# Chris Lynn
**Chris Lynn** (Christopher Austin Lynn, born 1990 in Brisbane) is an Australian cricketer, a right-handed batter known for power hitting in Twenty20 cricket who has played for [Queensland](https://www.edgepedia.org/queensland), the Brisbane Heat, the [Adelaide Strikers](https://www.edgepedia.org/adelaide-strikers), and franchises in the [Indian Premier League](https://www.edgepedia.org/indian-premier-league) and other leagues worldwide.[1](https://bnjca.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Annual-Report-2014.pdf) • [2](https://www.ipl.com/player/chris-lynn) He represented Australia in four One Day Internationals and 18 Twenty20 Internationals, but built his reputation in domestic T20 leagues, where he became the all-time leading men's Big Bash run-scorer in 2019.[3](https://www.crictracker.com/cricket-players/chris-lynn/stats/) • [4](https://www.cricket.com.au/news/3302944/lynn-declares-oneformat-future-as-bbl-record-looms)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1990, Brisbane; educated at Virginia State School and Nudgee College[1](https://bnjca.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Annual-Report-2014.pdf) • [5](https://www.qrl.com.au/news/2024/03/20/united-in-maroon-chris-lynn/) |
| Batting style | Right-handed batter; elite against pace bowling but weak against spin[2](https://www.ipl.com/player/chris-lynn) • [6](https://www.wisden.com/series/indian-premier-league-2020/cricket-news/kkr-to-ditch-sunil-narine-as-an-opener) |
| First-class record | 41 matches, 2,743 runs at 43.53, highest score 250[3](https://www.crictracker.com/cricket-players/chris-lynn/stats/) |
| BBL record | 137 matches, 4,133 runs at 35.32, one century, 227 sixes[7](https://www.windiescricket.com/players/chris-lynn-3683/) |
| IPL record | 42 matches, 1,329 runs at 34.08, strike rate 140.63, ten fifties[3](https://www.crictracker.com/cricket-players/chris-lynn/stats/) |
| International caps | 4 ODIs (75 runs) and 18 T20Is (291 runs at 19.4)[3](https://www.crictracker.com/cricket-players/chris-lynn/stats/) |
| Format decision | Declared in December 2019 that he would limit himself exclusively to Twenty20 cricket[4](https://www.cricket.com.au/news/3302944/lynn-declares-oneformat-future-as-bbl-record-looms) |
## Early life and Queensland career
Lynn grew up in the Brisbane suburb of Northgate, across the road from Toombul Cricket Club, his later Premier Cricket team. His father, Col, a water polo player for Australia, built a cricket net beside the family house. Lynn also played rugby league as a junior and captained both the Queensland Under-12s cricket and rugby league sides in 2002, a team that included future Maroons players Ben Hunt and Andrew McCullough.[5](https://www.qrl.com.au/news/2024/03/20/united-in-maroon-chris-lynn/) • [8](https://www.cricket.com.au/news/3288030/chris-lynns-summer-of-living-dangerously)
He debuted for Queensland in one-day and first-class cricket as a 19-year-old in 2010. In only his second [Sheffield Shield](https://www.edgepedia.org/sheffield-shield) match he made 139 of Queensland's 285, becoming the fourth youngest player, behind [Andrew Symonds](https://www.edgepedia.org/andrew-symonds), Jimmy Maher, and Martin Love, to score a century for the Bulls.[4](https://www.cricket.com.au/news/3302944/lynn-declares-oneformat-future-as-bbl-record-looms) • [5](https://www.qrl.com.au/news/2024/03/20/united-in-maroon-chris-lynn/) His highest first-class innings came in February 2015, when he made 250 from 329 balls with 10 sixes against a Victoria attack including [Peter Siddle](https://www.edgepedia.org/peter-siddle) and James Pattinson; Queensland went from 3 for 7 on the first morning to 9 for 506 when he departed.[8](https://www.cricket.com.au/news/3288030/chris-lynns-summer-of-living-dangerously) His first-class average of 43.53 from 71 innings sat behind only Steve Smith and David Warner among active Australian players with at least 20 innings, as of 2019.[4](https://www.cricket.com.au/news/3302944/lynn-declares-oneformat-future-as-bbl-record-looms)
## Big Bash League
Lynn became the on-field identity of the Brisbane Heat, appearing for the club more times than any other player and at one point ranking third in BBL career runs.[8](https://www.cricket.com.au/news/3288030/chris-lynns-summer-of-living-dangerously) Across two Big Bash summers he hit 53 sixes in 13 matches, roughly one maximum every seventh delivery he faced, and in BBL|05 he struck Ben Hilfenhaus for five consecutive sixes at the [Melbourne Cricket Ground](https://www.edgepedia.org/melbourne-cricket-ground).[8](https://www.cricket.com.au/news/3288030/chris-lynns-summer-of-living-dangerously) His BBL career stands at 137 matches, 4,133 runs at an average of 35.32 with a high score of 101 and 227 sixes.[7](https://www.windiescricket.com/players/chris-lynn-3683/) He captained the Heat, and in December 2019 needed just three runs to become the competition's all-time leading men's run-scorer.[4](https://www.cricket.com.au/news/3302944/lynn-declares-oneformat-future-as-bbl-record-looms) He later moved to the Adelaide Strikers, for whom he played in BBL 2025-26.[9](https://www.tomsguide.com/entertainment/sports/watch-big-bash-league-bbl15-live-stream)
## Franchise T20 career
Lynn's overseas career began in the Indian Premier League, where [Darren Lehmann](https://www.edgepedia.org/darren-lehmann), then coaching [Deccan Chargers](https://www.edgepedia.org/deccan-chargers), brought him in shortly before his 21st birthday to learn in a squad containing [Kumar Sangakkara](https://www.edgepedia.org/kumar-sangakkara), Dale Steyn, and Shikhar Dhawan; he played one game in two seasons there.[8](https://www.cricket.com.au/news/3288030/chris-lynns-summer-of-living-dangerously) Sangakkara later gave him a single game for Kandurata Warriors in the 2012 Sri Lankan Premier League, in which he made 80 from 51 balls with five sixes.[8](https://www.cricket.com.au/news/3288030/chris-lynns-summer-of-living-dangerously)
His breakthrough IPL came in 2017, when he played seven matches for [Kolkata Knight Riders](https://www.edgepedia.org/kolkata-knight-riders) and scored 295 runs at a strike rate of 180.98, the best of any batter with 150-plus runs that season, including innings of 93 not out (41), 50 (22), and 84 (52).[8](https://www.cricket.com.au/news/3288030/chris-lynns-summer-of-living-dangerously) His IPL career totals are 42 matches, 1,329 runs at 34.08 with a strike rate of 140.63.[3](https://www.crictracker.com/cricket-players/chris-lynn/stats/) For IPL 2020 he moved from Kolkata to Mumbai.[6](https://www.wisden.com/series/indian-premier-league-2020/cricket-news/kkr-to-ditch-sunil-narine-as-an-opener)
**A global T20 schedule.** After committing to the format exclusively, Lynn played across the world's leagues. In the 2019 T10 League in the UAE he struck 371 runs at a strike rate of 236 and was named Player of the [Tournament](https://www.edgepedia.org/tournament).[4](https://www.cricket.com.au/news/3302944/lynn-declares-oneformat-future-as-bbl-record-looms) His overall T20 record is 313 matches, 9,024 runs at 33.05 with a strike rate of 144.87, and in T10 cricket 731 runs at a strike rate of 181.84.[3](https://www.crictracker.com/cricket-players/chris-lynn/stats/) He has also played in the [Caribbean Premier League](https://www.edgepedia.org/caribbean-premier-league) (40 matches, 882 runs) and, in 2026, for [Northamptonshire](https://www.edgepedia.org/northamptonshire) in England's T20 Blast and in the Lanka Premier League, where he was bought at auction for $50,000.[7](https://www.windiescricket.com/players/chris-lynn-3683/) • [10](https://srilankacricket.lk/storage/2025/03/SLC-Annual-Report-2023-Low-resolution-full-PDF.pdf) • [11](https://crex.com/player/chris-lynn-4W/matches)
## International career
Lynn's international career was stop-start, limited by a long-standing shoulder problem and by the difficulty of converting domestic form into national selection.[8](https://www.cricket.com.au/news/3288030/chris-lynns-summer-of-living-dangerously) • [12](https://www.wisden.com/cricket-features/chris-lynn-australian-crickets-big-puzzle) He played four ODIs, scoring 75 runs at 18.75, and 18 T20Is, scoring 291 runs at 19.4 with a strike rate of 131.67.[3](https://www.crictracker.com/cricket-players/chris-lynn/stats/) He was recalled to Australia's ODI squad to play England in January 2017 after major shoulder surgery, then ruled out of the five-match campaign with a calf injury.[13](https://www.cricket.com.au/news/3292184/restricted-lynn-batting-with-freedom) By his own assessment he did not score the runs needed to stay in the side: "It's the Australian cricket team, you've got to be scoring runs, otherwise there's a long list of players who are scoring runs who can take your place."
## Batting style
Analysts describe Lynn as a power hitter built on orthodox technique rather than improvisation. *The Cricket Monthly* noted that rather than embracing scoops and ramps, he showed how to take the contours of a classical game, hitting in the V, and recalibrate it for T20, combining a high average with a high strike rate in a way that defied the format's usual trade-off between scoring quickly and scoring consistently.[14](https://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/1134951/the-lynn-thing) CricViz's analysis of his IPL opening partnership with [Sunil Narine](https://www.edgepedia.org/sunil-narine) described the pair as near opposites: Lynn was completely elite against pace but very weak against spin, so opposing teams avoided bombarding Narine with pace, fearing an early single would unleash Lynn on their seamers.[6](https://www.wisden.com/series/indian-premier-league-2020/cricket-news/kkr-to-ditch-sunil-narine-as-an-opener) In 2016 he answered criticism that his hitting would not travel beyond Australia's bouncy grounds by topping the run charts in Caribbean domestic T20 with 27 sixes.[8](https://www.cricket.com.au/news/3288030/chris-lynns-summer-of-living-dangerously)
## Injuries and the one-format decision
Chronic shoulder and neck problems shaped Lynn's career. He underwent shoulder surgery in 2016 and a reconstruction in 2017 that left three screws in his left shoulder, and the shoulder issues all but curtailed his involvement in 50-over cricket from 2014 to 2017.[8](https://www.cricket.com.au/news/3288030/chris-lynns-summer-of-living-dangerously) • [13](https://www.cricket.com.au/news/3292184/restricted-lynn-batting-with-freedom) In December 2019, as Brisbane Heat captain and aged 29, he declared he would limit himself exclusively to Twenty20 cricket, citing the increasingly convoluted schedule and a desire to keep enjoying the game, and said he did not want to take a state contract spot from a young domestic talent.[4](https://www.cricket.com.au/news/3302944/lynn-declares-oneformat-future-as-bbl-record-looms)
## Off-field
Lynn is a co-founder of PlayBook Coach, a venture connecting local private coaches with aspiring sportspeople across Australia, covering more than 27 sports.[4](https://www.cricket.com.au/news/3302944/lynn-declares-oneformat-future-as-bbl-record-looms) A follower of rugby league and the Brisbane Broncos, he has spoken of mentoring younger Queensland players such as Xavier Bartlett and Matt Kuhnemann.[5](https://www.qrl.com.au/news/2024/03/20/united-in-maroon-chris-lynn/)
## References
1. [Brisbane North Junior Cricket Association Annual Report 2014](https://bnjca.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Annual-Report-2014.pdf)
2. [Chris Lynn player profile, IPL.com](https://www.ipl.com/player/chris-lynn)
3. [Chris Lynn's Records & Stats Info, CricTracker](https://www.crictracker.com/cricket-players/chris-lynn/stats/)
4. [Lynn declares one-format future as BBL record looms, cricket.com.au](https://www.cricket.com.au/news/3302944/lynn-declares-oneformat-future-as-bbl-record-looms)
5. [United in maroon: Chris Lynn, Queensland Rugby League](https://www.qrl.com.au/news/2024/03/20/united-in-maroon-chris-lynn/)
6. [Is it time for KKR to ditch Sunil Narine as an opener?, CricViz via Wisden](https://www.wisden.com/series/indian-premier-league-2020/cricket-news/kkr-to-ditch-sunil-narine-as-an-opener)
7. [Chris Lynn stats, West Indies players](https://www.windiescricket.com/players/chris-lynn-3683/)
8. [Chris Lynn's summer of living dangerously, cricket.com.au](https://www.cricket.com.au/news/3288030/chris-lynns-summer-of-living-dangerously)
9. [Big Bash League live stream: How to watch BBL 15, Tom's Guide](https://www.tomsguide.com/entertainment/sports/watch-big-bash-league-bbl15-live-stream)
10. [Sri Lanka Cricket Annual Report 2023 (Lanka Premier League auction)](https://srilankacricket.lk/storage/2025/03/SLC-Annual-Report-2023-Low-resolution-full-PDF.pdf)
11. [Chris Lynn recent matches, CREX](https://crex.com/player/chris-lynn-4W/matches)
12. [Chris Lynn: Australian cricket's big puzzle, Wisden](https://www.wisden.com/cricket-features/chris-lynn-australian-crickets-big-puzzle)
13. [Restricted Lynn batting with freedom, cricket.com.au](https://www.cricket.com.au/news/3292184/restricted-lynn-batting-with-freedom)
14. [The Lynn thing, The Cricket Monthly](https://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/1134951/the-lynn-thing)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Sports, games, and recreation › Cricket › Cricket people and teams › People › Franchise league players*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Last review: Oct 21, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license