The Big Bash League is finished for another season, and as usual, my Super Coach strategy of buying lower-priced but high points players didn’t work out.
You’d think after four seasons of trying the same strategy I’d have figured it out by now. It has provided countless hours of entertainment and gives those of us not into TV shows documenting the lives of C-list celebrities stuck in the jungle something to watch.
There are two significant issues with the Big Bash League in the way it currently sits.
The first problem is that the competition goes for too long.
The second is that the BBL does not have the star power that it needs to make the competition great.
Both issues are solved by one with one simple fix: make the competition shorter. Many current players have called for this very thing in the last few weeks.
Reducing the format into just one month, the month of January, allows for continued interest in the competition despite all the other sport going on. The competition is undoubtedly too long.
Once the Australian Open begins, I generally tune out of the BBL, finding the tennis a much more appealing alternative to another two weeks of T20 matches. Hearing two shrieking eels on the court becomes much more appealing than the BBL because I am simply cricket weary.
After the Tests are done with, and the one-day internationals and T20s go behind a paywall, my cricketing interest revolves mostly around the Sheffield Shield and doing my best for my club side.
Pushing the BBL into a month allows for most of the Tests to have uninterrupted airtime.
If Test cricket is supposed to be the pinnacle of the sport, then give it pride of place in the schedule and don’t clutter it with too much cricket.
Cameron Green celebrates after bowling Dawid Malan during day three of the fifth Ashes Test. (Photo by Steve Bell/Getty Images)
With five Tests against the West Indies and South Africa scheduled for next Australian summer, there will be plenty of Test cricket on TV. Young people are the future of the game and giving Test cricket uninterrupted airtime allows for young people full immersion into the game.
Pushing the BBL into a month also allows for Test players to be involved. With the last Test of the summer typically being the Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground, it allows for the Test players to be available for most of the competition rather than possibly getting a couple of matches here and there for their franchise.
If their franchise makes the finals, then they get a few more games. Allowing for Test players to be involved provides young people with the opportunities to further resonate with Test cricket.
When the top 15 players in the country rejoin their sides, every franchise becomes better. Besides, who doesn’t want to see Marnus Labuschagne playing Steve Smith?
Pushing the BBL into a month allows for the host broadcaster to maximise its opportunities around cricket. It provides clear air for the Tests and the BBL, it allows for them to show multiple BBL matches per day, and it allows for any potential disruptions due to COVID to be more manageable.
Plus, it allows the host broadcaster to match the popularity of the Australian Open. Imagine the BBL final up against Roger Federer versus Rafael Nadal? Or Ash Barty? For the record, I think Ash Barty would still win that ratings war.
The Big Bash needs a facelift. It needs the best players playing consistently. It needs a chance to shine, not pigeonholed after a long day of Test cricket.
It needs to stop with the gimmicky rules that really add little to the game and instead just allow cricket to shine.
There will be sixes, fours, and spectacular catches. There will be unbelievable bowling feats and high-scoring games without all the gimmicks. What the Big Bash needs is cricket – pure, unadulterated cricket allowed to stand on its own over a short period of time with the best possible players.
Then, and only then, can we make the BBL great again.
Cari
Roar Rookie
You had it right at the start, an evening out for the whole family also with a game of cricket to watch, then the smell of money attracted the attention of the money men who took it over and promptly ruined it.
Luka
Guest
Once it was lost to free to air tv & covering every game at bang on 7pm what do they expect..
Dwanye
Roar Rookie
Hi Gibbo. Thanks for doing article. I’m not sure any sports board or the broadcaster wants their event running against another sport or broadcasters big rating program. I think C.A. and broadcaster would love the BBL to go even longer, the length of about the AFL and NRL aren’t running. Cheaper and easier then organising a touring international team. They think the money they make from broadcaster is better for game then the current BBL product, viewer satisfaction.
Peter
Roar Rookie
Or better still............ play it in INDIA
Tempo
Roar Rookie
I'm afraid that's simply factually incorrect. Since 2010 we have played overseas during every single September to March window, including often in October and February and occasionally in November and January: - 2010: NZ in Feb/Mar and India in October - 2011: WC in Feb/Mar (India), SL September and SA Oct/Nov - 2012: WI in Mar, Pakistan September, WT20 Sep/Oct - 2013: India in Feb/Mar, England September, India October - 2014: SA in Feb/Mar, WT20 in Mar, Zimbabwe in Sep and Pakistan October - 2015: Home WC but played 1 game in NZ in Feb, England September - 2016: NZ in Jan/Feb, SA Mar, SL September, SA Sep/Oct - 2017: Ind in Feb/Mar, Bang Sep and India in Sep/Oct - 2018: NZ Feb, SA Mar, Pak Oct - 2019: India Feb/Mar, UAE Mar, Eng Sep - 2020: India Jan, SA Feb/Mar, Eng Sep (tour to NZ in March cancelled due to Covid) - 2021: NZ Feb/Mar, WT20 Oct/Nov (tour to SA in Feb/Mar cancelled due to Covid) We rarely tour from November to January, but almost every year has seen Australia playing overseas in September, October, February and March.
Ross
Roar Rookie
We rarely tour anywhere between September and March. T20 World Cups might get in the way in September or October, and we may go to NZ in late Feb, but usually CA gets its way on tours within our season. If the IPL gets back to being playing in April and May there is more clear air.
Big Daddy
Roar Rookie
The fact that there are other T20 domestic comps going on which attract international players also comes into play . We should be targeting southern hemisphere international players as well as trying to get our test on players involved. Some guys from UK and Asia are always regulars but don't seem to play the full quota of matches .
Rob9
Roar Guru
Looks like Chris Cairns read my post...
Tempo
Roar Rookie
Yep, it's good to have ideas out there, but obviously not everything is going to work. As long as improvements are made to ensure higher quality cricket and more public interest then that's the main thing - doesn't have to be perfect (and can never be), but it does need to be better.
Tiger_MBK
Roar Rookie
Personally I love watching the BBL in the evening after a day's test cricket. I think have the two forms run in parallel is fine. The changes I would make: 1) Shorten the season to 4 weeks; 2) Align that window so that the internationals are available for the duration. I hate it when my favourite overseas players disappear during the run to the finals. 4) Top 4 only to the finals, straight to semis.
Gibbo
Roar Pro
ANZCC (Australia and New Zealand Cricket Competition) or something like that? Sounds like the defunct Champions League (which I was always a fan of).
Gibbo
Roar Pro
Tough luck if it runs into other series. If the BBL were shorter, they wouldn't have as many issues with this. CA shouldn't be losing money. Their revenue has never been better in both foot traffic and viewer traffic. COVID was a big impact, yes, and no crowds was hard, but the NRL managed it in arguably worse situations. So, yes, cry poor, but a longer BBL is not the answer.
Gibbo
Roar Pro
Let the cricket advertise itself, hey? Novel idea... :laughing:
Gibbo
Roar Pro
Indeed we just might do that. I'm a fan of international tours beginning in March to give a full round of Shield matches in Feb to allow for preparation time. These days with COVID, they might get one game at most.
Gibbo
Roar Pro
You raise some great points, Tempo. Obviously, for this to work, the Australian calendar needs to be rejigged. I've never been a huge fan of T20s after the Tests anyway as they were played in that interim between the BBL and Shield or even worse, smack bang in the middle of the Shield season. Give space to both the BBL and the Shield, I say, and allow both to shine. If Aussie players can play in the BBL, it'll add some star power. If they can't/won't/want a break, then so be it, and they oughtn't to be criticised for it.
Cadfael
Roar Guru
As it stands BBL is too long. Broadcasters are grumbling that top players aren't available. Test players here tied up with internationals and overseas players often required for international duty during BBL. Sad joke was CA not allowing Smith to play, exactly what the broadcasters complain about. One full round of BBL followed by the finals. BBL to play through January after the last test. No internationals involving Aus to be played over this time so all the test squad is available.
Tempo
Roar Rookie
Does this schedule assume Australia doesn't tour anywhere between September and mid-March, when most other teams have their cricket season? I love the idea of a BBL window post the Sydney test (and have argued for this elsewhere too), but the Australian white ball games will usually need to start immediately after the BBL if we are to fulfil our duties to other cricket boards, and in some cases we may have to tour then. Tours (or World Cups) may also cause Australian players to miss the start of the Shield season, so unlikely to get 3 Shield games in regularly. Though that often happens under the current schedule anyway. I reckon a 10 game season might be a more realistic ask than 8 - CA probably won't want to give up that much revenue. Crowds and ratings were still pretty good in the one season they tried 10 matches.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
These players whingeing about playing too much - even being away from Perth for a few weeks -is extraordinary. Joe Root played 93 days of cricket of all forms last year, about the most of anybody. (Buttler was 73.) Maxwell topped out at about the highest of preset day players at 101 in the 12 months before he had his mental health break. Whereas Allan Border played 183 days in four countries across three continents in 1986 including a full five month county season with Essex (who won), 11 Tests and 21 ODIs plus the Sheffield Shield and tour matches. On a fraction of their salaries. Mark Waugh averaged 146 days annually from 1992-95. Bill Lawry averaged exactly the same number of days as Root -93 - in the early 60s, for almost no money.
Gibbo
Roar Pro
Perhaps it wouldn't, Paul, and thanks for your comment. I have a suspicion, though, that those not battling niggles would come back for a least a few games. I think that playing cricket in a bubble is probably going to be around for awhile yet. Sporting administrators are way too cautious when it comes to COVID (I'll write an article about that someday) in comparison to the way the rest of society (bar WA, and again, there's probably an article there too) is managing it.
Good points
Guest
The school holiday period was the original thinking but as we have seen with the horse racing/Shield level crowds BBL now gets that is clearly a moot point. If you scaled the comp back to the 6 state teams, you concentrate the matches around the weekends. Fri, Sat and Sun. There is nothing else on, it would have the month to itself and you could save the money on building pitches into joints like Docklands and Homebush as well as the extra salaries for that extra 25 players you need to have on staff for the two extra franchises. So, from next Feb 1, BBL will be the state sides, ten matches a piece and a final for the top two sides to be done and dusted by March.