Why Healy is fond of Cairns’ Big Bash cricket tournament

Australian cricket legend Ian Healy says competitions like the Cairns Cricket Association’s T20 Barrier Reef Big Bash are helping pave the way for a new era of grassroots cricket in the country.

Australian cricket legend Ian Healy says competitions like the Cairns Cricket Association’s T20 Barrier Reef Big Bash are helping pave the way for a new era of grassroots cricket in the country.

The Test great was at Griffiths Park on Saturday night for the inaugural T20 Barrier Reef Big Bash grand final and mingled with the region’s cricket fans through more than two hours of rain delay before witnessing Badgers skipper Jake Roach’s matchwinning 35-off-13 knock.

RELIVE the Barrier Reef Big Bash final here

Australian cricket great Ian Healy shows Barrier Reef Big Bash boss Kevin Maher a video on his phone at the Barrier Reef Big Bash grand final match between the Piccones Badgers and the Twomey Schrieber Thunder was delayed by over two hours due to rain. Picture: Brendan Radke

The Queensland Cricket director and Queensland Country Cricket patron said the tournament was a great concept to help revitalise and strengthen amateur cricket in the region.

“It’s very good for all sorts of cricket,” he said.

“I don’t think our club cricketers at any level know how to play T20 like the pros do, so by having a sole focus on T20 cricket, the players learn to be better.

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The inning which delivered the inaugural T20 Barrier Reef Big Bash title

“I’ve noticed over the last five years in Brisbane Grade Cricket, the Premier Grade cricketers are now playing it more like the pros than they used to.

“We’re all told to watch this (T20) cricket on TV, and yet we don’t play like it.

“These competitions will get us closer to that.”

Healy is a strong advocate for such competitions, having also thrown his support behind a bold new T20 league starting in Brisbane this August that could shake up the Australian cricketing landscape.

Piccones Badgers batsman Jake Roach made 35 runs of 13 balls in the Barrier Reef Big Bash grand final match against the Twomey Schrieber Thunder at Griffiths Park, Manunda. Picture: Brendan Radke

The Brisbane Premier League is the first league to be launched by the Australian Premier League, with hopes the concept can be taken around Australia in the future.

Healy and world renowned commentator Mark Nicholas are among founders of the Indian Premier League-modelled league, which will feature player auctions and include junior teams from the under-12s to the under-19s, as well as an opens team.

The APL and BPL were formed on the back of the immense success of South Africa’s National Premier League, which has resulted in three successful leagues, 25 franchises and more than 2000 players participating in its 11-year history.

Badgers' Angus Warnock. Picture: Brendan Radke

It is hoped the league could provide a pathway to the Big Bash and other T20 leagues for young players, which is not currently on offer.

Healy said the T20 game raised eyebrows when it was first introduced almost 15 years ago, and while it hasn’t won over the Test cricket diehards, it has certainly done its job and deserved its place at all levels.

“I think a lot rested on India initially and how it was going to go,” he said.

“Everyone was looking at India’s first year and the crazy money they offered to players and the money the television broadcasters were spending on it and thinking, ‘would it last?’ — well it’s lasted.

“It’s very sustainable and maintainable and now it’s flowing off to the rest of the world.

“I don’t think it’s won over the traditionalists, but it’s grown new people into cricket and it’s job was to do that.

“You look at any Big Bash game and you’ve now got grandparents being taken to the cricket by their grandchildren and families really loving it, so it’s done a good job.”

Originally published as Why Healy is fond of Cairns’ Big Bash cricket tournament