Big Bash League more smash than crash

 
Mark Young Roar Guru

By , 31 Jan 2012 Mark Young is a Roar Guru

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I was so certain that the Big Bash League was going to be a massive flop, I tried to bet money on its inevitable failure. To my astonishment, it has been the big hit of Summer.

It is time to reflect on what Cricket Australia did right and why I was so very very wrong!

The moment I heard that Cricket Australia had planned to bail on having the state teams play an end of season, T20 competition, and instead have a brace of new teams with ‘funky’ names and ‘vibrant’ (read: silly) colours, I groaned with disappointment.

As it drew closer and word got out that the teams would have a mix of local and interstate players in addition to old timers such as Shane Warne and Stuart MacGill, my disappointment turned to derision, and I knew that this silly competition would flop harder than Mark Riddell in a kiddy pool.

Looking back, the only disappointment was the crowds at the first two games. From that point on, the crowds were huge, TV audiences enormous and the whole competition became a massive talking point of summer sport.

Cricket Australia should take a bow for this outcome, they nailed it in many respects.

The games were priced to get the crowds in and they made sure there was abundant promotion. Certainly for the Sydney Thunder that played at ANZ Stadium near where I work, there were ads each day in the Sydney Tabloid and free tickets with any big purchase at the local shopping centre at Rhodes.

It also managed to tap in to a great market niche, ‘PEBKOH’s! Or Parents Exasperated with Bored Kids on Holidays.

January is a rather long month for parents with school kids and taking them to a Big Bash League game is a great option. It doesn’t require a day in the sun, promises plenty of scoring and action and provides a safe atmosphere without too much swearing, abuse and drunkenness.

The competition also benefited enormously from the enthusiastic and very generous support in the media. This was hardly surprising in News Limited publications, which were very keen to get a product to stop League, Union and AFL fans switching their service off in the off-season.

The big difference in media coverage for the Big Bash compared to other Pay TV sports such as the A-League and Super Rugby was the boots and all approach from the ABC.

The national broadcaster made the decision to broadcast numerous games across the country on ABC local radio, and the Grandstand cricket team spoke about the competition every day during the Test match coverage.

This sort of enthusiastic advocacy with a huge audience gave the new competition, enormous exposure and legitimacy – it was the sort of media coverage which football fans can only dream of.

There was also the novelty of seeing former champions such as Warne and Brett Lee running around. To put a little perspective to this, Big Bash Headline act Shane Warne played his first Test match for Australia in 1992 when David Warner was in kindergarten at Matraville Public School.

Indeed Shane was even good enough to hit a cyclist with his car and then complain about it on Twitter to keep people talking about him and the BBL. (Maybe Harry Kewell should punch a slow orderer at McDonalds to get some football publicity?)

However, I think that the biggest factor in favour of the Big Bash League, is that T20 cricket is a damn good sport. It is long enough to enable a good competition and rewards good batting and bowling.

It may not have the stately majesty of Test cricket or the full day of play featured in ODIs but let’s remember, our American cousins have a summer sport about the same in time and scope as T20 and they treat it with a reverence, just short of religious.

Every criticism of T20 has been based on comparisons to other forms of cricket. I think that when you judge it on its own merits, it stands strong as a great game.

There are challenges ahead for Cricket Australia. I am surely not the only person disappointed or bemused by David Warner being in every pre-competition ad, only to get the solitary innings thanks to international duties (mind you, what an innings it was!).

Similarly, the timing of the expansion into new territories is fraught with danger.

I would like to see the competition in a three-week window with a couple of games each day. This small window could eventually be quarantined to ensure all the stars feature.

The load of cricket should not be an issue. Next month in Abu Dhabi, there is the ICC World T20 qualifying competition which features 72 matches in 12 days! Every team plays every day.

Surely the BBL teams can play every second day, allowing for travel around the country.

So well done Cricket Australia, for a great competition! I thought it was going to be an embarrassing dud and couldn’t have been more mistaken. Job well done!

(P.S. Still can’t stand the silly names and colours though!)

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