Hobart at last
Hobart Hurricanes had played thirteen Big Bash League seasons without winning it. They lost the 2013-14 final in Perth and the 2017-18 final in Adelaide, and in the seasons between they were more often eighth than fourth. In 2024-25 they won seven of ten league matches to finish first, then won the Qualifier and the final at home, and became the last of the eight original clubs to take the trophy.
The season ran from 15 December 2024 to 27 January 2025 over 40 league matches and a four-team finals series, the same shape as the previous summer, and drew 942,958 spectators.
The league stage
Hobart finished first, Sydney Sixers second, Sydney Thunder third and Melbourne Stars fourth. Perth Scorchers, who had won five titles, more than any other club, finished fifth and missed the finals for the first time since 2018-19. Adelaide Strikers finished last despite making the highest total of the season, 251 for 5 against Sydney Sixers, with Matthew Short scoring 109.
Mitchell Owen, a 23-year-old from Launceston who had made his Twenty20 debut only the previous season, made 452 runs for Hobart, more than anyone. Jason Behrendorff took 17 wickets for Perth. The player of the tournament award was shared between Cooper Connolly of Perth Scorchers and Glenn Maxwell of Melbourne Stars, whose sides finished fifth and fourth.
The finals
Hobart beat Sydney Sixers by twelve runs in the Qualifier at Ninja Stadium, Riley Meredith taking the award, and so went straight to a home final. Sydney Thunder beat Melbourne Stars by 21 runs on the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method in a rain-shortened Knockout at Engie Stadium, then chased down 152 at the Sydney Cricket Ground to beat the Sixers by four wickets in the Challenger. Sam Billings made the runs that settled it.
The final
Ninja Stadium, Hobart, 27 January 2025. Sydney Thunder made 182 for 7, Jason Sangha scoring 67 and Nathan Ellis taking 3 for 23. It was a reasonable total on a ground where 180 usually wins.
Mitchell Owen then made 108 from 42 balls. He reached his hundred in 39 balls, equalling the fastest century in Big Bash League history, and Hobart finished the chase in 14.1 overs, winning by seven wickets with 35 balls to spare, the most balls left unused in any Big Bash League final. Owen was named player of the match and was signed by an Indian Premier League club within weeks.
Afterwards
Sydney Thunder's defeat was their second in a final, ten years after their win in 2015-16. Hobart's title left Melbourne Stars as the only club to have reached a Big Bash League final and never won one, a distinction they have held since 2019-20.