BBL11: Players and coaches reveal changes needed to bring Big Bash League back to life

The fun factor is fading from the BBL, but players and coaches have some bold ideas to revive the competition’s glory days. Have your say.

GOLD COAST, AUSTRALIA – DECEMBER 20: Glenn Maxwell of the Stars reacts during the Big Bash League Match between the Brisbane Heat and the Melbourne Stars at Metricon Stadium on December 20, 2019 in Gold Coast, Australia. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

What would you change about the Big Bash? It is a question cricket fan asks themselves every year.

The seemingly never-ending tournament has lost its sparkle.

Adam Zampa admitted the fun factor is waning for players while the glory days of 80,883 packing the MCG to watch Chris Gayle and Kevin Pietersen go head-to-head in the Melbourne derby feels like a lifetime ago.

Covid killed plans for an overseas player draft for the past two years, but loosening the rigid contract structure to throw open lists and create more player movement is high on Cricket Australia’s idea list.

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Hobart Hurricanes blaster D’Arcy Short wants fielding teams who fall behind the over-rate punished by losing an outfielder to help speed up matches.

The novel time-wasting rule flourished in The Hundred league in England this year as captains attempted to whisk through deliveries to avoid losing catching protection towards the death.

Sluggish teams who were pinged still fielded with 11 players, but had to bring one extra man inside the 30-yard circle, leaving them with a maximum of four players outside the ring.

“If you hadn’t bowled your overs by the cut-off time you had to bring a fielder in. I thought that was a pretty good rule to make the fielders be a bit quicker and get through their overs,” Short told News Corp.

“It happened a few times. Especially as a bowler, to have one more fielder in the ring makes it a bit harder.”

BBL11 SPECIAL: THE BREAKOUT STARS OF SUMMER PROFILED

Several BBL players like that idea, but fear it wouldn’t work in most games … 45 of them, to be exact.

They say that’s because Channel 7 plays a highlight and a 30-second ad at the end of overs, slowing the game down dramatically as players stand idle for 10-15 seconds.

Players are always accused of time-wasting, but they reckon BBL innings in Fox Cricket’s 16 exclusive games run roughly 10 minutes shorter.

The BBL attempted to crack down on time wasters this season by awarding a bowler their own version of a ‘free hit’ if a new batter wasn’t ready to face up in time.

Dawdlers have to stand to the side of the pitch for the next ball, giving the bowler a free delivery at the open stumps.

But with a generous 75 seconds given that hasn’t eventuated, and it’s unlikely it ever will.

The BBL was once the hottest ticket in town as fans embraced cult heroes such as Brad Hogg.

GIMMICKS DECLARED A NO-BALL

Last summer administrators innovated to the extreme.

The Bash Boost, Power Surge and X-Factor were injected in one radical hit to try and light up the league.

The consensus after two summers was that less is more.

Melbourne Stars coach David Hussey wants the Bash Boost – a bonus point awarded for leading after 10 overs – ousted.

The Stars were set a monstrous 214 runs for victory in the season-opener and so they went hell-for-leather at chasing 93 in the first 60 balls against Sydney Sixers.

Instead they were bowled out for 61 in 11.1 overs, the 152-run defeat the largest in history.

“We were a low percentage chance of chasing (214) down, so we deliberately targeted the bash boost,” Hussey told News Corp.

“We fell so short that if I was a viewer on TV I would’ve turned off.

“We thought it was unlikely to get the maximum points, so let’s go after the bash boost.

“Even if we were seven or eight down it doesn’t really matter, so long as we got something out of the game.”

Here's a new umpire's signal - the Power Surge#BBL10

(via: @cricketcomau
)pic.twitter.com/BVsI8TqzaV

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) December 10, 2020

Stars only missed finals by a point so hindsight suggests they made the right call to go all-in on the Bash Boost in big losses against Sixers at the SCG and Perth Scorchers in Geelong.

Melbourne Renegades batsman Aaron Finch had the other two novelties in his sights.

“I think the sub (X-Factor) could be used a little bit differently in terms of the availability of the sub and the timing to use it if that’s something Cricket Australia think is really important,” Finch told News Corp.

“The surge has its advantages, but it’s just not in line with international cricket. I’d like to see it go back to a six-over power play.”

The X-Factor has largely been a no-factor.

It has been activated just 17.8 per cent of times, with both teams pulling the trigger in the same game just once from 118 matches.

X-Factor subs have largely been unused.

Finch’s teammate Josh Lalor is somewhat of a T20 traditionalist, if there’s such a thing.

He wants all three wacky rules substituted out.

“I’d get rid of the power surge in a heartbeat,” Lalor told News Corp.

“I like to get a read on where the game’s going and the fact that at any point they can just throw a bomb in the middle of your plans gives me, not anxiety, but it gives me the shits.

“I don’t like that you can do so well in a game and lose momentum in a heartbeat. I might be different if I was a batter.

“I’d just like to play normal Twenty20 cricket again, without subs and surges and all the other nonsense we brought in last year.

“I watched a bit of the IPL thought, ‘This is refreshing. This is how it used to be played’.”

The Power Surge also warps batter’s statistics. Suddenly, they’ve faced 10 deliveries with an old ball with just two outfielders – totally different to powerplay batting when the ball is new.

Next years MBBL should be 8 rds played on a Fri/Sat/Sun with 1 rd each weekend. T20 WC in October will create a lot of content before BB so lets make each game an event with big build ups/story lines/crowds similar to the winter codes. Would also allow some mid week shield games.

— Joe Burns (@joeburns441) January 12, 2022

SHRINK THE SEASON

Stars skipper Glenn Maxwell said before the season started that it would go for too long and teammate Joe Burns called for 24 games to be sliced off the fixture.

Burns wanted to revert to an eight-round season – which was in place from BBL02-06 – and the former Test opener would play them AFL-style in weekend timeslots, with midweek Sheffield Shield games wedged in between to keep red-ball players sharp during the international summer.

Perth Scorchers dominator Mitchell Marsh requested a different fixture change.

“I’d have Scorchers playing 14 home games next summer. I feel like we’ve played about three home games in the last two years,” Marsh told News Corp.

He has a case. Scorchers are ‘hosting’ multiple BBL finals at Marvel Stadium and could finish the season having played six out of their past 35 games in Perth because of Western Australia’s crazy border restrictions, which is hardly their fault.

Massive crowds are a thing of the past as games struggle to draw 5000 fans.

GIVE DLS METHOD A RINSE

What to bring in? Right now, Sydney Sixers coach Greg Shipperd would want Steve Smith.

But before Cricket Australia’s absurd decision to block Smith from BBL finals, Shipperd wisely called for a reboot of the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method.

“The system is appropriated for one-day cricket, but doesn’t really add up for T20 cricket,” Shipperd told News Corp.

Sixers felt short-changed when they lost to Hobart Hurricanes last month and while they never threatened for victory their run-rate took a bigger hit than perhaps it should have.

The quotient matters – Shipperd’s team finished second to sneak through to The Qualifier on run-rate.

“They (Hurricanes) had two overs of power surge in 18 overs – that’s something like 12 per cent of balls faced in a powerplay situation, and we had one over out of 18.

“So that’s 5.5 per cent. So there’s a disparity there. It might even need to come down to where you have those exact percentages calculated.

“Yes, they like to round things off in overs, but it might be 10 balls because the game swings often on a ball in this format.”

Finch renewed the push for DRS, but said he understood the budget and logistical requirements during Covid.

The BBL is struggling to attract big names such as Chris Gayle and Kevin Pietersen.

BIN THE OUTDATED LAWS

Then there are some of cricket’s antiquated and downright ludicrous rules that continue to cause frustration.

One batsman went to change his gloves at the 12-over mark, but copped a spray from the umpire because apparently that can only occur after overs five and 15.

Hussey was scalded for attempting to quench outfielder Hilton Cartwright’s thirst.

“Being able to have fielders on the boundary have a drink during the game, that’s one rule I’d like to change,” Hussey said.

“It’s utterly ridiculous. Blokes are parched and they can’t get a drink until the 10-over mark. It just doesn’t make any sense.

“I got ‘rissoled’ for saying Hilton wants a drink out on the boundary and the third umpire came over and said you’re not allowed to do that?

“Why? He’s thirsty.”