Englishman Vince was among three batsmen who have played Test cricket that leg-spinner Bowe from Sandhurst dismissed during the BBL, with his wickets in his four games for the Stars also including Usman Khawaja and Brendon McCullum – a trio with 8968 Test runs between them.

Bowe also picked up the wicket of Hobart’s Ben McDermott, but of the four it was the stumping by Peter Handscomb of Vince at the MCG that Bowe was particularly proud of.

“I hadn’t taken a wicket like that in a while where someone has just run past one and been stumped, so that felt really nice,” Bowe said this week.

“That wicket probably felt the best out of the four I got, so that was a good night, but we still couldn’t defend our score.”

For 20-year-old Bowe, his second Big Bash League season, which followed two games for the Stars a year earlier, was another significant learning curve, but one in which he felt more comfortable in each match.

“By the last game or two I was definitely feeling a lot more comfortable,” Bowe said.

“I was still a bit nervous for the first game (against Brisbane) where I wanted to bowl really well to make sure I got another game.

“But in the lead-up to games during the day, I was a lot less nervous than last year… I could get through it a lot easier waiting for the game, whereas last year it would just seem to go on forever.”

Bowe’s first game for the Stars this season against the Heat at the MCG on January 2 pitted him against the “Bash Brothers” – the explosive duo of McCullum and Chris Lynn.

“That was a bit daunting because I knew that when I came onto bowl Lynn and McCullum were pretty much set, so I felt a bit on the back foot,” said Bowe, who also returned to Sandhurst for three BDCA T20 games this season.

“I was glad when I got McCullum out (for 61 off 30) when I did because he looked like he was going to try to take me for 30 off an over.

“He was going hard, so I thought I’d try to get one up at him and cramp him and I had a bit of luck because he was caught (by Rob Quiney) a couple of metres off the boundary.

“And Lynn is a brute of a man, but seemed to be just a bit more tentative than McCullum. He was trying to get McCullum on strike, so it wasn’t as bad bowling to him.”

It was a disappointing season for the Stars, who having reached at least the semi-finals in the first six BBL tournaments finished with the wooden spoon with just two wins from 10 games.

“We lost our first two games against Brisbane and Perth and we probably got a bit anxious in the games and that then led to another couple of losses and it just became too hard to catch up in the end,” said Bowe, who will this weekend return to Premier Cricket with Essendon.

“It just wasn’t our year… a lot of teams played well and we were just slightly off the mark and couldn’t capitalise.”

As for next BBL season and continuing with the Stars, it’s now a waiting game.

“I’ll have to wait and see over the next few weeks with the end-of-season reviews as to what might happen, but at this stage I have no idea about next season,” Bowe said.

“Fingers crossed I’d love to play again, but at the moment everyone is digesting what has just happened.”