Big Bash australia
The Big Bash League (BBL, also known as theKFC Big Bash League for sponsorship reasons) is an Australian professionalTwenty20 cricket league, which was established in 2011 by Cricket Australia. The Big Bash League replaced the previous competition, the KFC Twenty20 Big Bash, and features eight city-based franchises instead of the six state teams which had participated previously. The competition has been sponsored by fast food chicken outlet KFCsince its inception.
BBL matches are played in Australia during the summer in the months of December and January. It is now placed sixth in the list of most attended sports leagues in the world with respect to average crowd per match (2015–16 season).[3][4]
Out of the eight teams in the tournament, four have won the title at least once. The Perth Scorchers are the most successful team in the league's short history, winning the title three times including consecutively for two years and have reached the final of the tournament in five of the six seasons. The other three teams which have won the title areSydney Sixers, Brisbane Heat and Sydney Thunder. The current champions are the Perth Scorchers.
Earlier, the top two teams in the tournament used to qualify for the Champions League Twenty20 tournament. It was an annual international Twenty20 competition played between the top domestic teams from various nations. However, the CLT20 has now become defunct from 2015 onwards.[5]
History
Trophy
A design contest was held in 2011 to determine the design of the Big Bash League trophy. The competition was restricted to Australian designers, with the final design, chosen by the public from a field of three, revealed on 13 December 2011.[6][7]
Expansion proposal
It had been proposed that the tournament would undergo expansion into more regional areas not supported by international cricket. The expansion was planned to be implemented in 2012. The proposed teams included: Newcastle, Canberra, Geelong, and Gold Coast. A New Zealand-based team was also mentioned as a possibility which would be based at Auckland or Christchurch.[8][9]Cricket expert Mark Waugh commented on Fox Sports that an expansion could dilute the player pool resulting in a sub-standard league.[citation needed] The expansion proposal was eventually dumped, mainly because the proposed cities lacked the proper cricket hosting facilities.[10][11]
Shane Warne bowling against Sydney Sixers in 2011 at the SCG
In 2015, former Black Caps captain andMelbourne Stars coach Stephen Flemingsuggested expansion of the tournament to include New Zealand teams and become a trans-Tasman competition. He said an expansion into New Zealand would be widely supported by locals.[12] His views were also supported by Brisbane Heat coach and formerBlack Caps captain Daniel Vettori.[13]Melbourne Renegades chief executive Stuart Coventry also stated that he wants Cricket Australia to grant each club a fifth home fixture next season. Coventry said the BBL was ready to expand from 8 to 10 games, and adding matches would further establish the franchises.[14]
In 2016, Anthony Everard, head of the BBL, flagged the league's intentions to approach expansion through a soft launch. He stated the short to medium term goal was to schedule BBL games involving existing franchises in regional markets before likely adding new teams after the 2017/18 season when the current broadcast deal expires. He also indicated the regional markets ofCanberra, Geelong and Gold Coast will likely host games during the soft launch period.[15]On 27 January 2017, Everard announced an extra eight matches would be added to the 2017/18 season and implored each existing franchise to look at new markets when considering where the extra games would be played.[16]
Women's Big Bash League
Former women's Test captain and Head of Brisbane's Centre of Excellence, Belinda Clark, revealed on 19 January 2014 that planning for a women's BBL was in its early stages but could become a reality very soon. She stated that the proposal was being considered due to the huge rise in television ratings in the BBL 03 season and the rise in women's cricketpopularity.[17]
On 19 February 2015, Cricket Australiaannounced that a Women's Big Bash League (WBBL) would commence in the 2015–16 season, with teams aligned to the men's competition. It was announced that the teams would share the names and colours of the existing men's BBL teams, meaning that there would be two teams from Sydney and Melbourne and one team from Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Hobart.[18]
The inaugural Women's Big Bash League was won by the Sydney Thunder (WBBL) against the Sydney Sixers (WBBL). The Sydney Thunder won by 3 wickets.
Christmas Day match
In December 2015, Cricket Australia revealed that they are looking into the possibility of hosting a Christmas Day BBL match in the coming years, possibly after the next season. If the proposal is passed, it would be a first in the history of Australian sport since no professional matches are played in Australia on Christmas Day. "It is something we have just recently started discussing, the possibilities of that. We're talking about playing a Christmas Eve match, we already play Boxing Day," CA's Executive GM (Operations) Mike McKenna said.[19] This has not yet occurred.
Tournament format
Since the inception of the BBL in 2011, the tournament has followed the same format every year except the inaugural season.[20]The first BBL season had 28 group stage matches, before expanding to 32 in the following season.[15]
Currently in the eight team format, each team plays every other team at least once during a season. However, each team is also assigned a particular "rival" with which they play for the second time in the same season. The assigned 'rival' for a team does not change generally in different seasons. Cross-town teams such as Melbourne Renegades andMelbourne Stars have been assigned as "rivals" to each other. This allows BBL to have 2 Melbourne derbies as well as 2 Sydney derbies within a single season.[21]
The group stage matches are divided into 8 rounds, with 4 matches played in each round. Each team plays 8 group stage matches, four at home and four away, before the top 4 ranked teams progress to the Semi Finals. The Final of the tournament is played at the home ground of the highest-ranked team. The only exception to this rule was 2014–15 season when the final was played at a neutral venue (Manuka Oval).[20][22]
Thus, the total number of matches during a season tally up to 35, with 32 group stage matches and 3 knock out matches.[21]
Current teams
Tournament results
Out of the eight teams in the tournament, four have won the title at least once. The Perth Scorchers are the most successful team in the league's history, winning the title three times including consecutively for two seasons in 2013–14 and 2014–15.[27] They are the champions of Big Bash League 2016–17, and they also hold the record for reaching the final of the tournament the most times, doing so consecutively in the first four seasons. In contrast, only one other team has reached the final twice.[28] The other three teams which have won the title are the Sydney Sixers in the inaugural season (2011–12), the Brisbane Heat in the second season (2012–13) and theSydney Thunder in 2015–16.[29][30]
The WACA Ground has hosted the final on four occasions, more than any other venue. In fact, the final of the 2014–15 BBL seasonwould have also been hosted by WACA Ground if it was awarded to the home ground of the highest-ranked team, as in previous seasons. However, Manuka Oval was awarded the rights to host the final of 2014–15 BBL season as a neutral venue.[22]
Team performances
Notes:
- W = Winner; R = Runner-up; SF = Semifinalist
- (x) = End of league games table position
Salary cap and Contracting Period
[[File:Big Bash League Logo.svgBig Bash tweaks player rules smh.com.au. Retrieved on 3 December 2015.</ref> which were played under a salary cap of $1 million.[31][32][33][34][35] In February 2015, BBL salary cap increased to $1.30 million for the fifth season of BBL.[26]
Currently, the salary cap has increased to $1.40 million, an increase of $100,000 compared to previous season. Under the $1.40 million salary cap, a team can sign a total of 18 contracted players consisting of a minimum of 2 rookie contracts and maximum of 2 overseas players. In addition, 2 overseas replacement players can also be signed by a team.[36]
Key dates
The key dates for the sixth season during the contracting period are as follows.[36]
- January 27 – Contracting start date
- January 27 to February 26 – First Trade period (During this period, BBL clubs are allowed to trade contracted players to another club at any stage of their contract)
- July 1 – BBL Round 1 contracting date (At this time, all BBL clubs must have contracted a minimum of 10 players)
- November 14 to November 18 – Second Trade period (During this period, BBL clubs are allowed to trade contracted players to another club at any stage of their contract)
- December 2 – Contracting end date (At this time, all clubs must have completed their 18-player squads, including the Community and Development Rookie contracts)
- December 6 – Supplementary list end date
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