Watching Steve Smith’s sparkling century against the Adelaide Strikers midweek at Coffs Harbour would have been gratifying for the Sixers and their fans but, more pertinently, been a relief for Cricket Australia’s management, who found an extra few hundred thousand just to make sure he turned out in the BBL and not one of the competing overseas domestic T20 Leagues.
These tournaments are direct business competitors for each other: they compete for sponsors, media rights and the scarcest of resources – quality cricket players.
Steve Smith made a sparkling century at Coffs Harbour.Credit:Getty
At the end of last BBL season the Sixers were forced to play a couple of the coaching staff in the showcase final when those same CA officials wouldn’t let Smith play at all. Talk about denigrating your own competition in a “shoot your foot off” moment. Now the folly of that decision has faded, but certainly not disappeared, the broadcasters assuaged, Smith calmed but not pacified.
David Warner has similarly big money in his pocket to start the innings at the Thunder. The Smith deal came well after the highly publicised Warner pact and these payments are not counted as a part of the team’s salary cap. Ironically, however, even as the Sixers and Thunder are set to play in the finals, neither of the Test stars will be available as they head to India for the series there.
Usman Khawaja, Travis Head, Alex Carey, Marnus Labuschagne, and Nathan Lyon have also turned their hands to a few BBL matches before departing for India on January 31. The Test players’ onfield contributions to their franchises have been patchy, but simply by taking their place in team line-ups they have added to the interest and calibre of the Bash, which has lost several international players whose contracts in the SA20 (South Africa) and ILT20 (UAE) are far richer than in Australia.
David Warner has brought star power, and fans, back to the BBL.Credit:Getty
Following a non-competitive Test summer, the Bash is garnering encouraging viewing numbers and bums on seats as the competition steams to the business end. The cricket has been very watchable: some close finishes, great fielding, local players emerging as future stars, bowlers getting plenty of wickets to redress the batting bias that turns long-term fans away, plus the occasional Smith or Chris Lynn batting gem.
What has been a revelation for CA officials is that quality batting, bowling and fielding will beat gimmicks every time. Never underestimate the knowledge of the fans, young and not so young, who have had 11 seasons to figure out T20 cricket and, bolstered by the recent World Cup on home shores, are sated by cricket performance rather than face paint and loud music.
Strangely, as BBL12 has shown significant signs of a healthy recovery, BBL13 has been shortlisted. CA has folded, for the time being at least, to the broadcasters, who have their own narrow agendas that don’t include development of domestic players and/or producing more international-calibre performers.
On the back of a great season, surely now is the time to grow the Big Bash.Credit:Getty
The BBL and WBBL have been the first domestic competitions since perhaps the Sheffield Shield in the 1960s to produce positive revenue. State cricket for many years has been funded by the national team – which is fine because without an underlying competition to develop and produce quality players the national team is not competitive on the world stage. The dominoes of broadcast, attendance and merchandise revenue fall when a team is losing.
Australia has some excellent depth in white-ball cricket coming out of the state-based competitions and premier club cricket. Perhaps the opportunity has arrived to spend more time and money on developing those locals through coaching and fixtures rather than relying on mercenary visitors.
There seems little upside for the depth and breadth of Australian cricket by reducing the 14-game BBL season to 10 games. Medium- and long-term strategic creative thinking points to keeping or even expanding franchise T20 cricket. Reactive decision-making is keeping CA one step behind, rather than one step in front, and they disenfranchise the players and clubs if they continue to pay disproportionate sums to a very small number of players. If players want to take exorbitant money to play on foreign fields, CA should not feel compelled to enter bidding wars to retain them; rather they could be spending that money on coaching and development.
BBL management should not be capitulating to these new tournaments; they should be challenging them.
Overseas players think the BBL is the best competition to play in terms of team structure, playing and living environments, even though the dollars are not at the level of the IPL and now the SA20 and ILT20. Having three T20 competitions running simultaneously certainly dilutes the talent pool, even though they are ostensibly domestic competitions, but that reinforces the need to develop within the boundaries and create more local heroes, such as Nathan Ellis, Jordan Silk, Ollie Davies, Sam Harper, Aaron Hardie, Hayden Kerr, Spencer Johnson, et al.
Expansion of the WBBL is a no-brainer. By introducing a team consisting solely of players from associate nations, Pakistan, etc, who have significant social media followers, and a team from Canberra, the WBBL could garner a true global following. Manchester United Football Club is constituted by players of many nations, which brings eyeballs and shirt buyers from all over the planet.
The time is right to think big not shrink. The WBBL has the potential to outstrip the BBL for popularity and revenue, and the BBL has room to grow. The ingredients are available in Australian cricket now. There simply requires a will to make such moves.
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