BBL 2024: Australian cricket legend Ricky Ponting fears dilution of talent pool if BBL is expanded into Canberra

Cricket ACT is pushing hard for their own BBL team, but if it means expansion, Ricky Ponting isn’t keen. He tells BEN HORNE the talent pool is already stretched as it is.

Talk of expanding the Big Bash has been shot down by Ricky Ponting, who is adamant there is not enough talent to add a new team to the competition.

The Channel 7 commentator and Hobart Hurricanes adviser is perhaps the greatest voice of authority the BBL has ever had, and when he talks, Cricket Australia listens.

Cricket ACT has made a bold bid for a Canberra team to enter an expanded Big Bash, but Ponting believes increasing from eight clubs would be detrimental to a competition which has only just resurrected itself in the past two seasons.

“I must admit, I’m not a big one on expanding it. I just think it starts diluting the player pool a bit too much,” Ponting told this masthead.

Ricky Ponting is a Hobart Hurricanes adviser and perhaps the greatest voice of authority the BBL has ever had. Picture: Graham Denholm/Getty Images

“I think there are a few teams now that are probably a bit thinner with personnel than others and then you bring another team in, you’re looking at another 18 or 20 players.

“Right now, quality wise, they’re not easy to find.

“I would put my hand up and say, no, I’m not for the expansion right now. Just because I think we would struggle to put out another really good quality Big Bash team.”

Expansion would be difficult to envisage at least in the short term because Cricket Australia only last year signed a seven-year agreement with broadcasters Fox Sports and Channel 7 and agreed to reduce the number of matches.

Broadcasters would struggle to see value in expansion when they were actively campaigning for a more condensed tournament, which has delivered great results for them this year.

What Fox and Seven would be keen on is a concentrated effort from head office to try and rejuvenate the struggling Sydney Thunder and Melbourne franchises.

The Sydney and Melbourne TV markets are enormous and the struggles of the Thunder, Stars and Renegades are stopping the competition from reaching its full potential in terms of viewership.

The Brisbane Heat won the recent BBL final in Sydney. Picture: Matt King/Getty Images

Expanding to a region like the ACT is not going to necessarily add to the viewership of the game from a TV perspective – although it would have appeal from a grassroots perspective.

Ponting said during the competition he would see merit in relocating the Thunder to Canberra, because he believes Manuka Oval is a superior venue to the Sydney Showgrounds, which has continued to serve up substandard pitches.

There are others who believe the Renegades could also benefit from relocating to Geelong as a means of giving them a distinct geographical identity from the Melbourne Stars.

Ponting said improving the quality of venues has to be a priority for the competition.

“I was pretty vocal a couple of weeks ago, talking about the Sydney Thunder and the venue that they play at. The wicket that we’ve seen out there on a few occasions, the last few seasons probably hasn’t quite been up to the standard that you’d expect,” Ponting said.

“And to be fair, even the Marvel Stadium (Renegades home ground) wicket this year probably wasn’t what the players would have preferred to have played on, either.

The Sydney Thunder have rejected calls to permanently relocate to Manuka Oval in Canberra. Picture: Matt King/Getty Images

“Both of those teams (Thunder and Renegades) have won the BBL at different times, so it’s not like they’ve been basket cases the whole time. But, the venues is a big thing for me.

“The players want to know what surface they’re going to bat on when they rock up for a certain game. So that would be the big thing for me.

“Whenever they’ve (The Thunder) gone to Canberra; one, they love playing in Canberra. Two; the wickets are always really good down there and the crowds seem to really get behind them when they’ve been there.

“That was a logical one for me.”

The Sydney Thunder have rejected any suggestion they would relocate to Canberra but are open to more matches in the Nation’s Capital.

Originally published as BBL 2024: Australian cricket legend Ricky Ponting fears dilution of talent pool if BBL is expanded into Canberra