In a rare moment to reflect amid a BBL whirlwind, Mitch Owen does wonder if his spectacular move up the batting order for Hobart Hurricanes would have eventuated if he had failed in a practice match just days before the season.
The 23-year-old Owen's breakout has helped ignite titleless Hurricanes, long derided as an underachiever, and they sit near the top of the ladder with finals approaching.
Their explosive batting order has clicked with Owen's move to the opener's position, having in previous seasons batted at No. 7 or 8 as a seam bowling allrounder, proving a masterstroke.
He's smashed a century - James Vince being the only other player with a ton this season - and his overall strike-rate of 175 is the highest among batters who have faced more than 80 deliveries.
He's flourishing in the powerplay, but things could have panned out differently if Owen hadn't clubbed 80 runs off 40 balls as an opener in an intra-club match a few days before the season. "That probably helped me a bit," Owen told ESPNcricinfo. "Who knows what what would happened if I got rolled for a duck."
Before this season, Owen had only played 13 BBL matches over four seasons for Hurricanes and batted below big-hitters Matthew Wade, Ben McDermott and Tim David in a powerful but inconsistent batting order.
Owen had shown glimpses of his firepower at the death, intriguing Hurricanes' hierarchy who wanted to find a better way to utilise him. A strapping lad, at 6 foot 5 and 100kg, Owen's an intimidating sight at the crease with his long levers and brute strength able to muscle the ball with ease over the boundary.
Owen was given a heads up in the pre-season of plans being devised. "Be ready, you might be used at the top of the order," Hurricanes assistant coach James Hopes told him.
The bold move didn't phase him. "It's funny because when I've batted at seven or eight in the Sheffield Shield, I feel like I've got to either continue the momentum or swing momentum back, so it's pretty similar in a sense," Owen said. "There was the prospect of facing a new ball that swings a little bit, but I often face the second new ball in the Shield.
"There wasn't much difference in my training. It was just making sure I've got the bases covered and ready to go."
While Owen still batted down the order for Tasmania in the Shield, notably blasting 69 off 60 at the WACA where he hit Western Australia offspinner Corey Rocchiccioli for several massive sixes into the ground's construction site, he opened in the One-Day Cup but to modest success.
Owen remained unsure of his BBL role as the season approached until his fireworks in the practice game seemingly swayed the coaching staff. "You've worked towards this for a while and the opportunity is there," Hurricanes coach Jeff Vaughan told Owen. "Go out there and be confident, take your chance."
Things didn't go to plan in a horror opener for Hurricanes against Melbourne Renegades, bowled out for just 74 on a tricky surface in Geelong. Owen was one of only three batters to reach double figures, clubbing a couple of early boundaries, but he was edgy in his new role and lasted just seven deliveries.
"I felt like my tempo was so high in that game, I just wanted to hit everything for six," he said. "I needed to strip it back a little bit. I told myself that's not the way I need to go about opening the batting. Just play good cricket shots and try to hit the ball cleanly."
After such a disastrous defeat, Hurricanes were under immediate pressure and faced a tough test next up against BBL powerhouse Perth Scorchers in Hobart.
Hurricanes did well restricting Scorchers to 155 for 6 on a flat surface, but the match appeared in the balance with a jittery Hurricanes batting-order fronting up against star quicks Jhye Richardson, Lance Morris and Jason Behrendorff.
In an incredible onslaught, lighting a fuse under Hurricanes' season, Owen flayed the bowling to all parts of the ground to finish unbeaten on 101 from 64 balls, including five monstrous sixes.
"It was very special, had my family and friends in the crowd," he said. "As someone that spent their whole childhood sitting on the hill [at Bellerive Oval] supporting the Hurricanes, it was a dream come true."
Owen suddenly went from relative obscurity to drawcard. While he naturally hasn't reached those dizzying heights since, Owen's growing confidence is evident and so too his ability to hit a ball very high into the sky.
Against Adelaide Strikers, Owen cracked three consecutive sixes off seamer Craig Overton with the middle strike clearing 111m and hitting the roof over long-on.
"I got one away the ball before that and I felt my beans going a little bit," he said. "I just swung a little bit harder and luckily enough got it out of the screws. For me, the most important thing is just keeping my head nice and still and making sure I'm getting myself in a position to use my levers."
Watching Owen bully bowlers, perhaps he can lay claim to being able to hit further than David, Australia's designated finisher in the T20 format.
"Nup, I think he still has the mantle in our team having seen him hit so many shots onto the roof," chuckles Owen. "He's good at sharing his knowledge and I've spoken to him quite a bit about batting and his role, which is so unique.
"But it's funny how simple it is and what it all comes down to - get yourself into position and try to hit the ball cleanly."
Owen has also sought advice from famed hitters Carlos Brathwaite and Colin Munro, his New York Strikers team-mates in last year's T10 tournament in the Cayman Islands. It was his first experience on the overseas franchise circuit with the promise of more to come, possibly this off-season.
While still very early in his career, Owen also looms as a player of interest for Australia's hierarchy. His bowling has not yet been unleashed in this season's BBL, but Owen can hit speeds in the mid-130s kph and his towering height conjures awkward bounce.
As reinforced by his Tasmania team-mate Beau Webster, a seam bowling allrounder is highly coveted in the national set-up.
"I love both batting and bowling, so I feel like I will be an allrounder in my career," he said. "It's about being a little bit more consistent with the ball and just having that trust from the captain and the coaches that I can play a role, which I personally think I can."
His future looks rosy, the possibilities endless for a three-format allrounder, but Owen is remaining focused as he hopes to help end Hurricanes' curse in the BBL.
"It's an unspoken thing [the title], but it would be an absolute honour to win the first title for the Hurricanes," he said. "Hopefully the city can get behind us and I'm just absolutely loving my time out there."