BBL09: Regular season will be shortened this summer with big guns on agenda as possible recruits
The Big Bash League will officially be 13 days shorter than last season as Big Bash officials make a bold bid to fit into the busy schedules of some of the world’s best players.
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The Big Bash League hopes a shorter season this summer will help make the competition more attractive to international star power.
Responding to fan and player feedback about concerns, the BBL regular season will be shortened by almost two weeks for the 2019-20 competition.
Ahead of Thursday’s launch of this summer’s BBL09 fixtures, it can be revealed Brisbane Heat and Sydney Thunder will kick off the season at the Gabba on December 17.
There will be 56 games across 42 days before the finals - 13 days shorter than last season.
A bonanza of cricket on the Australia Day long weekend, in which the last seven matches will be played over three days, will also be a highlight of the fixtures.
New head of Big Bash Leagues, Alistair Dobson, said attracting international recruits had been one of the considerations in shortening the season.
“That’s been an important part if it in terms of creating a fixture to give our clubs the best chance to go to market with a structure and a season schedule that is as appealing, available and accessible as possible,’’ Dobson said.
“No one that we had in through this process had any objections to the shorter season.
“I think it was an overwhelming feedback primarily from fans but players wanted to.play more cricket in a shorter period and all our key stakeholders were on board with that.”
The home and away season will now finish inside the school holidays on January 27, which had also been a key focus to make the league as attractive as possible to fans.
“We have set out with our fans at the forefront to make Big Bash BBL09 as accessible for mums and dads and families as possible,’’ Dobson said.
“A big part of that was the feedback we had from fans around the duration of the season so we’ve brought the regular season in to finish this year before the end of school holidays.”
The BBL is hoping to generate a major buzz around the league heading into finals with its bumper Australia Day long weekend of cricket.
“It’s an amazing end to the season with a big BBL season behind it coming into the last four or five days of the season and playing seven games in four days leading into the finals is massive,’’ Dobson said.
“I think every team is arguably going to be alive in that last four days and it’s going to be a big end.
“If we can end the season on that kind of hype and crescendo leading into the finals series that we’ve developed that’s a big part of it and having back to back cricket over multiple days is a big part of that.”
Originally published as BBL09: Regular season will be shortened this summer with big guns on agenda as possible recruits