Uncapped Australia all-rounder Jack Edwards ripped through Sydney Thunder, picking up his maiden BBL five-for on Saturday (December 20).
Jack Edwards shines in BBL following maiden IPL contract
Earlier this week, Edwards earned his maiden IPL gig, getting picked by Sunrisers Hyderabad for INR 3 Cr. Listed at a base price of INR 50 lakh, he saw interest from Chennai Super Kings and Gujarat Titans, before SRH bought him, bolstering their overseas roster.
The complete IPL 2026 squads can be found here.
Edwards is probably not a well-known entity outside of Australia: in fact, he was the only uncapped overseas player to be sold at this auction. Teams usually prefer known names when picking foreign players, but the bidding war for Edwards between CSK and SRH clearly shows that they've seen serious promise.
That promise has been evident in the BBL so far: he is currently leading the wickets list, having taken eight scalps at 9.37 (no one has more than four wickets). That was helped considerably by a five-for in Sydney, where he claimed Sam Konstas, David Warner, Sam Billings, Shadab Khan and Daniel Sams. That's five international players, all in the top-seven. Fourteen out of his 24 deliveries were dots, derailing Thunder's chase of 199.
It also gave Sixers their first win of the season.
He faced just two balls today, but is currently Sixers' second-highest run-getter too, only behind Josh Philippe (who scored 96 off 57 in the same game). Against Perth Scorchers, Edwards hit 46* off 21 from No.6, powering them past 100 in an 11-a-side game. Against Adelaide Strikers, he hit 32 off 21 when only two other teammates crossed 15. With 2-27, he was also the pick of the bowlers.
Edwards continues to build on impressive 2025
Edwards is 25, and has been playing domestic cricket for New South Wales since 2018, the year he represented Australia at the U19 World Cup. He may not be capped, but Edwards was called up for an ODI in October, filling in when Australia restructured their squad for the final ODI against India.
He was part of the visiting Australia A squad in India before that, where he scored 88 off 78 in the second four-day game, against an attack that included Test players Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna and Nitish Kumar Reddy. He also took 4-56 in one of the unofficial ODIs, including the wicket of No.1 ranked T20I batter Abhishek Sharma for a first-ball ducks. In the next game, he smashed 89 off 75 from No.8, also leading the team twice.
Those performances in India would have surely played a role in his handsome IPL contract.
Sunrisers Hyderabad already have Travis Head, Heinrich Klaasen and Pat Cummins as sure-shot overseas players. It remains to be seen if Edwards can edge out the others to claim the fourth spot, come IPL 2026.
Follow Wisden for all cricket updates, including live scores, match stats, quizzes and more. Stay up to date with the latest cricket news, player updates, team standings, match highlights, video analysis and live match odds.
