BBL 2021-21: Big Bash fury as quarantine restrictions have teams on edge about Perth

Privately seething about being forced to fly to Perth on Christmas Day and then face hotel quarantine has one Big Bash team calling out Cricket Australia’s stance as contradictory.

Big Bash League clubs want Cricket Australia to cancel their trips to Perth as unhappy Melbourne Renegades players face the prospect of spending Christmas Day isolating in hotel quarantine so they can complete a 14-hour feast of live action on Boxing Day.

Channel 7 and Fox Cricket will broadcast a double-header following the opening day of the MCG Test and the Perth fixture is ideal to fulfil the 9.15pm AEDT timeslot because of the three-hour time difference.

Rolling the Boxing Day Test (10.30am start) into the ‘Sydney Smash’ between Sixers-Thunder (6.05pm) and Scorchers-Renegades (9.15pm) would see cricket fans glued to their TVs for 14 consecutive hours of live action.

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But the Renegades are privately filthy that they are expected to fly out on Christmas Day, which would see them land in Perth and be escorted to their individual hotel rooms, where they would remain locked in until heading to Optus Stadium for the clash against the Scorchers the following night.

They are slated to fly back to Melbourne on December 27 and would only be allowed out of their hotel rooms to play the match.

Renegade players Cameron Boyce and Mackenzie Harvey.

Coach David Saker told News Corp it would be hypocritical of CA to force BBL clubs to play in Perth if the Test team doesn’t have to.

“If they’re not taking a Test match there it makes no sense they’d take a Big Bash game there,” Saker said.

“So if they do that it’s pretty contradictory.

“But it sometimes comes down to the TV and the sponsorship — they’ve got to get a game in at that timeslot — so it just makes sense to play it in Perth.

“But if the Test team isn’t going there how can they force a Big Bash team (to go) there?”

Perth is all but certain to lose the fifth Ashes Test in coming days due to Western Australian premier Mark McGowan’s hard line border stance and ultra-strict quarantine conditions.

Saker said the Renegades would “play anywhere, anytime” — a mantra made famous by AFL coach Ross Lyon.

Moises Henriques of the Sydney Sixers and Chris Green of the Sydney Thunder will clash in the Sydney Smash on Boxing Day.

But for some players the Christmas trip would be a significant sacrifice.

Superstar batsman Aaron Finch became a father for the first time in September and would have to miss his first Christmas with wife Amy and their baby girl Esther to take on Perth Scorchers.

Teammates James Pattinson and Mackenzie Harvey also have young children while fill-in captain Kane Richardson forfeited his $800,000 IPL contract to be in Australia for the birth of his son last year.

“As you get older Christmas is not as important, but if you’ve got kids you want to be around your kids,” Saker, 55, said.

CA’s official line is that the Boxing Day game in Perth is on until it’s not on and officials are still working through the details.

Scorchers have home games against Brisbane Heat (December 8) and Hobart Hurricanes (December 20) locked in, with the travelling sides set for short stints in hotel quarantine, but there is a chance the Scorchers will be based in Adelaide for part of the season.

Sydney Sixers spinner Steve O’Keefe didn’t hold back recently when was asked about the prospect of playing in Perth.

“I do not want to go to Perth. I don’t like Mark McGowan. I hate playing at Optus, we never do well,” O’Keefe said.

“I hate that plane flight. Maybe we just give Perth the two points, stay at home and enjoy a week at home.

“He (McGowan) doesn’t want us there.”

Originally published as BBL 2021-21: Big Bash fury as quarantine restrictions have teams on edge about Perth