For the first time in many years, Australian red-ball players might, at last, have a clear chance to make a comeback in the Big Bash League, with the upcoming season landing right at a sweet spot in their schedule. The Australian side are scheduled to host the Ashes series this year, following which a fortnight-long window is set to open, allowing many Australian players to feature in the league without any scheduling hurdles.
The newly released schedule reveals that the season will kick off on December 14 with a game between the Perth Scorchers and Sydney Sixers. The Ashes, which is set to run between November 21 and January 8, will still be underway at the time the first BBL game of the season begins. But the league is set to end on January 25, which means the Test players could star in the final days of the league, potentially including the finals.
BBL management has had this window circled for some time.
“We earmarked this season from a while back,” Alistair Dobson, head of the BBL leagues, said. “Anything we do around international summer is huge. But then to have a good, clear run of nights available from mid-December through to the end of January, where we can play the BBL every night, is one that adds up to a pretty strong season for us.”
The last few seasons have seen minimal participation from the country’s top Test names. The main reason behind this absence has been their international commitments, especially in Tests, which coincide with the BBL and have forced them to sit out the business end of the competition. This time, they have the opportunity to play in the country’s domestic T20 league. However, their inclusion isn’t entirely guaranteed. Australian players will be coming off a physically demanding Ashes series that will span a month and a half.
“Inevitably, at other times, there are things that don’t allow that, whether it’s different scheduling of Test matches, whether it’s the Australian team having content at the end of the summer, which might restrict potentially the availability of some of our Test players and Australian players. So all those things in the mix this year give us confidence this is as good a year as we’ve had almost ever,” Dobson added.
None of the three main Australian pacers – Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, and Josh Hazlewood – hold BBL contracts at the moment. Cummins and Hazlewood last played a BBL game in the eighth and ninth seasons respectively, while Starc hasn’t featured since 2013. Travis Head and Cameron Green are the other two Australian Test players currently uncontracted in the league.
“It’ll ultimately come down to an individual case by case basis with players of how they’ve gone through the summer and what their recovery is like, and their availability,” Dobson said. “But certainly we see a great opportunity there for a number of them to come and play the back end of the season and through the finals, so hopefully that’s a way to finish off a big season.”
BBL management has ensured each team gets a home game in the final week, so should the international players return to the league, fans will have a chance to see their favourites on their home grounds.
