Premier Cricket 2020-21: Carlton’s Brayden Stepien should have BBL deal

After another electrifying Premier Cricket knock, calls for Carlton’s Brayden Stepien to be handed a BBL deal are getting louder.

Carlton's Brayden Stepien continues to pile on the runs. Picture: Arj Giese

Brayden Stepien deserves a Big Bash League contract.

That’s the message from Carlton captain-coach Evan Gulbis after his gun wicketkeeper-batsman dismantled yet another Premier Cricket bowling attack on Saturday.

Stepien blasted an unbeaten 157 from 113 balls to steer the Blues to a seven-wicket win over Geelong, with the typically belligerent hand featuring 16 boundaries and five sixes.

Carlton raced to 3-240 with 80 balls to spare to move to two victories from as many starts.

But the headline act was Stepien, who crunched 50 from 36 deliveries against Melbourne University in Round 1 and hammered 223 from just 158 for Greater Northern in the Tasmanian grade competition in October.

Stepien made two appearances for Melbourne Renegades in the back end of last season’s BBL tournament as an injury replacement player.

Brayden Stepien behind the stumps for Melbourne Renegades fields. Picture: Getty Images

He has since been let go by the Renegades and is unsigned ahead of the start of BBL|10 on Thursday.

Gulbis, who shared a 368-run stand with Stepien in Tasmania, had vast experience with Melbourne Stars and Hobart Hurricanes in the Twenty20 competition and said the hard-hitting left-hander “definitely” should have a contract.

“He’s a class above everyone else playing in this comp and should be given the opportunity,” Gulbis said.

“He’d fit into any BBL team really well.

“Some people have to get triple the amount of runs as others. He might just have to be one of those ones.

“He’ll keep putting numbers on the board and pushing his own case.”

Stepien returned 569 runs at 43.8 in Premier Cricket last season to go with 257 runs across the Vic Super Slam and National Premier Cricket T20 Championships.

In 2018-19, he plundered 755 runs at 53.9 plus another 321 in T20 fixtures in Victoria and interstate.

In 2017-18, when he shot to prominence, he logged 581 runs at 34.2.

Stepien hogged the scoring on Saturday in a familiar tale, but Carlton won’t be complaining.

“He’s in good nick,” Gulbis enthused.

“He played really well, picked his moments, is hitting the ball clean as a whistle. He’s in good form.”

Nick Ross contributed 27 not out and Lachlan McKenna 24 in an emphatic win.

Earlier, Geelong posted 239 from 49.3 overs with Gulbis doing the damage as he claimed 5-47 to take his season tally to nine wickets from two games.

Spinner Eddy O’Sullivan (3-53) claimed the big wickets of opposition skipper Eamonn Vines (24) and Tom Jackson (65), while fellow tweaker Tom Smyth removed key man Hayden Butterworth (2) cheaply.

Gulbis insisted he was the beneficiary of another impressive bowling display.

“I’ve got a few wickets on the back end of a lot of other bowlers’ hard work,” he said.

“It’s been me for the first couple of rounds, but it could be someone else next game.

“With six really good bowlers, someone’s going to end up with the wickets. It’s been nice to be on the receiving end of everyone else’s hard work.”

The Blues are one of five teams with unblemished records and will next tackle Footscray away from home.

“But it’s only two rounds,” Gulbis said.

“It’s all about setting yourself up for the best opportunity come finals time, and even that’s so far away.

“We’ve just got to keep putting ourselves to work and making sure when we get to the business end we’re playing good cricket.”