The Bedge wrote:What's the biggest concern with BBL at the moment? Is it the depth of players dropping away? The length of the season? The timing?
For me, the biggest concern is that all domestic cricket goes on standstill whilst it's on. Three years in a row now we have seen questions raised around the test batting performances and/or potential replacements, and those in the wings are either playing BBL or not playing at all, with no red ball cricket for a couple months.
I would like to see Shield cricket still being playing during the test series, and i would be comfortable seeing the BBL transition to a more "amateur" competition - load up with grade cricket talent, top up with a couple of imports, and whoever is not selected for SS matches.
Space out the SS matches so that the players still have an opportunity to participate in BBL as well when games aren't on.
Heck i'd even be happy to see the BBL season run longer if it had to and space out games - maybe start the season during term 3 school holidays, then schedule matches on weekend evenings.
Whatever the setup, we need to have our state players playing red ball during this period.
Sadly its clear the existence of the BBL is to line Cricket Australia's pockets, even at the expense of the national test teams performances.
I get they want the season to be played during the Christmas Holidays as its the biggest opportunity for larger crowds, bigger tv audiences but for mine the BBL season should end the cricket season. Accepting the fact there has to be a place for international T20 and ODI I would love an Australia summer to look something like.
INTERNATIONAL SERIES INT ODI Series- November (5-7 Games all played in 2 weeks)
Test Series- Late November - New Years Test 1st week of January
INT T20 Series- January (5-7 games, one played in each state)
DOMESTIC COMPSDomestic One Day Marsh Cup September - October (all played in one state, each team plays five games & top 2 into a final, forms selection for November ODI's, its not ideal but lets not kids ourselves One Day cricket is the lesser of all 3 formats)
Sheffield Shield- start of October to mid January (Potentially the shield final is played the week after the January New Years Test)
Big Bash Bash- All of February.
Games on every night of the week. (Yes i know this is during school terms but the AFL has shown if you have a product people want they will come whether that's Thursday night or Monday night. Spread evenly each teams ability to have prime Friday/Saturday/Sunday games vs Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday)
By having at the end of the season with no other cricket potentially the big gun Australians will play which will automatically attract crowds through the doors. Even if the Aussie players have a two break from say a INT T20 on January 30 and they join the BBL mid month.
Make the BBL Grand Final the final showpiece of the cricket season.