How to improve the Big Bash League
Roar Rookie
By Jason Cave, 13 Jan 2012 Jason Cave is a Roar Rookie
If the Big Bash League wants to grow and expand, looking to become an equivalent to the AFL in cricket terms, then here are some thoughts that should be entertained by Cricket Australia when they sit down at the end of this summer.
The Melbourne Renegades should be transferred to Geelong, where they should have originally been based, so that Victoria can have a Melbourne side and a Geelong side, and a natural division for supporters will form.
Teams should also be created representing the Australian Capital Territory, based in Canberra, and representing the Northern Territory, based in Darwin or Alice Springs.
The ACT and the NT have untapped cricket potential in these areas, and if Cricket Australia doesn’t give them teams in the BBL a lot of good work will be left to go to waste.
The BBL should be made a compact four-week series, starting on January 1. But we could keep the Sheffield Shield going by sending the Shield games to country areas.
All efforts should be made to get a Big Bash League higlights package shown on free-to-air TV (most likely on Channel Nine, or if Nine aren’t interested, then Ten or ONE).
If Cricket Australia don’t take notice of these kind of suggestions, then a lot of work they have made to try to convert young people aged 10-15 to cricket will be wasted. That is one of the key reasons why the BBL was set up in the first place.
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January 13th 2012 @ 7:50am
mela said | January 13th 2012 @ 7:50am | Report comment
Absolutely. australia is he nation of Don bradman. bradman alone, used to attract crowds which stood world record for that time. but now, seeing mcg empty during cricket matches and full during the afl matches is quite disrespectful for the game of cricket. for that reason i had suggest to change the name of mcg to mFg. anyways, BBL is a first step to regain the australian crowds ‘lost’ attention. i hope CA read this article or let this beautiful dying game die.
January 13th 2012 @ 8:24am
formeropenside said | January 13th 2012 @ 8:24am | Report comment
Just take it back to the proper State teams. Add in the ACT, NT and a “Wanderers” team or two if you must. Interesting how the BBL is praised as a success with higher crowds etc, but not a word about all the extra marketing effort pumped in to achieve that.
January 13th 2012 @ 9:03am
Mattay said | January 13th 2012 @ 9:03am | Report comment
The problem though is if the BBL teams revert back to the State teams, then where do the new sides get their players from?
As a redbacks fan, I don’t like the idea of ring-in players from other states representing the Adelaide Strikers, but I understand why it’s necessary. Moreso from a SA perspective though, I wish they’d give SA grade cricket guys a go before recruiting people from interstate grade level.
January 13th 2012 @ 8:28am
Brett McKay said | January 13th 2012 @ 8:28am | Report comment
Jason, how many professional-level cricketers do you think Australia has, if you’re going to play the BBL AND the Sheffield Shield comp concurrently??
January 13th 2012 @ 9:56am
The Bush said | January 13th 2012 @ 9:56am | Report comment
Agreed.
January 13th 2012 @ 9:57am
Jason Cave said | January 13th 2012 @ 9:57am | Report comment
Play the Sheffield Shield games in the country areas like Wagga Wagga or Bendigo. Give the players who are on the fringes of Shield selection (ie at club level-Victoria Premier cricket) the chance to show what they could do in the Sheffield Shield ‘country rounds’. That is, pick players who have been knocking on the door to the Shield side (ie Victoria) an opportunity to finally show not just the Victorian selectors, but most importantly the Australian selectors what they have to offer.
January 13th 2012 @ 10:11am
Brett McKay said | January 13th 2012 @ 10:11am | Report comment
so you’d turn the Shield comp into a 2nd XI comp for the month of the Jan, just for the sake of keeping it going, but keep the top players in the BBL?? I’m sorry Jason, but that’s a pointless idea, and one that only devalues the Shield comp. As it is now, a round of Futures League 4 day games are about to start, and with respect, that’s where the fringe Shield players should be playing..
January 13th 2012 @ 8:42am
sheek said | January 13th 2012 @ 8:42am | Report comment
Brett,
Don’t spoil the euphoria.
CA haven’t announced their plans for BBL teams in Central Coast, Coffs Harbour, Sunshine Coast, Central Qld, North Qld, Darwin, Kimberley-Pilbara, Margaret River, Fleurieu Peninsula, Launceston, Albury-Wadonga, Dubbo, etc ………. yet!
January 13th 2012 @ 8:49am
Brett McKay said | January 13th 2012 @ 8:49am | Report comment
don’t forget Cobar. Can you imagine how good a night at the cricket would be in Margaret River?!?
January 13th 2012 @ 9:44am
Happy Hooker said | January 13th 2012 @ 9:44am | Report comment
Sheek, can’t believe you omitted Wagga Wagga. Its the sporting capital of the nation (apparently).
Serously, though, don’t mind the idea of a Canberra team, but someone will need to spend a truckload to upgrade the lights at Manuka. You’ll note any AFL matches played there are always day time matches.
January 13th 2012 @ 10:05am
Football Fan said | January 13th 2012 @ 10:05am | Report comment
Happy
Forget about the lights – Having a Geelong or Canberra (or Wagga) team lets Fox Sports run triple headers from canberra to sydney to the late Perth game, that might sway some thinking.
January 13th 2012 @ 10:13am
Brett McKay said | January 13th 2012 @ 10:13am | Report comment
Happy, I believe the lights at Manuka will happen and soon, it’ll allow night AFL games as well. ACT Govt funds have been commited, as I understand..
January 13th 2012 @ 10:17am
Football Fan said | January 13th 2012 @ 10:17am | Report comment
Night games at Manuka – everyone better rug up!
January 13th 2012 @ 10:31am
Brett McKay said | January 13th 2012 @ 10:31am | Report comment
it’d still have to warmer than Bellerive at that time of year, Footy!!
January 13th 2012 @ 10:51am
Football Fan said | January 13th 2012 @ 10:51am | Report comment
hehe – I went to preseason games at Football Park in Phillip as a little Football Fan and man, they were cold. Watching the raiders at Bruce Stadium is freeeeezing and that’s in a mostly enclosed bowl so hopefully Manuka’s lights come with some windbreaks!!
January 13th 2012 @ 9:46am
sheek said | January 13th 2012 @ 9:46am | Report comment
Happy Hooker,
My old man was a Wagga boy born & bred, so it is very remiss of me. Okay Wagga Wagga in for Albury-Wodonga.
Oh heck, keep them both…..
January 13th 2012 @ 10:02am
sheek said | January 13th 2012 @ 10:02am | Report comment
Jason,
To reply to your post seriously – assuming the BBL is the ‘real deal’, & not a cynical exercise to exploit short to medium term cash, then at some point rationaisation will have to occur.
I don’t know if we’ll ever see the Sydney Blues or Adelaide Redbacks ever participating in BBL. Separating the state colours & nicknames from BBL kinda makes sense to me. But there has to be rationalisation with the colours & nicknames, all the same.
The city of Sydney colours are traditionally royal blue & gold. The city of Melbourne colours are traditionally blue & red. The city of Brisbane colours are traditionally red & white. Adelaide & Perth I’m not sure.
The colours can generally be found on the city coat of arms/crests. Anyway, this is a good basis for a starting point. As for nicknames, look to the history.
I reckon the eventually proposed 12 teams is spot-on – Sydney x 2, Melbourne x 2, Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane, Hobart, Newcastle, Gold Coast, Canberra & Geelong.
But CA wants to be very, very careful about quick expansion. NT can’t sustain a team into the immediate future. And the BBL must have its own window, separate from Sheffield Shield, for the reasons given by Brett.
But that would mean a 6-8 week window, even allowing for each team (12 of them) to play twice-weekly, plus semis & a final.
Right now I’m thinking someone’s opened Pandora’s box……….
January 13th 2012 @ 10:55am
Vas Venkatramani said | January 13th 2012 @ 10:55am | Report comment
Sheek, this smacks of Cricket Australia and Channel 9 jumping the gun too fast.
This is the first season of the BBL, and is in no way a time to make assumptions either way about its future growth. Speculation is fun, but the scary thing is that News Limited and other uncredible entities seem to actively push this despite the smallish cricket market Australia has.
We might be a geographically large nation, but cricket only captures a certain segment of the population in small pockets of the country. We simply don’t have the infrastructure to support more BBL teams at the present moment, because all we’re doing is setting up certain franchises to fail because they can’t meet their financial constraints.
Personally, I think the BBL has excellent novelty value. But the reason for its creation was to primarily attract new people to cricket. That’s fine, but I think CA are overestimating the will of those fans to come back regularly and identify themselves as proud Sydney Sixers or Melbourne Stars fans.
To do that, you need to start everything from the grassroots. Show these franchises are more than just money-making entities and actually serve the community in some way. That’s what creates long-term support and a structure that will hold teams during tough times.
All I know is as a Cronulla Sharks rugby league fan, if it wasn’t for the set of supporters, the Sharks would have been dead by now. Not that they are doing well, but any support they get is testament to the work they have done and continue to do in the grassroots community in the Sutherland Shire.
If the cashed-up rock stars like Chris Gayle left his Pyrmont mansion long enough to head to the outskirts of Penrith and play games of backyard cricket with the kids there, then the BBL might have a sustainable future.
Right now, all it is materialistic egoism manifested in our beautiful game. That’s why I hate it so much.
January 13th 2012 @ 11:27am
sheek said | January 13th 2012 @ 11:27am | Report comment
Yes Vas – conceited crass commercialism at its worst.
January 13th 2012 @ 11:41am
Football Fan said | January 13th 2012 @ 11:41am | Report comment
I was at the Renegades game last night and there were 15,888 there, I guessed using my old eyes that about 95% of that was kids under 18 and their parents (most of the kids were hitting boom boom sticks together and throwing beach balls but I digress). From that point of view CA would be stoked. People may turn their nose up at 15k as a crowd but at 7pm on a thursday at Docklands I was actually pretty surprised.
I’ve been pretty pessimistic about the BBL but having actually gone to a game I can see how it might keep the kids interested in cricket- however one point that I will make is that the crowd were kinda ‘meh’ about the renegades as a team, it was as though they just wanted to watch a game with Hayden, Afridi, Hodge and so on.
January 13th 2012 @ 11:58am
Gleeso said | January 13th 2012 @ 11:58am | Report comment
Well Sheek and Vas Venkatramani…I tell you what I tell everyone who complains about the BBL…if you don’t like it…no-one’s forcing you to watch it.
A bit of research would have revealed that the Big Bash League teams are already participating in grassroots initiatives. The Sydney Thunder has based accommodation (not Gayle) and training out at Rooty Hill and held a fan day and practice match in Penrith. The Sydney Sixers held a fan day at the SCG and will be holding a community event at Moore Park tomorrow. This is to name a few.
I can’t believe the vitriol (which has rapidly evaporated) that the BBL expansion has generated from some sections of the cricketing fraternity who I feel are happy to see cricket languish on the Australian sporting landscape behind AFL and NRL when the opportunity to seize the moment and establish cricket as the nation’s #1 sport with a truly national competition is upon us.
January 13th 2012 @ 1:51pm
Vas Venkatramani said | January 13th 2012 @ 1:51pm | Report comment
I don’t watch it Gleeso, so thankfully I don’t need to indulge in the frivolity myself.
However, my and other people’s concerns are justifiable when a batsman has no technique to survive a real challenge (Test cricket) when all they need is learn how to swing. That is a skill in itself, but holds no comparison to surviving actual pressure.
I give the BBL five years to exist, because it is commercialism without sentiment. At least the likes of Manchester United and St George-Illawarra have stories of players spilling blood for the badge. All T20 is full of mercenaries that have nothing inspirational to tell.
January 13th 2012 @ 5:19pm
sheek said | January 13th 2012 @ 5:19pm | Report comment
Gleeso,
I read your long tribute to BBL on another thread.
You would be familiar with haggling. You don’t accept the first price you’re given, & you know your first offer won’t be accepted either.
I don’t doubt the success of BBL in this, its first season. But I don’t jump around excitedly at these first-year figures either. It’s a solid start, but let’s wait & see if these figures are sustained in season 2, or 3, or 5.
You’re right – no-one’s forcing me to watch, & I haven’t watched a single T20 game from start to finish in my life. But I can’t avoid watching highlights in the news, or reading it in the sports pages.
But who knows, I might be converted one day, but just not yet. Discretion is often the better part of valour……….
January 13th 2012 @ 9:24pm
Gleeso said | January 13th 2012 @ 9:24pm | Report comment
Vas, as a connoisseur of batting techniques, would you like to discuss David ‘only a T20 player’ Warner’s innings from today?
If you want to see overt commercialism and lack of sentimentality…look no further than your dubious examples.
Manchester United? Are you kidding me? 21 ‘mercenary’ foreigners in a 51 man squad? The BBL’s overseas player ratio pales compared to that. Talk to Brendan McCullum about spilling blood for the badge after having his nose broken by Brett Lee…then again, you didn’t watch that.
When did local boys Fabio and Rafael ever spill blood for the badge? When they took a dive in an attempt to pull a penalty? When they were having a manicure? Have you heard the saying, “how do you confuse a Manchester United fan? Show them a map of Manchester”. It’s the team you have when you don’t have a team…look at the cheap Taiwanese merchandise in Target and Best and Less…where’s the sentiment in that? As for commercialism, I suppose Man Utd is above having kit manufacturers and shirt sponsorships…oh, wait.
Rugby League is a prime example of artificial sentiment. Especially St George –‘Illawarra’ (tagged on for sentiment for the disaffected Steelers fans). I remember back in 1988 when a team called the ‘Broncos’ (how contrived and Amercianised can you get) joined the NSWRL comp…not to mention the ‘Cowboys’ from North Queensland. And the one that takes the cake, the Melbourne Storm, now there is an illegitimate, manufactured franchise if there ever was one. A Queensland feeder team plonked in the middle of a city with absolutely no grassroots interest, support or participation in the sporting code. As for commercialism, how about the visual bombardment of manufacturer sponsorships, chest sponsors, shirt sponsors, back sponsor and sleeve sponsors of rugby league teams.
By citing commercialism and lack of sentiment you’re grasping at straws with your criticism of the BBL and applying unrealistic expectations on a new competition.
Look at it this way, in a couple of years time the BBL you loath will probably be propping-up the unsustainable, unattended Sheffield Shield where batsmen will learn the proper technique you cherish.
January 13th 2012 @ 10:35pm
Vas said | January 13th 2012 @ 10:35pm | Report comment
Most definitely I will discuss David Warner’s innings with you Gleeso, for it was a special knock.
You may be labouring under the delusion that the first cricket Warner ever played was Twenty20. It wasn’t. As someone who played against Warner in youth teams before you or I ever heard of T20, he was always a fine attacking batsman with a good technique. He made his way up the grades at the Eastern Suburbs cricket club with that technique of batsmenship, which he himself admitted had been partially dismantled by his early Twenty20 success.
I won’t deny Twenty20 has had a big impact on him, for no bigger reason than Virender Sehwag telling him he had the attacking game for Test cricket – a good referee for attacking batting if ever there was one.
But once he heard that, he employed the services of Greg Chappell to help him recover skills that were nearly lost to him in his T20 pursuit to blast every delivery – leaving the ball. If you take a look at tonight’s innings, take a look at how he left the ball as well. Don’t just look at the pretty pictures.
As for other sports I mentioned, I’m a Liverpool supporter and a Cronulla fan. I merely used Man Utd and Saints to illustrate I’m not beyond praising rivals for when they do something good.
You telling me people like Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, David Beckham and Wes Brown wouldn’t have bled for their badge? Or from a Liverpool fan’s heart, Steven Gerrard or Jamie Carragher? Sure, football is full of mercenaries now, but what it has that the BBL doesn’t is a worshipping fanbase that knows it walks on hallowed history of people who were passionate about their badge. The BBL will never have that because no player will ever stay in the same T20 team for loyalty when another mob flashes some extra cash their way.
I’m glad McCullum bled for the Heat in the first game of the BBL (yes, I did see it). Now let’s see if he’s back for round 2 next year with the same team, or whether he chooses to bleed for another team that can pay him more.
Maybe I am being unfair on the BBL as it is a new competition. All I know is the marketing gimmicks and trickery undertaken by Cricket Australia could have been used to far better effect to simply spruce up a Sheffield Shield competition that made Australian cricket what it is (incentivising Australia’s international players to play for their states more being one example). Instead, we have a manufactured competition where people are supposed to turn up and show passion based on the mere sight of money.
Thank god some of us haven’t stooped down to that level yet…
January 15th 2012 @ 10:36pm
Gleeso said | January 15th 2012 @ 10:36pm | Report comment
Vas, I personally would love it to be the 30s again. I’d love for there only to be tests and Shield. To watch Bradman, Kippax, Woodfull and Ponsford on the grassy hill with the old Art Deco scoreboard at my back and watch the flags fly above the green iron roofs with their ornate turrets and domed belltowers.
But sadly, some of us have to live in the here and now… in the nasty old real world.
January 13th 2012 @ 12:30pm
Lachlan said | January 13th 2012 @ 12:30pm | Report comment
There’s no doubt that BBL has been a success, since changing from state based teams to city based teams, which means they can further bring in teams from around australia. Now im just going to come out and say that im an Australian Football follower and don’t no much about anything else, but i have taken an interest in the BBL and i travelled from the Central Coast to ANZ Stadium to watch the Sydney Derby and watch a couple of games whenever i could/can. What i’ve heard it has been a success, the ratings were higher than soccer-league, but that’s not hard to beat and crowds were very good. There should be a 3-year plan in place to try and reach 12-team League, start it week earlier and every team play each other once. Im thinking:
Melbourne (MCG)
Melbourne/Geelong (Etihad/Simmonds)
Sydney (ANZ)
Sydney (SCG)
Brisbane (Gabba)
Gold Coast (Metricon)
Adelaide (Adelaide Oval)
Perth (WACA)
Perth (Subiaco)
Hobart/Launceston (Blundstone/Aurora)
Canberra (Manuka)
Darwin (TIO)
Then maybe:
2nd Adelaide
Townsville/Cairns
Newcastle/Central Coast
Stand alone Geelong team.
January 13th 2012 @ 5:02pm
Lachlan said | January 13th 2012 @ 5:02pm | Report comment
then 18-team
2nd Brisbane
and Hobart/Launceston seperate teams.
imagine that. its all abit optimistic.