With their new television deal signed, sealed and delivered, some of the many questions left to answer are whether or not Cricket Australia (CA) is risking overkill with the expansion of the Big Bash League (BBL) into a full home-and-away series and what this will mean for the other cricket competitions taking place during the summer months.
The popularity of the BBL competition has already resulted in an increased number of matches, from the initial expansion from 31 games in 2011-12 to 35 games in 2012-13 to the further growth to 43 matches last season to give each team five home games.
In its wisdom Cricket Australia has grown the concept to a full home-and-away series, incorporating a total of 59 games which will now span close to two months of the cricketing calendar.
Without knowing just how all of these matches will fit into the calendar that will also have to weave in Test matches against India and Sri Lanka, an ODI series against Sri Lanka and the maligned Sheffield Shield competition, the question must be asked as to how much interest the Australian public has in so much T20 cricket.
The beginning of the BBL each year comes at a good time, usually the week leading up to Christmas when the festive spirit can mix with the exciting blend of the start of a new season.
(AAP Image/Craig Golding)
After a couple of days break it returns in its full glory, giving cricket lovers a feast as they have the Boxing Day and New Year’s Day Tests during the day followed by a surfeit of the flashy BBL matches each evening, including matches on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. It is during this period that cricket rules the airwaves and the conversation at the water cooler.
However, by mid-January it has all become a blur. You begin to forget who played last night’s match, let alone who won. Each game blends into the next in a flurry of French cuts and top edges, of wides and no-ball free hits. If Chris Lynn didn’t produce some ‘Lynnsanity’ or Joffra Archer didn’t destroy stumps at 150 kilometres per hour, then the game becomes forgettable.
While you may have watched every ball from the first two weeks of the tournament, now you find yourself going to bed before the match finishes as you have to work the next day, and the TV networks won’t let the games start at 6.30pm so it can be finished early.
Nothing could stop you from watching every match during the opening weeks of the tournament, but when your partner suggests watching a movie together come mid-January you actually feel thankful to have something different to watch other than a Glenn Maxwell reverse sweep for six. The talk with friends has begun to turn towards the upcoming footy season, and the cricket becomes a sideshow to other conversation.
It doesn’t matter how good the cricket is, because an over-saturation of the game is certain to convince many to start turning off. One full round complemented by two semi-finals and a final felt like the right mix and right length of season. Twice that amount already feels like it is overkill, and we are still eight months away from the start of BBL08.
(AAP Image/Richard Wainwright)
No doubt there will have to be double-headers played during the season on every weekend, but even then it would be difficult to fit the whole competition into less than eight weeks, which just feels too long.
At this length it will compromise both the international and domestic seasons. Certainly the Sheffield Shield, which cannot operate without the domestic players who will be taking part in the BBL, looks as though it will again be forced to have its integrity tarnished by being further placed further down the queue, which isn’t a good sign in trying to produce Test-quality players.
Officials may argue the profits derived from more BBL matches will go towards keeping the Shield alive, but if it is only going to be fought in the months of November and March, it risks being pushed into a dark corner, and the competition that has been the basis of Australia’s dominance over all other nations up until now could be cast into irrelevance, which would not only be a travesty but also lead to a dark future for our national cricket team.
‘Less is more’ is a phrase often used in situations like these, and it appears just as relevant now as it ever has. Whether it is greed or misplaced enthusiasm that has brought us to this point, the BBL expansion could be a turning point for Australian cricket, but not necessarily in the way that Cricket Australia may have envisioned it.
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