The Draft is the perfect pitch on which Big Bash will shine

‘What the BBL has done from day one is have a really clear proposition targeting kids and families,’ says its chief, Alistair Dobson.

BBL general manager Alistair Dobson speaks during the 2023-24 Big Bash League season launch at Sydney’s Moore Park Driving Range last December. Picture: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images for Cricket Australia

I like to use my 11-year-old niece Serena as a yardstick when it comes to what the actual cool kids are into these days. Apart from the fact she makes all my colourful accessories, I’ve been quite taken with how quickly she’s transformed into a hardcore Port Adelaide fan.

Quite something considering her family moved to Adelaide from Sydney only some 18 months ago, and she’d never watched a game of Aussie Rules football before then. Now, Serena can’t get enough of the Power.

She rattles off names and jersey numbers of players, knows what positions they play in, knows how many goals her favourite Charlie Dixon has kicked, and even loves to show off her tipping skills. Port of course are slated to win every week by at least a 500-point margin in her books.

My mission this summer is to get Serena into cricket and try and see if she can adopt the Adelaide Strikers, both in the WBBL and the BBL, with similar gusto and passion. If anything, she fits the bill perfectly for the target audience the Big Bash has always prided itself on in the Australian market.

To quote the BBL head, Alistair Dobson, whom I chatted with this week, “What the BBL has done from day one is have a really clear proposition targeting kids and families and an opportunity for new audiences to connect with the game.”

Along with making the most of the summer school holidays through mid-December to mid-January. What I want to see though is if I can utilise the WBBL/BBL draft this Sunday to introduce some of the players that she can begin to get around, the way she has with Dixon or Zak Butters in the AFL.

For, that’s exactly what Dobson and his team are keen on achieving as well with what will be the third BBL – and second WBBL – draft to be televised.

“There are so many storylines, and that’s an important part of it as well, is not only getting these players onto club lists, but also an opportunity to tell their stories,” like Dobson told me.

It makes sense too. For, like Dobson admits, and as has been clear to me since I began covering cricket in Australia, casual cricket fans in this country do outnumber the real hardcore ones.

So, while there will be a bunch who’ll be right on top of most overseas players that have nominated themselves for Sunday’s Draft, a majority will be getting introduced to them for the first time. Especially when you acknowledge the well-publicised fact the biggest names of the T20 league world don’t necessarily view the BBL as the best avenue to make the most of their much-vaunted skills.

But herein lies an opportunity for the BBL to stand out as it tries to build on the successes of last season, which included a 25 per cent increase in crowds and audiences. Not having the biggest superstars shouldn’t be looked at as a hindrance, for a large portion of those who consume the BBL are not the sorts, anyway, who devour every bit of T20 action they can get from around the world during the off-season or the winter months.

Focus more on those who do come rather than bemoan those who don’t. The decision to allow teams for the first time to pre-sign nominated players before the Draft has worked as well with the likes of Chris Jordan, Colin Munro and Sam Billings committing to the entirety of the season.

These are players who apart from being seasoned pros in the T20 circuit have also become household names in the BBL over the past many years. And also those who are picking the BBL over potentially bigger paydays in the SA T20 and ILT20, which this season will eat into the BBL calendar even more.

That’s one way for the BBL to create its own niche – as the place where stars get made rather than necessarily being like every other league, who build their brand around where the stars like to go. And it goes to even overseas players, whether it’s Jofra Archer and Haris Rauf in the past or even big Paul Walter last season.

The Draft debuted two years ago and while Cricket Australia had managed to attract the likes of Andre Russell and Kieron Pollard to nominate themselves, they weren’t picked up with the teams focusing instead on picking up players who were available for longer, and also fit into their team ethos and strategy a lot better.

It was perhaps a lesson that the BBL has learnt from. And though only a handful of the 600 or so players from around the world who’ve put their name forward will get drafted on Sunday, this will be another chance for the BBL to showcase why it can stand out as being different to the other T20 leagues around the world.

It will be only natural for the BBL draft to be compared in some ways with the IPL Auction, which over the years has become a TV product by itself. A standalone event that attracts massive viewership and a lot of sponsor interest.

But like with the league itself, it’s best perhaps to not make direct comparisons between the BBL and its competition, when you think about the business model and the market that it is trying to get itself over in. Even as the winds of change continue to impact cricket economics around the world, what with private ownership beginning to take hold over domestic cricket in England, starting with The Hundred.

From the outside, the BBL has always seemed like an entity constantly trying to discover its own identity.

“I think we’re more focused on the identity of our competition within the Australian cricket ecosystem and helping to grow the game in Australia, and whether that’s commercially or from a fan and broadcast and athlete perspective, is, is our focus,” as Dobson says.

The Draft on Sunday will be another opportunity for the BBL to grow its reach and do so by sticking to what’s always worked for it. Providing a blend of emerging local talent with a dash of serious even if not always highest-profile overseas stars, garnished with the presence of Australian superstars, whether it’s Glenn Maxwell and Adam Zampa who’ve been pillars of the league or even David Warner landing in a helicopter like he’s Ric Flair.

So, whether I can get my niece to watch the Draft or not, I’m confident that I’ll have Serena in a Strikers jersey come December and swearing by Jordan Buckingham the way she does Willie Rioli week after week.