come more later in life of how appreciative I'll be of having the opportunity to be in that moment" said Owen to Cricbuzz. While Owen himself admits the magnitude of that night is yet to fully sink in, the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery certainly understands its significance. In a fitting tribute, they've chosen to immortalize his achievement by displaying his bat and batting gloves commemorating the Hurricanes' maiden BBL title. "I've been told not to expect it back. You won't be around by the time it is taken down!" added Owen with a smile that seemed self assuring.

That seminal moment proved to be the springboard that launched Owen's life in the fast lane. A meteoric rise that has had him globetrotting across continents in some of the biggest leagues like SA20, PSL, IPL, and now MLC. His BBL final heroics earned him a call-up to the SA20 as Joe Root's replacement. He joined Peshawar Zalmi in early April and has been on the road eversince with a stint at Punjab Kings before reuniting with Ricky Ponting again at Washington Freedom. Though his career has taken full flight, keeping him away from home for close to three months, the young Tasmanian allrounder asserts he remains firmly grounded.

"I'm just trying to be a consistent person. My parents drummed into me from an early age, that I'm a person, and my life is separate from Mitch the cricketer. What's more important is that I'm a good person, that I'm respectful, kind, than being a good cricketer. So for me, it's sticking to those values that they taught me early on. Take everything as it comes, keep it simple. As much as I love and I'm passionate about cricket, I just know that there's more to life than cricket. So to me waking up and being happy and having good relationships is as important"

It was only apt that this six-month long fascinating rollercoaster would reach its crescendo with an Australia call-up. "When I got the call and he (George Bailey) let me know that I'd be joining the squad, it was a dream come true" said Owen about breaking into Australia's white ball squads for the tour of Caribbean. While Owen is understandably happy about the white ball call up, he's already looking ahead to a more coveted prize: the Baggy Green. He remains fully committed to getting into his red ball rhythm for Tasmania come Sheffield Shield time later this year.

"Every Australian kid that plays cricket, it's their dream to wear the baggy green. As much as this T20 lifestyle, and it's happened all fast, and I've played a lot of T20 over the last six months, that's been great and a lot of fun. But I also can't wait to get back and play some Shield cricket for Tassie and put the whites back on. That dream of wearing the baggy green is still very, very relevant. And I look forward to hopefully chasing that too."

With his recent success coming in T20 cricket, Owen is now eyeing the Baggy Green. (Pic Credit - MLC) ©Cricbuzz

And he is in good company to keep that desire of donning the baggy green burning bright under the tutelage of Ricky Ponting. Few cricketers embody the pride and prestige of the Baggy Green more than Ponting. The former Australian captain will have a keen eye on Owen's journey being the Head of Strategy at Hurricanes and his head coach at Punjab Kings and Washington Freedom. It is a huge badge of honor for someone young like Owen to have Ponting wholeheartedly invested in his talent and is happy to take him around wherever he goes. For it is still as much about winning for Ponting the coach as it was in his heyday as the captain. But maybe now accompanied with a smile or two more.

"What's so great about him is the fact that he just understands what I need and doesn't force anything down our throats, and makes us feel really confident and comfortable as players of his team. The other night against the TSK, I was 26 off 24 and could not hit the middle of the bat. He came out, giggled, and said, How are you going? I said, this is embarrassing. Retire me. I can't hit the ball. And he just started laughing and made a bit of a joke about it, and said, just, keep going. There's a short boundary, if you get two good overs from that end, that way you'll be back. And even just him laughing at me, saying that I'll be fine was relaxing. And then, luckily enough, I think I got 80 odd off 50 balls and caught up well"

Owen cuts a strapping figure at 100 kgs and 6'5. He is exhilarating to watch. Bats without a care in the world. His long chiseled frame, broad stance and that big stride down the ground accompanied by full extension of his long levers make for compelling viewing. His presence seems authoritarian at the crease. That sight may be pleasing for the spectators but can be unsettling if you are on top of your run up.

Owen has his own pre-ball physical and mental routines. It is something in vogue in the modern game as a result of substantial focus on the mental side of things. Mental triggers or verbal cues like 'Watch the ball' or 'hit the ball' have become part of a batsman's routine these days to get them in the zone of optimal focus before each delivery.

"When I'm walking out there to face ball one, I'll scratch the surface a few times. Go out there, guard the wicket a little bit, come back, few stretches. And then I'll mark center once, walk back out on the wicket, go ahead and come back once. I'll mark the center twice. I'm locked in. Then I'd keep saying watch the ball get forward. And then my mind's thinking about hitting an on drive. Because I feel that gets me in the best position to firstly, react to the short ball through my weight going forward, and then be able to push back. And then, if it's full, my weight is already going forward, so I can sort of react. Those two scratches, is when I forget about everything else. One, when I do the first scratch and I'm walking down the wicket, I'm sort of looking at the field, just kind of zoned out a little bit. And then once I get back and scratch twice, and, all right, locked in. Let's go"

A teenaged Glenn Maxwell was once captured on TV cheering for Victoria's domestic colossus David Hussey. Owen, too, was seen doing the same for another domestic great, George Bailey. The parallels are hard to miss. And if Owen ends up emulating his Washington Freedom captain Maxwell's glittering career featuring two Cricket World Cups and one T20 World Cup that museum back in Hobart might just have more work on its hands. For he'd be entering a rare company of Tasmanian World Cup winners that includes Ponting, the most decorated captain in the history of the game, and now his coach at Washington Freedom.

© Cricbuzz

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