On Saturday (June 28), Mitchell Owen earned a fourth successive player of the match award in MLC 2025, putting him on the verge of equalling a world record.
Washington Freedom took on the San Francisco Unicorns on Saturday, and Washington skipper Glenn Maxwell chose to bat first. Owen was out off the first ball of the match, skying a pull shot off Xavier Bartlett, for Matt Short to complete a simple catch. They slipped to 13-3 and 30-4 before Jack Edwards (42), Glenn Phillips (58) and Obus Pienaar (30*) dragged them back up to 169-6.
In the run chase, San Francisco lost Finn Allen and Jake Fraser-McGurk inside seven overs. Owen struck with his medium pace in the 11th over, removing Short with a slower ball.
Two overs later, the Australian got rid of Hassan Khan and Romario Shepherd off consecutive balls to put Washington firmly in control of the match. In his third over, the 19th of the innings, Owen had tail-enders Haris Rauf and Brody Couch caught, to complete his first five-wicket haul in professional cricket. Before this, he had never taken more than three wickets in an innings.
Read more: Who is Mitchell Owen, the little-known Australian who smashed a 39-ball 100 in the BBL final?
Match 19, Washington Freedom vs San Francisco Unicorns
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- Ball by ball Over
Mitchell Owen wins fourth successive Player of the Match award
Owen was named Player of the Match for his five-for as Washington won by 12 runs. Remarkably, this is his fourth Player of the Match award in a row. His previous efforts of 43 & 0-47 vs Los Angeles, 89 & 3-33 vs Texas and 60 & 1-29 vs New York had also earned him the match award.
He is now the eighth man to win POTM in four consecutive T20 matches. The world record is five, held by Shakib Al Hasan for Fortune Barishal in the 2022 Bangladesh Premier League. On Thursday, July 3, Owen will have the chance to equal that in Washington's next match.
Also read: BBL final hero earns maiden Australia call-up for West Indies T20Is
Owen is the third player from Australia to win four in a row, after Shane Watson in 2012 and David Warner in 2019. Interestingly, Watson is the only other player to win these awards for matches all held at the same venue (R Premadasa Stadium) – Owen's four here have all come at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas.
Warner is the only player to win his four consecutive POTM awards across different teams – one for Sunrisers Hyderabad, and three for Australia.
Most consecutive Player of the Match awards in men's T20 cricket
| Player | Matches | Team | Score | Figures | Opponent | Venue | Date |
| Shakib Al Hasan | 5 | Fortune Barishal | 51* | 1-21 | Dhaka | Mirpur | 11 February 2022 |
| 38 | 2-23 | Sunrisers | Sylhet | 8 February 2022 | |||
| 50 | 2-20 | Victorians | Sylhet | 7 February 2022 | |||
| 50 | 3-23 | Chattogram | Chattogram | 1 February 2022 | |||
| 41 | 2-10 | Khulna | Chattogram | 31 January 2022 | |||
| Shane Watson | 4 | Australia | 70 | 2-29 | South Africa | Colombo (RPS) | 30 September 2012 |
| 72 | 3-34 | India | Colombo (RPS) | 28 September 2012 | |||
| 41* | 2-29 | West Indies | Colombo (RPS) | 22 September 2012 | |||
| 51 | 3-26 | Ireland | Colombo (RPS) | 19 September 2012 | |||
| Marcus Trescothick | 4 | Somerset | 54* | - | Glamorgan | Cardiff | 14 July 2010 |
| 78 | - | Essex | Chelmsford | 11 July 2010 | |||
| 78 | - | Hampshire | Taunton | 9 July 2010 | |||
| 83 | - | Middlesex | Taunton | 4 July 2010 | |||
| David Warner | 4 | Australia / Sunrisers Hyderabad | 57* | - | Sri Lanka | Melbourne | 1 November 2019 |
| 60* | - | Sri Lanka | Brisbane | 30 October 2019 | |||
| 100* | - | Sri Lanka | Adelaide | 27 October 2019 | |||
| 81 | - | Kings XI | Hyderabad | 29 April 2019 | |||
| Sikandar Raza | 4 | Zimbabwe | 65 | 3-28 | Ireland | Harare | 7 December 2023 |
| 82 | 2-21 | Kenya | Windhoek | 30 November 2023 | |||
| 65 | 2-13 | Nigeria | Windhoek | 29 November 2023 | |||
| 58 | 3-3 | Rwanda | Windhoek | 27 November 2023 | |||
| Dinesh Nakrani | 4 | Uganda | 37* | 0-7 | Nigeria | Rwanda | 17 November 2021 |
| 67 | 1-25 | Kenya | Kigali | 17 November 2021 | |||
| 37 | 5-8 | Seychelles | Kigali | 22 October 2021 | |||
| 20 | 3-17 | Ghana | Rwanda | 21 October 2021 | |||
| Sami Sohail | 4 | Malawi | 30* | 4-6 | Mozambique | Benoni | 28 May 2023 |
| 75 | 3-8 | Eswatini | Benoni | 27 May 2023 | |||
| 94* | 1-5 | Lesotho | Kigali | 25 November 2022 | |||
| 23* | 3-18 | St Helena | Rwanda | 24 November 2022 | |||
| Mitchell Owen | 4 | Washington Freedom | 0 | 5-17 | San Francisco | Dallas | 28 June 2025 |
| 43 | 0-47 | Los Angeles | Dallas | 26 June 2025 | |||
| 89 | 3-33 | Texas | Dallas | 22 June 2025 | |||
| 60 | 1-29 | MI New York | Dallas | 21 June 2025 |
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