Does the BBL deserve its own window?

The Australia-England-India T20 tri-series immediately preceding the just-completed world cup certainly seemed to have more context purely because not every team got to play in the final - there's no real history with a lot of limited overs cricket, so each series needs its own internal context, and this is a good way to achieve that.

CA have drawn a line in the sand with ODI s. They are willing to send the team to India and South Africa but now some genius decides to have these against NZ when all interest has long gone. The crowds will tell us who's right.

Depends what you do with it. If you get 4 international players to each team and make sure the best Aussie players are committed to their teams like the IPL then sure. Starc to De Villiers should have its own window. But if your going to continue putting club cricketers against each other then no

So there coming here for ODI s and we're going there for T 20s . What genius did the programming for that. If we keep the season going we can play it as a curtain raiser for Bledisloe Cup.

One point that has not been mentioned is that players need a rest from cricket. Sure cooperate business will squeeze every drop the can out of them, it’s what they do, but we already have almost 12 months of cricket world wide and players need a rest both physically and mentally from the game, also partners, wives and children are alsoin the factor. I feel the top players will go for the money spinner the IPL and leave the rest to the also runs.

I even think that 06/7 series may have been a tri-series with NZ. I notice for next summer, there is a proposal for similar between Aus/NZ and India through January, and I wonder if more of these are a great starting point, adding a little context at the least.

I think if worked in with key aspects such as remaining during school holidays only (quite obvious, I guess), and finishing on or before the Australia Day weekend, the improvement in general fan sentiment will be instant.

Again though, this comes back to the Board killing the golden goose. You mentioned earlier about the games you saw as a young fella in the 90's, but if we go back a few years before that, fans couldn't get enough of one day cricket, so the Board scheduled way too many games including triple headers, etc. This saturation of cricket caused a raft of problems. Players were tired, mentally & physically from so much cricket, many struggled with the transition from red ball to white ball ( just as they do now) and fans got bored with an over supply of games, all of which seemed the same - batting side hits for the first 15 overs, then bores people to sleep for the next 25, then goes hell for leather for the last 10. Exactly the same thing is happening with BBL. People in comments about this article, are complaining about a season that's too long and CA knew that, which is why this year is shorter than last, but people still think it's too long. I agree with your last statement - the majority probably don't care, but again, this is down to poor organisation. I suggest if game one proves to be a classic, things could quickly change though. Hopefully it will be a beauty.

Leave the schedule as it is, but shorten the BBL so it runs wholly in January. Then you can have the test stars playing the bulk of the tournament once the tests are over. Follow the BBL with ODIs and T20Is in Feb. The best time to have the BBL in terms of player availability would be from mid-late Jan until mid-late Feb, after the ODIs. That way you would have most of our national players available and it wouldn't overlap with the BPL or the PSL. Of course, kids would be going back to school half way through the tournament and it would wreak havoc with Shield scheduling.

I think that it could partially help but tbh ODI's have been on the nose with the general public since the end of the WSC. The only reasonably attended matches I can remember since then was when England toured and played a best of five in 2006/07. Without England touring the crowds have been low. I won't say people don't have the attentions spans they once did as Test Cricket is alive and well, but ODI's become increasingly meaningless after WSC was canned. I don't think the public cares anymore if we beat NZ 2-1 or 3-0 in a meaningless series and no amount of dress as a comic book character or discounted tickets will help.

Most test players won't be available for the final as they will be in NZ playing t20s

but a huge part of the reason why is because the previous Board under Sutherland, Peever and co, did it's level best to kill these games off. They only saw the cash cows which were the BBL and the Boxing Day & New Years Day Tests and everything else took a distant back seat. If ODIs were given the same attention as the BBL, ie good advertising, games on free to air, reasonable prices for tickets and schedules that allowed the best players to have a run, I'd suggest the games would be far from boring and plenty would turn up or watch on TV.

"pointless ODI tour to India" I'm assuming it was pointless because it was in India? Seems that whenever Australia travels o/s to play ODI's, they're deemed to be pointless. Although, the comment was made immediately prior to that re this home ODI series v NZ being pointless also. So the sentiment seems to be that all ODI's are pointless, so why bother proposing rescheduling to Oct/Nov at all? (Note: all ODI series are actually 3 matches now and each team plays the same number of series home and away, with results determining either automatic qualification to the World Cup or otherwise the need to play sudden-death matches pre-tornament to qualify, so they're not actually pointless). As to scheduling ODIs in Oct/Nov, perhaps and it's been done a few times recently, but the next to Oct/Nov periods will be taken up by the T20WC (2020 in Australia & 2021 in India) and in 2022 Australia has a four Test tour to India through Oct and early Nov, but does in fact come home for 3xODIs v England in mid Nov. Finally, it's all very well to say Australian players should not play any international cricket during the 5-6 (7?) week BBL window through December/January, however in addition to it being our own summer cricket season, it's also cricket season in S Africa, N Zealand, India and Bangladesh, so it makes things very tight to arrange international scheduling by cutting out a big chunk of time at this time of year, unless one takes an Australian-centric view of international scheduling. Aside from the obvious financial attraction, the IPL does in fact work well as window free of international scheduling because few nations (probably only West Indies and Sri Lanka) play cricket at that time of year.

Without a doubt ODIs are dead and buried in Australia. Terminal at best. The only time it becomes interesting is when the World Cup is on. You've also got ODIs exclusive to Fox Sports which is ludicrous. But admittedly I wasn't watching 50 over cricket before it left Ch 9 anyway.

Selectors to the front of the queue?

Quetzen, here we are going into last round of shield and with NSW looking like getting a home final with test stars available and Qld and Victoria playing each other for the other spot.

No thanks.

On the right track Micko I'd prefer it to run like the revamped Davis Cup and be over in a week.

I'll preface this with saying that ODI's were the main sporting highlight for me as a kid growing up in the 90s. The amazing WSC series of 92/93 and 95/96 were highlights for me. But I have to say that ODI's outside of the World Cup are now boring, for me at least and quite a few of the public it seems. Gone are the days of every player being desperate to be involved in the ODI team, also gone are the days of packed stands at all grounds around Australia. The only local ODI played in the last ten years outside of the WC I can recall is the Faulkner innings. Apart from that it has been small crowds, big scores and large patches of games where nothing meaningful happens as teams skate towards 280+ with ease. I hate the BBL and don't watch a ball so I'm not in favour of that competition holding us hostage for a month, but I have to say ODI's here are almost dead and buried.

I think you're making a lot of assumptions in this piece Andrew. First of all, there are plenty of cricket fans who, like me, have little or no time for the BBL. Your suggestion there is cricket to watch every night is right, but is it good cricket to watch and do all cricket fans want to watch? IMO, this domestic comp isn't a patch on the IPL and the dwindling crowds and reduced numbers of people watching at home are starting to realise this. If the standards remain as they are or even reduce, I'd suggest the BBL could disappear or become a greatly shortened version of the current tournament in the coming years. You also suggest ODIs outside World Cups are boring? Compared to the sub-standard games played in the BBL? Really? I for one am very much looking forward to watching Australia go up against the Black Caps. I completely agree the series timing is rubbish and there's little meaning other than bragging rights, but to watch two high quality international teams go up against each other, should be far better viewing than some domestic slogfest no-one will remember in 6 months time.