Ben Laughlin (born 3 October 1982) is an Australian cricketer. He bowls right-arm fast-medium, mainly playing Twenty20 cricket rather than longer formats of the game. He currently plays for the Brisbane Heat in the Big Bash League (BBL) (Not in BBL12 in the 2022/23 season.)
Laughlin began his career playing grade cricket in Queensland, and within his first-class debut for the side in 2008 he was selected to play for Australia in One Day Internationals and Twenty20 Internationals, though his time in the national side was brief. Since then he has been a star of Twenty20 cricket, playing for BBL team the Hobart Hurricanes for three years before moving to his current team in Adelaide, and he is currently the all-time leading wicket taker in the tournament. He also plays for the Northern Districts Knights in New Zealand and has played in the Indian Premier League.
Cricket career
Before first-class debut
Laughlin's father, Trevor Laughlin, played Test cricket for Australia in 1978. Though his father had played District Cricket in Victoria, Laughlin played his grade cricket for Wynnum Manly District Cricket Club in Queensland. For three seasons in a row, starting from when he was 19 years old, Laughlin had stress fractures which ruined his opportunities to play cricket. He made his way back into the team by bowling off-spin rather than pace, though he played as a specialist batsman at the time. His form as a pace bowler improved towards the end of the 2000s, and in 2006 he was awarded the Peter Burge Medal for the best grade cricketer in Queensland over the 2005–06 season, and in the three seasons leading up to his first-class debut in 2008 he took a total of 126 wickets, including 50 wickets in the 2006–07 season alone.
Queensland (2008–2011) Laughlin made his first-class debut for Queensland's state team at the end of the 2007–08 Pura Cup season against Victoria and took the wicket of Victorian captain Cameron White. He was then given his first contract with Queensland for the 2008–09 season and started to play List A cricket for them in the 2008–09 Ford Ranger One Day Cup season. Despite it being his first season, he was very impressive and played in all eleven games, taking 23 wickets. He recorded a particularly exceptional bowling performance in a match against New South Wales in October 2008. In only his second List A match, he claimed 6/23, the best List A bowling figures for Queensland in two decades and the third-best of all time, not only for Queensland but for any Australian domestic team. He also played in three matches in the 2008–09 Sheffield Shield season, but he was far less successful in the longer form of the game.
Despite having started the season only hopeful of playing a few matches for Queensland, by March Laughlin was called up to the Australia squads for a series of five One Day Internationals and two Twenty20 Internationals against South Africa. Laughlin and fellow fast bowler Brett Geeves were drafted into the squad to replace Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus, who were being rested as a precaution before the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 and The Ashes. He did alright in the matches, finishing with four wickets in the ODIs, but he didn't star in any of them. After this brief stint in the national team he was not included in Australia's squad for the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 and he wasn't given a Cricket Australia contract. His career went downhill quickly, as he suffered from a painful stomach injury and was only able to play six state games in the 2009–10 summer, then in 2011 he was cut from Queensland's contract list altogether.
Tasmania and the Hobart Hurricanes (2011–2014) When Laughlin was cut from Queensland's contract list he changed state teams to Tasmania, joining them for the 2011–12 Ryobi One-Day Cup. Echoing the start to his career for Queensland, Laughlin took his second six-wicket haul in his second match for Tasmania, also against New South Wales. He also played for Tasmania's team in the new Big Bash League (BBL), the Hobart Hurricanes. Despite being cut from Tasmania's contract list at the end of the season, his form for the Hurricanes was good enough that he was named in Australia's extended 30-man squad for the 2012 ICC World Twenty20.
Though Laughlin was unable to play much cricket for Tasmania, his performances for the Hurricanes were stellar in BBL02. He took 14 wickets for the tournament, the most of any player, and was brought back into the national team for a two-match Twenty20 series against Sri Lanka. He didn't make the most of his opportunity and his performances were sub-par, as he fell short of the international standard and conceded 20 runs off of the final over of one of the matches.