Hurricanes to play in consecutive marquee slots but also handed gruelling road trip across country
The Big Bash fixture has been released and Cricket Tasmania chief Dominic Baker has hailed the first edition, which could be altered due to COVID-19, as a huge win for the Hurricanes.
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THE Hobart Hurricanes have landed a pair of prime time slots for this summer’s Big Bash but will also have to contend with another horror road trip in early January.
For the third tournament in a row the Hurricanes will play on Christmas Eve at Blundstone Arena — a showdown against the Melbourne Stars starting at 2.45pm — but they will also feature on New Year’s Eve against the Strikers in Adelaide for the first time in six years.
Cricket Tasmania chief executive Dominic Baker labelled the release of the BBL|10 fixture as “fantastic” for Hobart, which features 11 prime time starts (7.15pm) and 10 matches on free to air television.
The side will play all seven home matches in Tasmania, with the Alice Spring experiment only lasting one year due to COVID-19.
However it will also fly across the country for another three game block in five days in a potentially tournament-defining stretch.
Last year the Hurricanes opened their campaign in Alice Springs, played against the Stars in Moe two days later then returned home for the Christmas Eve clash against the Melbourne Renegades.
This summer they meet the Scorchers in Perth on January 6, head to Geelong for the first time to tackle the Renegades on January 8 and then host the Strikers in Hobart two days later in an afternoon 2.15pm start.
“The fixturing for us looks fantastic, we have 11 prime time games, we play Christmas Eve here which is again a game we have building on being a marquee event,” Baker said.
“Then we have got New Year’s Eve in Adelaide, which is one of the biggest games for the year.
“I think it is really great recognition of what a fantastic team the Hurricanes are to watch and that’s been recognised over the last 12 months.
“There is no doubt it [the Christmas Eve match] is going to take time to build, we have made some inroads over the last couple of years but we need to continue to invest into it as a fixture.”
Launceston will again host two matches at UTAS Stadium, the first against the Scorchers on December 16 and the second against the Brisbane Heat on January 21.
Baker said while the agreement with Cricket Northern Territory — initially a one-plus-one-plus-one deal — will not be fulfilled, he is hopeful of resuming a partnership post coronavirus.
“It is reviewed after every year and it became pretty apparent early this year when we started negotiations around closing off on the second year that financially, it was going to be difficult for the Northern Territory Government to keep the deal.
“It is disappointing from a revenue perspective, we invested a lot of time and energy into that market but we still have close relationships with NT cricket.
“If it hadn’t been for COVID we would still be going to the Strike League this year.”
Cricket Australia expects some fixture movement closer to the start of the BBL due to the uncertain nature of the virus outbreak, with Baker conceding “we are foolish to believe it will be the last version”.
HURRICANES BBL FIXTURE
v Sydney Sixers (SCG) Fri Dec 4
v Melbourne Renegades (Blundstone Arena) Mon Dec 7
v Perth Scorchers (UTAS Stadium) Wed Dec 16
v Sydney Thunder (Sydney Showgrounds) Sun Dec 20
v Melbourne Stars (BA) Thu Dec 24
v Adelaide Strikers (Adelaide Oval) Thu Dec 31
v Sydney Sixers (BA) Sat Jan 2
v Perth Scorchers (Optus Stadium) Wed Jan 6
v Melbourne Renegades (GMHBA Stadiun) Fri Jan 8
v Adelaide Strikers (BA) Sun Jan 10
v Brisbane Heat (Metricon Stadium) Fri Jan 15
v Sydney Thunder (BA) Sun Jan 17
v Brisbane Heat (UTAS) Thu Jan 21
v Melbourne Stars (MCG) Sun Jan 24
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