Shane Warne says Big Bash League should follow lead of The Hundred and have a draft
He was initially a sceptic, but is now a convert to The Hundred in England. And Shane Warne says the Big Bash should follow the lead of the new competition in one key area.
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Shane Warne has urged Big Bash organisers to follow the lead of England’s new Hundred competition and introduce the “chaotic’’ televised draft that tested his nerve.
Warne is coach of the Lord’s-based London Spirit, one of eight teams in the new 100-ball competition which will start next year.
He has just returned from the pressurised but intriguing televised player draft where each team got 100 seconds to make a pick. The Big Bash has no draft with conventional recruiting methods performed under a salary cap.
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The Hundred draft resembled a televised game of chess after being pitched at the young digital generation consumed by fast moving technology.
It contained some surprises such as long-serving T20 champions Chris Gayle and Lasith Malinga being overlooked after overpricing themselves for the five week tournament.
The cocky Gayle had said earlier the competition would not succeed without him.
“The Big Bash should do it every year, not an auction but a draft,’’ Warne said at the launch of Fox Cricket’s domestic summer in Sydney.
“You have slots. Say $150,000 then $125,000 in the Big Bash where the players have to nominate their price. You don’t want to be gone out of the competition so you have to price yourself right.
“I thought it was a great way to do it. The Big Bash should do it and televise it live on Fox Sports.’’
Warne admitted the frantic nature of the draft kept him on edge.
“Three times the pick before us picked the player we were picking next. We were thinking, ‘hang, on who is our next player? What is our team?’
“You would look up and think, ‘how many seconds left?’ It was chaotic but in the end we actually got a very good team together.’’
The Hundred has copped criticism in England but Warne has changed from being sceptical to a supporter.
‘When I first heard of it I thought, ‘we don’t need another form of the game ... what are we doing this for?’ Then I sat down and got the strategic and tactical side of things.
“It sort of took me back to the Indian Premier League in 2008 when no one really knew franchise cricket and it sort of excited me. You can bowl a 10-ball over and five-ball over in the 100. There is a lot of tactics and strategy involved.
“I thought back when T20 started and we thought it was just going to be a gimmick but we just have to give it a chance the 100.’’
Fox Cricket will show every ball of the international and Big Bash summers and have recruited fast bowling great Wasim Akram (Pakistan) and colourful former Test wicketkeeper Ian Smith (New Zealand) for specialist roles in Test series against their nations this summer.
Originally published as Shane Warne says Big Bash League should follow lead of The Hundred and have a draft