Big Bash League 2016 Game

[Alethia Tiell]

TheBig Bash League (known as the KFC Big Bash League for sponsorship reasons, often abbreviated to BBL or Big Bash) is an Australian men's professional club Twenty20 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 KFC since its inception. It was in 2016/17 one of the two T20 cricket leagues, alongside the Indian Premier League, to feature amongst the top ten domestic sport leagues in average attendance. The winner of BBL 13 (2023/2024) was the Brisbane Heat, who beat the Sydney Sixers by 54 runs in the final.

Out of the eight teams in the tournament, six have won the title at least once. The Perth Scorchers are the most successful team in the league's short history, having won the title five times including consecutively for two years twice. The Sydney Sixers have won the title three times, including consecutively for two years. The other four teams that have won the title are the Brisbane Heat, with two titles, and the Adelaide Strikers, Melbourne Renegades, and Sydney Thunder with one title each.

Before 2014, the top two teams in the tournament used to qualify for the Champions League Twenty20 tournament, which was an annual international Twenty20 competition played between the top domestic teams from various nations. The Champions League Twenty20 became defunct after its 2014 tournament.[1]

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.[2][3]

It had been proposed that the tournament would undergo expansion into more regional areas not supported by international cricket. The expansion was originally 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, but this is unlikely to happen.[4][5] The expansion proposal was suspended, mainly because the proposed cities lacked the proper cricket hosting facilities.[6][7]

In 2015, former Black Caps captain and Melbourne Stars coach Stephen Fleming suggested the 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.[8] His views were also supported by Brisbane Heat coach and former Black Caps captain Daniel Vettori.[9] 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.[10]

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 have been a first in the history of Australian sport since no professional matches had played in Australia on Christmas Day at that time. "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.[16] This has not yet occurred, but in September 2018, it was reported that Cricket Australia had struck a deal with the Players Association to play BBL matches on Christmas Day.[17][18]

In previous seasons of the tournament, the group stage matches were divided into eight rounds, with four matches played in each round. Each team played six other teams once during a season, and one team twice. This allowed for both Sydney and Melbourne (which have two teams each) to play 2 derbies within a single season.[19] Each team played eight group stage matches, four at home and four away, before the top four ranked teams progressed to the semi-finals.[19] In the 2017/18 Season, the format changed so that there would be 40 group stage matches with each team playing 10 matches before the semi-finals.[20] The season was held over a similar time-frame thus resulting in more doubleheaders (one game afternoon, one game night) and teams playing more regularly.[21]

The 2023-24 season was shortened, with each team played ten regular season matches, playing three teams twice, and four teams once; for a total of 40 regular season games and 4 finals. This was in response to concerns that the 61 game season was too long.[22]

The competition features eight city-based franchises, instead of the six state-based teams which had previously competed in the KFC Twenty20 Big Bash. Each state's capital city features one team, with Sydney and Melbourne featuring two. The team names and colours for all teams were officially announced on 6 April 2011.[26] The Melbourne Derby and Sydney Derby matches are some of the most heavily attended matches during the league and are widely anticipated by the fans.[27] The Scorchers and Sixers have also developed a rivalry between them over the years and their matches attract good crowds and TV ratings.[28]

A single city-based franchise can have a maximum of 19 contracted players for a season, with the squad including a minimum of two rookie contracts and a maximum of six overseas players, although only three international players can play in each match from 2020 to 2021 edition. Each team can also have a maximum of two overseas replacement players, in case the original overseas players get injured or withdraw.[29]

The Sydney Smash is a game between the Sydney based teams, the Sydney Sixers and Sydney Thunder. This rivalry was started in the inaugural season due to both teams being from Sydney and being made up of New South Wales cricket team players. The Sixers have won 16 times to the Thunder's 7 but the game still attracts a large crowd for every game.

The Melbourne Derby takes place between the two Melbourne based teams, the Melbourne Renegades and the Melbourne Stars. This derby is similar in nature to the Sydney Smash as the cores of both teams come from the Victoria cricket team and has been happening since the inaugural season of the competition. In BBL05 the game drew the largest crowd for a Big Bash game with 80,883 fans attending the game at the MCG.[30]

The Scorchers/Sixers rivalry has developed over the competition's 12 seasons due to their unparalleled success. The Scorchers have won the title five times and Sixers have claimed the trophy three times. The Scorchers and the Sixers have both been runners up three times. They've met in the final on five occasions. The Scorchers have won three of those encounters and the Sixers two.[31]

The salary cap was initially $1 million, and increased to $1.05 million for the third season.[42] In February 2015, the salary cap increased to $1.3 million for the fifth season,[29] and to $1.6 million for the sixth season.[43]

Average home crowds for the season are listed below. These figures include finals matches. The figures for the whole season average include the finals.[46][47] Post-Christmas matches have historically been the highest attended period for the League.[48] BBL has provided a platform to create interest in playing cricket among younger children, due to its big hitting, high scoring and entertaining nature of the game.[49]

BBL games are currently broadcast in Australia on free-to-air television by the Seven Network and subscription television by Fox Cricket. The Seven Network broadcasts 45 of 61 Matches including the Finals Series. Fox Cricket televises all 61 Matches including 16 Matches exclusively in 4K.[52]

Here is a list of Big Bash League records. All records are based on statistics at espncricinfo.com.[64] Former Brisbane Heat player and captain Chris Lynn currently holds the record of scoring most runs in the league.[65] The record of taking most wickets in the league belongs to Sean Abbott who currently plays for the Sydney Sixers. He has represented the Sydney Thunder in the past.

Note: League rewards will be distributed once the current League ends. It's important to keep playing and collecting League Points by the end of the week to win a badge and stay at the top of the league. Additionally, you can view your collected and yet-to-collect Badges on the 'My Badges' page.

Leaderboard: You can check your current and previous leaderboard under 'My League' similarly, you can check the global ranking under 'Global League'

Tip: To make sure you stay in the promotion zone and stay at the top of the league, you have to keep playing and collect the league points by the end of the week to win a badge.

With lucrative rival T20 leagues emerging around the world, Australia's Big Bash League has been injected with significant cash in a bid to ward off competitors and lure top overseas talent while retaining local stars.

But the tournament's 12th edition - which had been deemed as pivotal after several down seasons exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic - overcame the loss of those international drawcards because of the presence of a number of high-profile Australian players who rarely get the chance to play in the BBL.

Veteran David Warner, who before late last season hadn't played in the BBL for 10 years, reportedly was paid around AU $80,000 ($55,000) per game. Star batter Steve Smith was similarly well remunerated and seemingly worth every dollar after he stole the show with blistering performances to light a fuse under a suddenly rejuvenated BBL.

Other countries - most notably India whose players are not allowed to compete in any other T20 leagues bar their own - make sure they have dedicated windows for their franchise leagues, but Australia is unlikely to go down that route any time soon given cricket's crammed calendar.

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