David Warner’s Big Bash League return won’t come while he’s still playing for Australia despite the opening batsman claiming star power is more crucial to the competition’s success than rule changes.
Warner has not appeared in the BBL since 2012-13, despite a bid from several franchises to have him appear last summer.
The 34-year-old has traditionally been one of Australia’s busiest cricketers, having been a constant in all three formats.
And while ever that remains, it means the longest absence from the T20 competition of any currently contracted Australian player will continue.
“I have three kids at home and a wife that I owe time to,” Warner said.
“To play all three forms it’s very difficult to do that. I don’t think I will play while playing for Australia still, that’s being honest.
Warner’s decision not to play in this year’s tournament comes after Steve Smith said he wouldn’t back up last year’s appearance.
In Smith’s case, he admitted the fatigue of constant COVID bubbles presented the biggest challenge after enjoying his stint with the Sydney Sixers last summer.
Mitchell Starc will return to the Sixers for the first time since 2014-15, while fellow quicks Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood are yet to confirm their position.
Big Bash boss Alistair Dobson this week welcomed debate over the competition’s new rules, which have included Shane Watson labelling them as “gimmicks”
Among the new rules are the introduction of a point for the team who leads at the 10-over mark, and the use of a substitute after 10 overs in the first innings.
But Warner said what was most crucial was allowing for ways for as many big-name Australian and overseas players to feature.
“There has been a lot of talk about the new rules and the number of games and how long it goes for,” Warner said.
“The most important thing is if you can get the Australian players and best international players coming out to play.
“That will fix the issue with what they are trying to tinker with.
“The rules, I understand the reasons why. Do we need to tinker with it? Personally I don’t think we do. It’s just about getting the right people to play.”
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
When was this time that the Aussie players were playing in the BBL? It never really happened. Players who were fringe players, in and out of the Aussie teams would play some BBL, and players who played only one format for Australia would get some BBL in. But that's the same as now. The times Warner's had BBL contracts he's barely ever actually played any games. He had at least one season where he had a BBL contract with the Thunder and didn't play a single game I'm pretty sure. And prior to that had a season where I think he played the first 2-3 games and that was it for the season. Players who only play one format for Australia often play BBL. Test stars will come in for the second half of the BBL season. ODI stars will play the first half of the BBL and then head off to play ODI's that tend to come in January after the Sydney test, which is generally the last test of the summer. The only thing that's really changed is clubs don't pretend these players are going to play. In the past BBL clubs would sign players like Warner and Smith to contracts and make them the face of the club, even though they never played any matches. These days they've gone away from that, and will only sign these sorts of players to specific stretches of games when the schedule is known and they agree that if not injured, they will play those games. It think the demise of the BBL are overblown. Any new, well marketed, competition like that will get an initial boost that will then eventually settle and they need it to be okay with not expecting that they can keep getting more and more people along all the time, especially not doubling the number of games and still expecting as many people at each game. They probably need to just stop trying to tweak it every year. Be willing to settle in for a bit and not have fans need to try and work out "what's happening this year". It's a good product for families. 3 hours is much more manageable than a whole day at the cricket with kids. The tickets are dramatically cheaper - the whole family in good seats is still less than a single nosebleed seat to international matches. The kids don't know the difference with the players. If they just settle into watching it they just get to know the players who play for their teams and really don't care if that doesn't include players who play for Australia or not. My boys won't sit and watch test cricket with me, and CA put all other Australian matches behind a paywall. So the BBL players are the only ones they are likely to get to know. The biggest single issue was lengthening the season. The original season pretty much fit entirely within the summer holidays, and was short enough that watching BBL basically every night seemed reasonable. But it was such a good thing they got greedy and just wanted more, and that was the problem. To get more money from broadcasters they needed more games to broadcast. Greed, pure and simple, is what's hurt the BBL. If they were content with the good product they had and didn't constantly want to work out how to get more and more money out of it, then it would have been fine.
Gee
Roar Rookie
Not surprising, hopefully he sits out of Australian overseas test tours too.
Cari
Roar Rookie
Has anyone taken a look at the Big Bash crowd? At least half the crowd have a fairly hazy idea of the existing rules of the game let along adding others. Before cooperate business smelt a profit and took over and ruined the format, it was a fun night out for the whole family with a game of cricket thrown in and it worked well the stadiums were more or less full. Yes I know the purists here will not agree but surely there’s plenty of real cricket the whole year round to satisfy them. Personally I wonder how long the Big Bash will last now, the crowd fell off a lot last year and I get the feeling Cricket Australia aren’t really interested.
Marty
Roar Rookie
So is playing for test cricket for Australia, or being a professional cricketer full stop. It’s all a choice, no one is forcing him to do it. Ultimately he’s an employee being paid for his services by an employer, whether that’s CA or an IPL team what’s the difference?
Paul
Roar Guru
The IPL is not a commitment, it's a choice. Ditto with the BBL, only it pays a lot less, hence his decision, I guess
The Bush
Roar Guru
One million for IPL, a few thousand dollars for IPL...
Marty
Roar Rookie
He’s a professional trying to balance his work/family commitments. He takes the best paying jobs while also ensuring that he has time to spend with his family. It’s exactly the same situation faced by many other Australian’s, it just so happens his profession is cricket.
AREH
Roar Guru
Yep and it'd seem the trickiest part given it would need to fall outside the test window - ie. November or mid-late January, but surely within school holiday periods as a non-negotiable. And I think again it comes back to the draining length of the thing
TJ
Guest
Think Warner is spot on. The BBL lost it's shine when the Aussie players stopped playing. If CA want to get more interest in the BBL, they need to find a way to have guys like Smith and Warner playing for most of the tournament.
Jak
Guest
I'm guessing that the IPL and Test cricket pay a whole lot better than the BBL
Paul
Roar Guru
I'm unclear about Warner's stated position. He wants to spend time with his family, which is admirable, but was okay to go to play in the IPL bubble. He now goes into another bubble for the international summer, but not for the the balance of the BBL season? I also guess we'll see if Warner's right about star power overcoming a long schedule
Rob
Guest
Doesn't make any sense for the BBL clubs to do that. If you are playing top dollar for these guys, you want them in the 11 not as 12th or 13th man.
Benjamin Conkey
Editor
I wonder if the BBL's X-Factor rule was brought in for this very reason. Aussie players being able to still 'play' BBL with very little involvement in the game.
Marty
Roar Rookie
Good.
JOHN ALLAN
Guest
Shane Watson would like to introduce a new rule. As the BBL is becoming more like backyard cricket where perhaps you can’t get out first ball, your’e out caught second bounce or over the fence on the full or break a window (you blame your little brother). Hence Watto wants to see the LBW method of dismissal scrapped. His reasoning was that he was never really out that way. Apparently Donald Trump agrees with him!
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
No real surprise here. The BBL doesn't have a big open window for it away from other games like the IPL does. To have the Australian players playing the BBL basically means any little break in the international schedule they are squeezing BBL games into. Which is pretty tough.