Big Bash League Mid-Series Review

Adrian Meredith January 14, 2012 0

Big Bash League Mid-Series Review

The Australian Big Bash League is heading towards its final phase and Adrian Meredith has a set of observations and suggestions for the event organizers.

Team by team, this is my impression for how they have gone.

Perth Scorchers picked two recently retired internationals, both T20 specialists, in Paul Collingwood from England and Herschelle Gibbs from South Africa, which meant that both were available for all matches and weren’t distracted. Both did fairly well too, being two of the better international choices amongst the picks, with Gibbs in particular having a number of match winning efforts. They managed to lure Simon Katich back to his home state while Brad Hogg came out of retirement to play, and was servicable though without too much impact. Mitchell Marsh continued to show his ability and it has been a very well rounded effort so far. They really seem to have understood the format better than both and this has eventually resulted in them being top of the table heading into the last round of preliminaries.

Hobart Hurricanes have once again picked up discarded Pakistan player Rana Naved ul-Hasan, who once again did a fantastic job. They also picked up Owais Shah from England, who has also been discarded. Tasmania has been doing well in all 3 domestic formats and the Big Bash League was no different with the spin twins of Xavier Doherty and Jason Krezja again having a major impact, while the hitting skills of Travis Birt and Mark Cosgrove again show that surely they are not far from international honours. They also picked up test discard Phil Jaques and Matt Johnston from other states, both of whom had some impact. Their bowling was the best of the lot and they were able to defend almost anything, with big margins of victory and were unbeatable in their first 4 rounds, then surprisingly lost their first match to Brisbane Heat, giving Brisbane their first victory of the tournament and then gave a lifeline to Melbourne Stars the next round, and have now lost top spot! They still look a very good team and have performed very well but the question is whether they are on the slide or are saving themselves for the finals.

Sydney Sixers have somewhat surprisingly made the finals, in spite of their international picks Dwayne Bravo and Michael Lumb not having a very big impact. Somewhat surprisingly, the retiree Stuart MacGill had a major impact and was the most impressive of the 4 retirees – even doing better than Shane Warne! Steve O’Keefe and Steve Smith were again influential but really this team was all about scraping together wins. Brett Lee adds something to the team and while most had thought that Sydney Thunder would be the Sydney team there, as it turns out it is the less fancied Sixers that have made it to the finals.

Melbourne Stars started off very badly, losing 3 of their first 4, before winning their last 2 in a row to now be sitting in 4th, needing just to win their last match – or lose it narrowly (depending on other matches) to make it to the finals. This team seems to be trying to repeat the recipe of the IPL’s Mumbai Indians by relying on local stars and having international nobodies. They sure picked a nobody in Jade Dernbach, whose performances have been so ordinary that he has been dumped from the 11 for the last 2 matches, resulting in victories! Luke Wright has done well though, so at least they have had 1 decent international signing. They also have a “professional captain” in Cameron White, who many believe to be the best captain in Australia, though his performances with the bat are less than inspiring! Luckily, this team features David Hussey, one of the greatest T20 batsmen in the world, to support a solid batting line up also featuring the likes of Adam Voges, George Bailey, Robert Quiney, Chris Simpson and wicket keeper Matthew Wade, who is generally regarded as the best keeper in the country. It also has a fearsome fast bowling unit, with Shane Warne and Clint McKay leading the way but also they feature promising Tasmanian all-rounder James Faukner. This really is a team of the best of the best of Australian talent, though not necessarily from Melbourne or even Victoria and relies a lot on skill and tact. Losing Dernbach has made a big difference to the team. Having White come back to form could see them go all the way. They are still yet to really knit as a team though but if they can get past Adelaide to win their final match and qualify for the finals, they could really start to gel and be a real danger for the other teams.

Adelaide Strikers features T20 specialist Johan Botha and originally Keiron Pollard though he has since been replaced by Alfonso Thomas, giving this side a decidedly South African feel. They have both done well, while Pollard most likely would have been up and down, and may have been better choices anyway. Other than those two, the side features a number of South Australians who helped them to win the competition last year, including Aiden Blizzard, Daniel Harris, Michael Klinger, Lee Carseldine and they also managed a coup by getting Holland’s second best player Tom Cooper to be considered to be a local, thus meaning that they can play 3 international players (or 4 if you count Keiron Pollard). Unfortunately, they have slid just outside of the top 4 at the wrong end of the season and need something special to not only beat Melbourne Stars but by enough to qualify. A tight win won’t be enough – it has to be a big win. Luckily they will know just how much they need to win by as it is the last match of the preliminaries. Calculators ready!

Brisbane Heat have managed to get Brendan McCullum and T20 specialist Roelof van der Merwe but after McCullum’s unavailability have managed to replace him by someone even better in Daniel Vettori. They have also snared the services of retiree Matthew Hayden and all of these recruits have done well. Daniel Christian was somewhat of a surprise recruit, coming from his home in South Australia, while Peter Forrest, a decidedly fringe player from New South Wales, was the shock choice as captain. They also feature probably Australia’s second best keeper in Chris Hartleyi. Unfortunately, the rest of the team’s performances have been pretty poor and they have relied too heavily on their stars. Their stars have performed well but as a team they have not, which is why they were sitting on 0 wins and 4 losses after 4 rounds. They are now at 2 wins and 4 losses after toppling ladder leaders Hobart and then Melbourne Renegades but realistically it is unlikely that they can make the finals, and will need to rely on other results, and a massive win in their last match, to have any chance. It has been a pretty disappointing effort overall.

Sydney Thunder have reportedly the most expensive signing in Chris Gayle, which apparently left them without any money to recruit anyone else. Fidel Edwards ended up joining him while David Warner reportedly accepted a very low offer to captain the side. Can a team win with just 2 players? When those two players are Warner and Gayle, the answer is yes, as the Thunder showed by winning their first 2 matches and be top of the table. Unfortunately for the side’s chances, Warner was called up to Australia’s test side and since his departure they have lost their last 4 matches in a row to now be realistically out of the competition, though a super massive win in their final match, combined with Adelaide winning narrowly – but not by enough to overtake them – may still see them sneak in. Doug Bollinger, Luke Butterworth and Usman Khawaja were other names in the side who should have done better but realistically this is an example of why you need a team, not just a couple of good players. They shouldn’t have paid so much for Gayle that they couldn’t afford anyone else. There is a lesson there.

Melbourne Renegades were the first team to finalise their squad and looked on paper to be a very good squad. They had snared Shahid Afridi and combined it with Abdul Razzaq at a very cheap price, two of Pakistan’s best T20 players. They had even managed to get Shaun Tait to come over from South Australia to join his formidable Australian T20 opening bowling partnership with Dirk Nannes. One of the best all-rounders last year in Andrew McDonald was named captain while the best Australian player not to have played for Australia in the past 4 years in Brad Hodge also made the side. Aaron Finch, in such amazing form, even made it. They even managed to steal Aaron Heal. So what went wrong? Razzaq didn’t perform to expectations and Afridi, while decent, wasn’t quite at his best. Tait and Nannes at times were terrible, as they are prone to be, while McDonald generally wasn’t bowling. The team never looked all that bad yet somehow they lost when they could least afford it. They were in the top 4 for much of the competition and had they beaten Melbourne Stars they would be the team now sitting pretty. Or even had they managed to get past Brisbane Heat. But alas it was not to be. This side just never really fired in spite of looking like one of the best teams. A bit unlucky perhaps and you’d think that next year, even with exactly the same squad, they could make the finals. But it wasn’t to be. They can in theory still make the finals but realistically it requires such a huge win over a team currently in 2nd spot, and also requires 2 other matches to go their way, and by the right margin – so many things that it is just improbable and isn’t going to happen. So close and yet so far.

I’d also like to comment on a few other elements of the tournament.

International players

The IPL feels like an international tournament because of having 10 overseas players per squad and 4 out of any playing 11. But the BBL only has 2 overseas players per squad, and some teams have only had 1 or sometimes even 0 in their playing 11 – with Melbourne Stars unceremoniously dumping their overseas player Jade Dernbach. There were more overseas players in previous editions and it seems that the format needs changing if it is to attract international audiences. Allowing 4 per playing 11 seems more interesting and at least allow 5 or 6 per squad. But the quality has been such that perhaps it isn’t needed. It’d increase revenue for the competition if more overseas players were allowed but the quality may go down – and the quality of this competition is right up there.

Retirees

Matthew Hayden (Brisbane Heat), Stuart MacGill (Sydney Sixers), Brad Hogg (Perth Scorchers) and Shane Warne (Melbourne Stars) are all retirees who have come back to play again. Interestingly, 3 of them are spinners! All have performed admirably but the magic is all Warne’s, as he has correctly predicted not just the timing of a wicket but the method that the batsman has got out – all live to air! Stuart MacGill has had the better numbers but again he has had to keep it a secret, which is really the difference between the two. Hogg has done a job but hasn’t really been so fantastic, while Matthew Hayden at times has been fantastic but mostly has not. The presence of them, who weren’t there in previous editions, has made a big difference and added to some of the excitement. But where is Adam Gilchrist? Nowhere to be seen, it seems. Glenn McGrath would have been a big drawcard too. Nonetheless, these 4 big names have made a big difference to the excitement levels of the competition.

Two extra teams

As it stands, we look likely to have 1 team from Sydney and 1 team from Melbourne in the finals (though Melbourne are yet to secure their spot!) This seems like a fair result, given that each had 2 teams, with half of the single team cities making it as well. New South Wales (Sydney) and Victoria (Melbourne) have easily the most players that end up playing for Australia, and were always likely choices for extra cities. For these two cricket mad cities it has meant twice as many matches to watch at big cricket venues in Sydney and Melbourne.

Players changing states

Of much greater interest than extra teams or international players or even retirees has been the players who have changed states. While Melbourne Stars has players from all over the country, we have also seen Shaun Tait move from Adelaide to Melbourne, Dan Christian move from Adelaide to Hobart, Simon Katich move from Sydney back to Perth, and many, many other changes. Some have moved back to their state of origin while others have just moved for reasons unknown. This has meant that supporters don’t automatically pick a side that is their state of origin, or where they are living, as they may be following their favourite player. Most have stayed in their local states, but a lot of big names have moved.

Popularity

It was widely reported that the tournament was a woeful failure after poor attendances at the opening two matches, lower even than attendances at the first two matches last year. However, while tabloid newspapers were reporting that it was a failure, Cricinfo was reporting that the TV audiences were several times more than in previous years, especially amongst viewers from overseas. Indians loved to watch it, in spite of no Indian players participating, while they didn’t much care for it in previous years. Over the course of the tournament, live attendances have risen anyway and overall this has been a big success.

Suggested changes for next year

Change from 2 to 4 international players per playing 11. There is nothing new about having 2, as that has existed for 40 years or more. Having 4 gives it a lot more international interest. How many in a squad could be increased too, at least to 6 or 7. At a bare minimum if 4 were allowed in a squad, and 4 in a playing 11, it’d add interest.

Have teams in Geelong and Newcastle. These are big cities in Victoria and New South Wales, almost as big as Melbourne and Sydney, and fans would go to see players play there. This would give more interest than simply having 2 from Melbourne and 2 from Sydney.

Actually, that is about it. And I am not even sure about those 2 changes! Generally speaking, a good tournament that has been well run! A great improvement on the original KFC Big Bash competitions of previous years!