Usman Khawaja says BBL needs increased salary cap to improve the competition
After a summer where star power has been sparse and crowds waning, Usman Khawaja believes one way to rejuvenate the BBL is to raise the salary cap. Plus all your BBL09 final news and previews here ...
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Usman Khawaja has urged Cricket Australia to open its purse strings and juice up the salary cap in a bid to restore the Big Bash to its former glory.
With crowds again bottoming out during this finals series, some robust questions are confronting administrators for the second straight year over how to rejuvenate the BBL.
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Broadcasters have lamented the fact Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and David Warner have not featured, and are adamant CA must find a way to maximise the involvement of Australia’s biggest Test stars for as much of the competition as possible.
Khawaja can’t see a fix to that conundrum, but does believe the BBL can do more to entice more international box office stars.
AB de Villiers and Dale Steyn made short cameos this summer, but Khawaja says increasing the salary cap will bring more of the biggest names from around the world.
“I think the BBL is a really good package but I think there’s still a lot of improvement to do from all sorts of avenues,” Khawaja said.
“We’ve lost a few players to the Bangladesh Premier League so maybe there is a case to say, ‘it’s a 14-game tournament now, we might need to put the salary cap up a little bit to entice a few more players to come and play in the Big Bash.’
“It’s such a good tournament and a lot of international players want to play in it.
“Cricket Australia is always looking to improve and looking for feedback from players, and we’re always willing to give it.
“It’s still a fairly new tournament in the whole grand scheme of things and they’re still figuring it out. I feel every year it’s getting better.”
Steve Smith and Josh Hazlewood have given the Sydney Sixers and the BBL a timely injection of star power late in the season, but the broadcasters want this to become the norm, rather than the exception.
Khawaja says he knows from personal experience, that the demands of the international cricket calendar are too great to expect all players to want to back-up for the Big Bash.
“It’s very hard. It’s possible but international cricket is still the pinnacle of the game,” he said.
“You have to prioritise that.
“ … Even if there is a gap, it’s very hard for some of these guys who are playing international cricket all the time. From experience, when you get a break, you actually want to take it. Not necessarily play Big Bash during January when you’re playing non-stop international cricket.
“You’re away from home a lot and I can understand guys not wanting to play at this time.”
Khawaja says the BBL’s biggest strength is the fact it has harnessed the hearts and minds of kids across December and January.
The experienced left-hander says that should be celebrated, but called on CA to consider whether matches are in fact finishing too late for their most important audience.
“It’s always going to be hard coming into February when kids go back to school and games starting at 7.40pm,” Khawaja said.
“If anything, maybe bring the games up an hour to make them more friendly for kids who are in school at this time. Especially in finals time.”
LARKIN HAS POINT TO PROVE IN FINAL
Sydney Sixers reject Nick Larkin is relishing the chance to come face-to-face with the team that dumped him in the Big Bash Final at the SCG.
Picked up by Melbourne as an injury replacement last year after he was tossed onto the scrapheap by the Sixers, the NSW batsman delivered the performance of his career to pilot the Stars into the decider.
NSW stalwart Trent Copeland believes Larkin was wrongly pigeonholed as a red ball player, but Larkin’s scintillating unbeaten 83 for the Stars in the grand final qualifier at the MCG showed the Sixers exactly what they’re missing out on as the BBL’s two glamour teams prepare to go to battle.
“At the time, sure (it was frustrating the Sixers didn’t recognise potential), but I’m here now and we’re headed to the final to play them,” said Larkin, who has made three first-class hundreds for NSW.
“It’s just a funny world we live in. There were times where I would have loved to play for them but now I’m loving my time with the Melbourne Stars and I couldn’t be happier being down here with this team.
“I’ve always considered I’ve got a bit more game than maybe other people think. It’s just about getting the opportunity to show it and when you do get the opportunity, actually showing it.
“I don’t think I’m just a red ball player but as a professional athlete you have to go out there and prove it every time.”
In a top order featuring two of the most destructive T20 batsmen in the world Marcus Stoinis and Glenn Maxwell – the unheralded Larkin looked every bit their equal in the pressure-cooker of a knockout grand final qualifier, as he banished the Sydney Thunder from the competition.
Larkin says getting cut by the Sixers was a blessing in disguise.
“It’s a sliding doors moment with cricket, sometimes those things work out in your favour and you make the best of the situation,” he said.
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“The Sixers have a really good roster and my skill set was probably covered up there, so an opportunity popped up here last year for injury. They liked what I did last year and luckily brought me back this season.
“It goes without saying (it was my best BBL performance), I just hung in there through the tough bits and that was the key.”
SIXERS EARNED RIGHT TO HOME DISCOMFORTS
Sydney Sixers captain Moises Henriques has urged Cricket Australia to consider adding a reserve day for future Big Bash finals to avert the risk of the biggest match of the season being washed out by rain.
But Henriques – whose team will be crowned champions if today’s blockbuster game against the Melbourne Stars succumbs to Mother Nature – insists it’s too late to change the rules for this season despite the bleak predictions.
“Going forward into future tournaments, I think that would make a lot of sense to have a reserve day because at the end of a long tournament you don’t want the final match being not played,” he said.
“Having said that, whatever is in the rules for this current tournament is a pretty tough thing to change in the last 48 hours because of a weather forecast in terms of the integrity of the tournament and the competition.
“(You) have to stay true to the rules that are in place but I definitely think that should be something that you look into for next year’s tournament.”
The Sixers’ skipper also dismissed calls to transfer the match to another city, saying the men in magenta had earned the right to play the decider at the Sydney Cricket Ground after defeating the Stars in Melbourne last week to secure hosting rights.
There were widespread complaints when the 2015 BBL final between the Sixers and the Perth Scorchers was shifted to a neutral venue – Canberra’s Manuka – because of a heavy fixture schedule at the major grounds and the pending ODI World Cup.
However, the Sydney Thunder captain Callum Ferguson said he would be in favour of playing the final at a neutral ground if the alternative was not having a match at all.
“You have to get the game played,” he said. “What we don’t want is a title handed over with no game played and just the top side winning it.”
But Henriques disagreed, saying his team had earned the home ground advantage so deserved to keep it.
“If that was something discussed at the start of the tournament then possibly but definitely not 24 hours out from a game when we’ve completely sold out our home ground,” he said.
“What if we wake up there’s no rain – we’ve robbed ourselves of a chance to play in front of our home crowd.
“I just think it could set a dangerous precedent. Who knows what tomorrow is going to look like.”
The prospect of a full 20 overs per side match taking place are slim but it could be reduced, possibly to just five overs a side, turning the game into a free-swinging smashathon between the likes of Henriques and Steve Smith against Melbourne’s monster hitters Marcus Stoinis and Glenn Maxwell.
That would be a cruel way for either side to lose a final but Henriques, one of three survivors from the Sixers team that won the inaugural Big Bash title in 2011, said his team were ready to celebrate no matter whether they win, lose or the game is abandoned.
“We feel like we’ve had a really good season, we’ve played some really good cricket and we’ve had some really good growth with some of our players,” he said.
“We will obviously be trying our best going out into the game bit what happens doesn’t take away from what our players, our coaches and staff have achieved throughout the season.”
Originally published as Usman Khawaja says BBL needs increased salary cap to improve the competition
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