IS the Big Bash League heading for another season of being the big bore?
Last season’s edition dragged on and on and was fairly sterile, to be honest.
It is amazing, a format of the game designed to be all-out entertainment just started to feel flat – and Thursday night’s opener between the Hobart Hurricanes and Sydney Sixers didn’t exactly pique the interest this time around either.
Little gimmicks to change the game slightly, such as enforced powerplays and different ways to split points based on where teams are positioned in certain points of the match isn’t a silver bullet to get the interest going.
It is extremely hard to schedule a domestic competition aimed at drawing big names to play in Australia when it is played against international fixtures, particularly when the current timing should attract northern hemisphere-based players to the Australian summer.
But, if those big overseas names don’t come, we rely on Australian players to fill the void. Yet, if the best are gearing up for a Test series, then the talent pool runs a little thin. So, then to make matches exciting you wait for the individual brilliance of the likes of Glenn Maxwell when they are available, but overall something needs to change.
So what is the solution?
Perhaps dropping two sides out is a way forward?
It would be unfair to lose a team from a one-team state so I’d be looking at the duplication of Melbourne and Sydney teams. Condensing the fixture and re-distributing the talent into fewer teams could bring the standard up and give the game a push.
The Big Bash League still does have a spot in the market, but if it wants to escape the jaws of being taxing to even follow, then something has to give.
