Big Bash season to be played over just four weeks as star players leave early

The Big Bash season was shortened to 10 games per team but the six-week playing window has resulted in a mass exodus before the finals.

The next season of the Big Bash is set to be condensed in to a one-month window and start as late as December 16 in a bid to avoid the star player exodus which will hit three of four teams in this weeks finals.

A reduction to 10-games per team this season, plus four finals, has reduced the playing window to 48 days but hasn’t been enough to stop the exits of internationals from the ladder-leading Brisbane Heat, Sydney Sixers and Perth Scorchers who will turn to local talent for the finals which begin on Friday.

Next summer’s five Test series against India, rather than the six played this summer, will help Big Bash scheduling with a start date nearly two weeks later than this year’s December 7 on the agenda.

The plan is to then try and wrap the competition within a month, before rival T20 leagues in the United Arab Emirates and South Africa, where more lucrative deals are on offer, begin, allowing star players to remain in Australia for longer.

The Sixers have lost English star James Vince . (Photo by James Worsfold/Getty Images)

Reigning champions the Perth Scorchers will lose star Englishman Laurie Evans, who smashed 72 off just 34 balls in Tuesday’s loss to the Sixers including 28 runs off one over, with fellow England star Zac Crawley having already departed.

Scorchers coach Adam Voges conceded it was a battle all the teams in the finals would face.

“Every team is gonna have to fill a hole,” he said, referring to the exodus of international players to other T20 tournaments.

“So, yeah, look, we’ve known that (Evans is leaving) the whole time ... that’s why we’ve brought Marcus Harris in and we’ve got Sam Fanning on the bench as well.

“So, we’ll rely on our local talent, like we have done many times in this tournament.”

The Sixers, who won their way through to a showdown with the Brisbane Heat on the Gold Coast on Friday night with the winner to go straight through to the final, have also said goodbye to another English star, James Vince.

4 6 6 4 4 4

28 off the over and he's brought up his fifty in the process! Unreal hitting from Laurie Evans. #BBL13pic.twitter.com/dvdxt2SdaP

— KFC Big Bash League (@BBL) January 16, 2024

Brisbane too have been hit with a player exodus, losing Sam Billings and big-hitting Colin Munro and coach Wade Seccombe conceded it was now a “daunting task” for his side.

“We’ve had good depth sitting on the bench … so we we’re always preparing for this moment knowing full well that Billings and Munro weren’t going to be here,” he said.

“That’s been very much the language used in conversations with those guys coming through.

“I’m not seeing it as a daunting task. I’m really quite comfortable with the team, we’re going to be putting on the paddock, so I’ve just got to instil the confidence in those players coming in, and they’re the same.”

The Scorchers will have to win the title the hard way, needing to win another three games to lift the trophy, starting with an elimination final against the Adelaide Strikers, and the Big Bash leading run-scorer Matt Short, in Perth on Saturday night.

“It’s a disappointing result, but we know our fate now and we’re back here on Saturday, hopefully with another big crowd and we’ll take on the Strikers,” Voges said.

“(Striker) Matt Short has scored runs against us in both games, so we’ll need to continue our planning with him and make sure that we execute a bit better than what we did tonight, because he’s clearly the best performing player in the competition at the moment and he’ll be a big deciding factor on Saturday.”