Can professional sport please do away with the sudden death first v fourth semi-final concept? All too often we see the best team for the season suffer an untimely hiccup that writes off their year.
This is most glaring in T20 cricket, where a few good overs can change the course of a game. This year, we saw the top two teams in both the respective men and women’s competitions bow out in sudden death semis.
Melbourne Stars were flawless in all eight round-robin games but all that counted for just a home final and an eventual loss to Hobart Hurricanes.
In the women’s domestic competition the gulf between the undefeated NSW Breakers and eventual finalists ACT Meteors was further pronounced. The Meteors won less than half their regular season fixtures but made the short trip to Sydney to knock off the minor premiers.
While both of the respective fourth-placed teams went on to lose against their higher-ranked opponents at the WACA on Friday, the whole procedure makes for a farcical end to a long season.
This quick-and-easy finale is out of place in this age of professional players, salary caps, pristine venues and sport scientists.
Even in the suburban and country leagues, where each ground has an idiosyncratic feature that a home team can exploit and carb-loading is eating pasta the night before, the two-week finals concept is unfair.
They only survive because, in leagues where participation is priority, a longer final series would rob the regular season of a full round’s match.
Two-week finals are unacceptable in any self-respecting professional league. In its post-season review, Cricket Australia needs to admit its mistake and make improvements for the 2014/15 BBL season.
Michel
Guest
I think the McIntyre final five system is the best finals system there is, but obviously that wouldn't work with BBL. Of course, the McIntyre 4 system could have worked just as well, with the semis being played as a Wednesday double header, the preliminary final on Friday, and the final on Sunday night to finish the BBL season. This would give a big advantage for the team that wins the major semi final, as they wouldn't have to play three times in 5 days.
Ash
Guest
BBL finished with such a fizzer ? huh ??? what are you on about ??? jeez... the 2 semi's had a peak audience of 1.54 million & 1.53m while the final peaked at close to 2 million viewers !!!
Matt F
Roar Guru
Except that you would have had the English team sitting around for a week or so in Australia doing nothing. It's a long enough and expensive enough tour as it is. Swapping the T20I's and the ODI's around might have been better as at least the T20 players wouldn't miss the BBL finals, or even playing the T20I's before the test series.
Brett McKay
Expert
I meant to mention it last week when someone else raised the same idea of playing the finals and the T20Is in that same week...
Don Corleone
Guest
One thing that hasn't been acknowledged is that the Futures League was being played with (close to) Shield-strength teams providing red-ball preparation for South Africa. The T20Is series and the BBL finals should have been swapped around. The end of the BBL would it have felt less drawn-out and it would have been a lot more logical having the domestic finals leading onto an international series.
jameswm
Guest
Well...I guess I hadn't thought of that. Maybe have a max of 2 per team in the National side. Stars (or team with most national reps) could play their semi on the Tuesday, then be released for National team. Its not like they need a rest.
abigail
Guest
Why play under different rules than we would face in the Twenty 20 world cup? Surely it's better to find out which players hold up under pressure and which players crumble. At the moment the Stars supporters are sounding like they should have just been given the title on the basis of finishing top. This is not the first time that they have bombed out in the semis. Any final series, whether football or cricket is designed to give all the teams in the finals a chance of winning otherwise it would be pointless even playing a finals series. The Stars had the advantages of playing at home and playing the fourth ranked side, that should have been sufficient if they played up to their ability.
Francis Curro
Roar Pro
Could not agree more, went on way to long. What the selectors could have done, was squeeze another round of shield matches to prepare for South Africa.
GD66
Guest
Maybe ! Fezz's idea seems ok, and for sure the gap at the end of the comp for the International T20s halted the momentum of what had been an entertaining, bright and breezy tv success story. Many agree the Big Bash went on too long, so the Fezz system is a good alternative, it rewards the home-and-away winner and could be knocked off within a week, therefore also catering for traditionalists baying for a return to the Shield comp to assist in form and selection at first-class level.
LukeC
Roar Rookie
I think the Page-McIntyre system is best for four teams. Top two get a double chance. That is: Week 1 (Stage 1) : Semi Final 1 is 3rd v 4th. SF2 1st v 2nd Week 2: Preliminary Final is SF2 Loser v SF1 Winner Week 3: Grand Final : SF2 Winner v PF Winner That system is the one the VFL/AFL used from 1931 until the 1970s.
LukeC
Roar Rookie
Your maths is correct. I chose to describe the finals system as two-week as it is typically played over two weekends. Perhaps two-stage would have been a better description.
DJW
Guest
Is every Stars fan going to write an article like this?
Brett McKay
Expert
Luke, where are you getting this idea of a two-week Finals series from? The two semis were played on Tues 4 & Wed5 Feb, and the Final on Fri 7 Feb. When I went to school, that was four days...
Brett McKay
Expert
What would've been the reaction though James to the Stars having to play without their 5 or 6 Aust reps? Wouldn't that also compromise the BBL Finals? I've got not problem with your suggestion, and I agree the week off didn't help, but that would be the by-product. You'd be asking the best performed teams of the tournament to play the Finals with weakened teams..
Fezz
Guest
2nd Play 3rd Team in a elimination to play the top team after H & A. Simple
jameswm
Guest
This is where CA stuffed up. The Big Bash finished its round robin one weekend. Australia was playing England in three T20 games the following week, wed, Fri and Sun. It's a very easy fix. Play the semis on Tues and Thurs and the GF on Sat. Having a week off made absolutely no sense. The finals series is fine, but the week off before the semis was the problem. We could have been right back into the Shield by now.
Gr8rWeStr
Guest
" ... the whole procedure makes for a farcical end to a long season" The Stars played 8 games to top the BBL table. The Breakers at least played every other team twice, for 12 games, but stretching it to say 8 or 12 games of T20 is a long season. The BBL finals series was played over only 4 days (Feb 4, 5 & 7) and women's in just 3 days (Feb 5 & 7), so the fact you refer to 'Two-week finals' suggests more of fundamental dislike of the knock out concept rather than specific dislike of the results of this year's domestic T20 competitions. The longer a season is and the more dominant the top team shows itself to be the less fair a sudden death knock out for that team is. The concept actually seems to sit fairly well with a quick-and-easy competition where a few good overs can change the course of the game such as the BBL, and T20 in general.
Pope Paul VII
Guest
Like the Black Knight, Aussies prefer their teams to earn the right to the Holy Grail.
matthew_gently
Guest
It's a curiously Australian thing - the concept of a "league" means nothing. It's all about the Grand Final. I'd like to see a sports code here take the bold step of saying, "No, actually, the team that tops the league takes the glory."
Pope Paul VII
Guest
If you can't beat the 4th place team you don't deserve to win the comp. Anyway what's your alternative?