InMobi

Consistency key as Paris returns to Scorchers with 'big shoes to fill'

Left-armer heads back to original Big Bash club fresh off a career-best campaign

Joel Paris knows he has "big shoes to fill" ahead of his BBL|15 homecoming but believes his time away from the Perth Scorchers has helped him become a more complete T20 bowler.

The West Australian has signed a one-year deal to return to the Scorchers next summer as a like-for-like replacement for champion left-armer Jason Behrendorff, who has joined Melbourne Renegades during the free agency period after a stellar 10 seasons with Perth.

Paris, who made his T20 debut with the Scorchers in 2013, has spent the past two seasons with Melbourne Stars and was at Hobart Hurricanes for two years prior to that after departing Perth in 2021.

The 32-year-old said the Stars weren't yet in a position to offer him a deal for next season, making it an easier decision to return home during the league's inaugural Player Movement Window.

"Everything moves really quickly with the new rules, so you don't get a lot of time to really think and dwell over these decisions," Paris said.

"You've got to be really clear, so that's how this came about. There was an opportunity there to come home and where it was at with the Stars, they weren't in a position to offer me anything at this stage.

"So with the free agency period, the way it's fallen, it's given me an opportunity to come home."

Paris is the second player to depart the Stars during the 10-day Player Movement Window, which ends on Thursday at 5pm AEDT, after Test allrounder Beau Webster signed a three-year deal with Hobart Hurricanes to also return to his home state.

The left-arm seamer played a key part of the Stars' late-season resurgence in KFC BBL|14 to qualify for the finals after dropping their opening five games.

Together with new ball partner Mark Steketee, the pair's ability to take wickets to help restrict their opponents was a feature of the Stars' five straight wins to secure a top four spot.

Paris enjoyed a career-best Big Bash campaign in BBL|14 with nine wickets at 16.11 and economy rate of 6.59 in six appearances, with his ability to swing the ball in the Powerplay a major factor in Perth's approach to help them fill the void left by Behrendorff.

According to Opta, Paris bowled the highest percentage of inswing deliveries (19.7 per cent) to a right-handed batter in BBL|14, ahead of Behrendorff who was ranked sixth (11.1 per cent). Paris also bowled 15.9 per cent of his deliveries swinging the ball away from the right-hander (ranked eighth) compared to Behrendorff's 12.3 per cent (ranked 11th).

"(Behrendorff has) obviously been a huge part of the orange team for a long period of time and has done such a great job," Paris said of his WA teammate and BBL's fifth leading wicket-taker of all-time.

"(They're) big shoes to fill but I'll just try and contribute as best I can and hopefully as a group we can get back up to the top and have more success."

Paris joins a Scorchers group that recently failed to qualify for the finals for the first time since BBL|09, when he was last at the club.

Paris has played 44 BBL matches across an eight-season career, with almost two-thirds of those coming after he left the Scorchers following BBL|10, which he says has been crucial to his form in the shortest format.

"It's a competition and a format that you don't really get any better at unless you consistently play," he said.

"Over the last couple of years, I've been able to play more, get in a little bit of a groove as to how the game moves, ebbs and flows, and then as a bowler how to sequence my overs and try and get ahead of the game, or have an understanding what the batter is trying to do.

"I've felt like every game I've played, I've had a little bit better understanding from that and hopefully that only grows over the next season and seasons to come.

"I started my T20 career at a packed out WACA Ground – that was an amazing way, as a young kid, to experience a packed out WACA crowd.

"Then experiencing it a little bit over at Optus (Stadium) before heading east for a few years – I think everyone is jealous of the fans over here.

"It's obviously a really exciting prospect to get back to Optus and play in front of that home crowd."