Big Bash League under siege from cashed-up rival league offering huge contracts to star players

Still without a deal for the next BBL tournament but scoring runs for fun in England, Chris Lynn could soon deliver another blow to Australia’s battling T20 competition.

Chris Lynn has always been a main drawcard of the BBL. Picture: Getty Images

Chris Lynn has given a cryptic warning he’s prepared to turn his back on the Big Bash, in the first sign of a player exodus towards a new competition in the UAE.

Arguably the biggest star the BBL has ever had, Lynn was controversially dumped by the Brisbane Heat last month at a time when Cricket Australia is desperate to rejuvenate the competition in time for the next TV rights deal.

The BBL is set to be ambushed by not one but two cashed-up overseas T20 leagues next January, and Lynn could more than double his $200,000 Big Bash wage by defecting to the UAE or South Africa.

Lynn has remained silent since he was sacked by Brisbane and has instead let his bat do the talking – smashing scores of 73, 48, 18, 16, 83, 106 not out, 61 and 0 since arriving in England’s domestic T20 scene.

Chris Lynn has been dominating England’s Vitality Blast.

However, when the official UAE Cricket twitter account posted the announcement of a new league to take place in direct competition to the BBL from January 6 to February 12th next year – Lynn replied with a waving hand emoji.

👋 https://t.co/WHHXtOQTrN

— Chris Lynn (@lynny50) June 7, 2022

It was cryptic enough, but appeared to scream loud and clear to UAE powerbrokers ‘hello, I’m here and available’.

Certainly that’s how it was being received by despairing key figures connected to the BBL.

Broadcasters Channel 7 and Fox Cricket would be filthy if Lynn was to be propping up an overseas league at the same time as the Big Bash, with the threat being posed by South Africa and the UAE threatening to become a crisis for Australian cricket.

The fact there has not been a stampede to Lynn’s door from rival Big Bash clubs since the Heat cut him loose says more about the BBL’s shortcomings than it does about the six-hitting Queenslander who, along with Glenn Maxwell, is an all-time favourite of young kids.

Clubs are more interested in list management, their state systems and culture than breaking the bank to sign big name superstars who will put bums on seats for fans.

Brisbane Heat games have always been among the highest rating for broadcasters – because of Lynn.

Chris Lynn’s BBL career could be over after being axed by Brisbane Heat.

The Heat have done Cricket Australia, broadcasters and the future of the BBL no favours by cutting Lynn adrift, even if they feel they’ll be better off as a club without him.

But even if clubs were prepared to go all out to keep him in Australia, it’s debatable whether they could financially compete anyway, with the UAE league set to offer up to $700,000 to top end superstars for a maximum of five weeks’ work.

Even the South African league is promising big stars $400,000.

Cricket Australia wants to write it into the contracts of centrally contracted players that they must play BBL, but as it stands Pat Cummins, David Warner, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood all are without BBL deals.

If the three 50-over matches against South Africa in January are to be cancelled or moved, you wouldn’t put it beyond the cashed-up millionaires from the UAE to seize on the opening and make an audacious bid for Australia’s top Test stars.

CA has the power to not give players permission to play in overseas leagues, but nonetheless, the presence of rival leagues in January with deeper pockets is ominous for the Australian game.

Cricket Australia would be powerless to stop players like Lynn defecting because he’s not in the state or national system.

WILL AUSSIE STARS CHOOSE $700K PAYDAY OVER BBL?

The Big Bash is being stalked by yet another serious challenger, with a new cashed-up desert league set to offer superstars like David Warner as much as $700,000 for five weeks’ work.

Already facing competition from a new South African tournament launching next January, the BBL window has now been further ambushed by the announcement of an even more daunting United Arab Emirates T20 league to take place between January 6 and February 12.

It’s understood the BBL is set to announce plans for a long-awaited international player draft in the coming weeks, and will look to expedite the draft date to get ahead of the foreign raiders who are armed with deeper pockets and the promise of shorter tournaments.

Originally the BBL’s proposed draft may have been close to the end of the year, but that’s now likely to come forward in a bid to snap up overseas stars before they’ve committed elsewhere.

All of Cricket Australia’s off-season planning has been based on the expectation the BBL would face unprecedented competition this summer, so the UAE announcement is hardly a shock.

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The Perth Scorchers won last year’s BBL title. Picture: Getty Images

CA is determined to be flexible and agile with its plans, and it’s understood meetings were taking place on Tuesday to discuss whether the UAE announcement will require them to tweak their strategies and model for what a draft will look like.

Perhaps the BBL’s biggest advantage at this point is the fact it’s established and should be able to jump in and try and quickly sign players, with South Africa and the UAE still yet to announce specific details about teams and matches.

But the threat being posed by the UAE league is particularly ominous and only accentuates the need for the BBL to prioritise being able to get its own Australian international stars available and playing rather than relying on overseas imports.

It should also be setting off alarm bells at Cricket Australia about the urgency now required in trying to convince Australian opener Warner to come back to the BBL.

Warner has said before due to family reasons he won’t consider playing in T20 franchise leagues other than the IPL until he retires from international cricket, but the fact his name is right at the top of the target list for UAE powerbrokers is a sobering warning for CA administrators about exactly what’s at stake.

Word out of the UAE is that top end superstars like Warner could be offered up to US$500,000 to play, although talk of a $2 million salary cap would put those kind of contracts at a premium.

The concept of Warner playing an overseas T20 competition in January in his twilight years – rather than the Big Bash – would be an unmitigated disaster for a local competition already facing a massive fight to get free-to-air broadcasters revved up for the next TV rights deal.

David Warner playing in the IPL in 2019. Picture: AFP Images

Australian Cricketers Association bosses Todd Greenberg and Shane Watson have publicly supported the ending of Warner’s lifetime leadership ban from all levels of Australian cricket – a major obstacle to him ever playing in the BBL again.

The time has now come for Cricket Australia to get serious about whether it’s prepared to address the issue.

On face value there is some serious power behind the UAE league.

It’s understood the cashed-up Kolkata Knight Riders IPL owners are partners in it and may own a team playing out of Abu Dhabi.

Warner’s IPL team the Delhi Capitals are also interested in purchasing the Dubai team, while Mumbai Indians may also have a franchise in the UAE’s six-team competition.

It’s been reported Manchester United owners the Glazer family have also held talks with the UAE League about potentially owning a team.

Discarded Brisbane Heat star Chris Lynn shapes as another key target for the new leagues in South Africa and the UAE and could double the $200,000 salary he was earning with the Heat – which was the top contract in the BBL.

Cricket Australia has never paid outrageous money for international stars – and are unlikely to start now – but will take on a more pragmatic approach going forward where overseas players will be welcomed to stay for short stints only if they have another earn they want to pick up elsewhere.

The threat posed by South Africa and the UAE will matter much less if CA can somehow orchestrate Australian international Test stars to play the BBL – because that’s who Australian audiences want to tune in for anyway.

Originally published as Big Bash League under siege from cashed-up rival league offering huge contracts to star players