Sowter was derailed Trent Rockets chase within just six balls
Nathan Sowter has long been considered a key member of the Middlesex and then Durham’s T20 set-up in England’s T20 Blast since his debut in 2015 where he claimed two wickets with his first four balls. But grabbing the headlines while being among much more accomplished international cricketers was a first for the 33-year old.
On Sunday, Sowter demolished Trent Rockets’ chase of 169 within a space of five balls – Joe Root off 32nd ball, Rehan Ahmed off the 34th and then Tom Banton on the 36th delivery.
Rockets had no chance of recovering from a crater like that. After all, this was the same team that successfully completed six out of seven chases in the tournament to reach the final.
Invincibles weren’t the fancied team despite winning the last two editions, but a few minutes of absolute brilliance from Sowter rolled the red carpet for their hat-trick title.
Sowter could’ve been in place of his Invincibles’ teammate Adam Zampa and tasted glory in limited-overs cricket with World Cup titles. Sowter was born in New South Wales and even made it to NSW’s second team as a teenager.
But having a UK passport due to his British mother meant he could try to ply his trade on the other side of the pond when things didn’t work out well.
It was a journey similar to that of former England batter Adam Hollioake, who was born in Australia, spent his early years there and later moved to the UK.
ALSO READ:
Sowter’s participation across all three formats in County cricket has been limited as he has played only 19 List-A matches and 13 First-Class matches, but has played 171 T20s across three different competitions, scalping 183 wickets at an impressive average of 22. Even more impressive is his economy of 7 which has convinced Invincibles to keep him for five seasons.
After switching from Middlesex to Durham in 2022, Sowter has been more prolific with his T20 exploits even though last year’s T20 Blast quarterfinal was the team’s best finish in the last four seasons.
Sowter’s average has been on the lower side of 20s while playing for Durham and has continued to be among their top bowlers with a total of 57 wickets from 42 matches.
Even more impressive is his economy that has hovered around 6 and 7 for the last eight of his 10 T20 Blast campaigns. In The Hundred 2025, the leggie has claimed nine wickets from as many matches at an average of 20 and an economy of 8.
If England decide to try him out for the national side with a World Cup in the sub-continent drawing closer, Sowter will follow many others like Ben Stokes, Andrew Strauss, Jofra Archer, the Curran brothers and many others who were born elsewhere.
However, he has to wade through the heavy competition from the likes of Adil Rashid, Liam Dawson and Jacob Bethell as well as four other English spinners, who are ahead of him in the T20 Blast to make the cut for the 2026 T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka.
