Big Bash League

Trophy

A design contest was held in 2011 to determine the design of the Big Bash League trophy. The competition was restricted to Australian designers, with the final design, chosen by the public from a field of three, revealed on 13 December 2011.

Expansion proposal

It had been proposed that the tournament would undergo expansion into more regional areas not supported by international cricket. The expansion was planned to be implemented in 2012. The proposed teams included: Newcastle, Canberra, Geelong, and Gold Coast. A New Zealand-based team was also mentioned as a possibility which would be based at Auckland or Christchurch. Cricket expert Mark Waugh commented on Fox Sports that an expansion could dilute the player pool resulting in a sub-standard league. The expansion proposal was eventually dumped, mainly because the proposed cities lacked the proper cricket hosting facilities.

In 2015, former Black Caps captain and Melbourne Stars coach Stephen Fleming suggested expansion of the tournament to include New Zealand teams and become a trans-Tasman competition. He said an expansion into New Zealand would be widely supported by locals. His views were also supported by Brisbane Heat coach and former Black Caps captain Daniel Vettori. Melbourne Renegades chief executive Stuart Coventry also stated that he wants Cricket Australia to grant each club a fifth home fixture next season. Coventry said the BBL was ready to expand from 8 to 10 games, and adding matches would further establish the franchises.

In 2016, Anthony Everard, head of the BBL, flagged the league's intentions to approach expansion through a soft launch. He stated the short to medium term goal was to schedule BBL games involving existing franchises in regional markets before likely adding new teams after the 2017/18 season when the current broadcast deal expires. He also indicated the regional markets of Canberra, Geelong and Gold Coast will likely host games during the soft launch period. On 27 January 2017, Everard announced an extra eight matches would be added to the 2017/18 season and implored each existing franchise to look at new markets when considering where the extra games would be played.

Women's Big Bash League

Former women's Test captain and Head of Brisbane's Centre of Excellence, Belinda Clark, revealed on 19 January 2014 that planning for a women's BBL was in its early stages but could become a reality very soon. She stated that the proposal was being considered due to the huge rise in television ratings in the BBL 03 season and the rise in women's cricket popularity.

On 19 February 2015, Cricket Australia announced that a Women's Big Bash League (WBBL) would commence in the 2015–16 season, with teams aligned to the men's competition. It was announced that the teams would share the names and colours of the existing men's BBL teams, meaning that there would be two teams from Sydney and Melbourne and one team from Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Hobart.

The inaugural Women's Big Bash League was won by the Sydney Thunder (WBBL) against the Sydney Sixers (WBBL). The Sydney Thunder won by 3 wickets.

Christmas Day match

In December 2015, Cricket Australia revealed that they are looking into the possibility of hosting a Christmas Day BBL match in the coming years, possibly after the next season. If the proposal is passed, it would be a first in the history of Australian sport since no professional matches are played in Australia on Christmas Day. "It is something we have just recently started discussing, the possibilities of that. We're talking about playing a Christmas Eve match, we already play Boxing Day," CA's Executive GM (Operations) Mike McKenna said.

Tournament format

Since the inception of the BBL in 2011, the tournament has followed the same format every year except the inaugural season. The first BBL season had 28 group stage matches, before expanding to 32 in the following season.

Currently in the eight team format, each team plays every other team at least once during a season. However, each team is also assigned a particular "rival" with which they play for the second time in the same season. The assigned 'rival' for a team does not change generally in different seasons. Cross-town teams such as Melbourne Renegades and Melbourne Stars have been assigned as "rivals" to each other. This allows BBL to have 2 Melbourne derbies as well as 2 Sydney derbies within a single season.

The group stage matches are divided into 8 rounds, with 4 matches played in each round. Each team plays 8 group stage matches, four at home and four away, before the top 4 ranked teams progress to the Semi Finals. The Final of the tournament is played at the home ground of the highest-ranked team. The only exception to this rule was 2014–15 season when the final was played at a neutral venue (Manuka Oval).

Thus, the total number of matches during a season tally up to 35, with 32 group stage matches and 3 knock out matches.

Current teams

The competition features eight city-based franchises, instead of the six state-based teams which had previously competed in the KFC Twenty20 Big Bash. Each state's capital city features one team, with Sydney and Melbourne featuring two. The team names and colours for all teams were officially announced on 6 April 2011. The Melbourne Derby and Sydney Derby matches are some of the most heavily attended matches during the league and are widely anticipated by the fans. The Scorchers and Sixers have also developed a rivalry between them over the years and their matches attract good crowds and TV ratings.

As of now, a single city-based franchise can have a maximum of 18 contracted players for a season. Each team should have a minimum of two rookie contracts and a maximum of two overseas players in the squad. Each team can also have a maximum of two overseas replacement players, in case the original overseas players get injured or withdraw due to particular reason.

Tournament results

Out of the eight teams in the tournament, four have won the title at least once. The Perth Scorchers are the most successful team in the league's history, winning the title three times including consecutively for two seasons in 2013–14 and 2014–15. They are the champions of Big Bash League 2016–17, and they also hold the record for reaching the final of the tournament the most times, doing so consecutively in the first four seasons. In contrast, only one other team has reached the final twice. The other three teams which have won the title are the Sydney Sixers in the inaugural season (2011–12), the Brisbane Heat in the second season (2012–13) and the Sydney Thunder in 2015–16.

The WACA Ground has hosted the final on four occasions, more than any other venue. In fact, the final of the 2014–15 BBL season would have also been hosted by WACA Ground if it was awarded to the home ground of the highest-ranked team, as in previous seasons. However, Manuka Oval was awarded the rights to host the final of 2014–15 BBL season as a neutral venue.

Team performances

Notes:

Salary cap and Contracting Period

The Big Bash League's salary cap was $1.05 million for the third season, a $50,000 increase from the two previous seasons, which were played under a salary cap of $1 million. In February 2015, BBL salary cap increased to $1.30 million for the fifth season of BBL.

Currently, the salary cap has increased to $1.40 million, an increase of $100,000 compared to previous season. Under the $1.40 million salary cap, a team can sign a total of 18 contracted players consisting of a minimum of 2 rookie contracts and maximum of 2 overseas players. In addition, 2 overseas replacement players can also be signed by a team.

Key dates

The key dates for the sixth season during the contracting period are as follows.

Prize money

Cricket Australia increased the prize money for the BBL to a total of $890,000 for the four finalists from 2015–16 season, after the Champions League Twenty20 tournament was discontinued with effect from 2015. The prize money will be split between the teams as follows:

However, the additional cash increase of $600,000 will go to successful clubs and not their players. Up to the 2014–15 BBL season, a total prize money of $290,000 was awarded.

Attendance

Average home crowds for the regular season are listed below. These figures do not include finals matches. While the figures for whole season average includes the average throughout the tournament including the finals. Post-Christmas matches have historically been the highest attended period for the League. BBL has provided a great platform to create interest in playing cricket, among younger children, due to its big hitting, high scoring and entertaining, nature of the game.

The 2014–15 season saw record domestic cricket crowds in the states of South Australia, New South Wales, Tasmania and the ACT, including a record attendance of 52,633 at the Adelaide Strikers' home semi-final, which was then the biggest ever crowd at the redeveloped Adelaide Oval.

In 2015–16 season too, the attendance figures continued to be broken across all the venues. Perth Scorchers became the first ever BBL team to sell out all of its home matches in a season. On 2 January 2016, the BBL single match attendance record was surpassed, with a crowd of 80,883 watching the first of two Melbourne derbies between the Melbourne Stars and the Melbourne Renegades at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The Big Bash League also entered into the top 10 most attended sports leagues in the world with respect to average crowd per match in this season.

Australian television

BBL games are currently broadcast in Australia by the free-to-air Network Ten. In 2013 Ten paid $100 million for BBL rights over five years, marking the channel's first foray in elite cricket coverage. Fox Sports had previously covered the T20 Big Bash League.

Network Ten's BBL coverage has become a regular feature of Australian summers and attracted an average audience of more than 943,000 people nationally in 2014–15 season, including a peak audience of 1.9 million viewers for the final between the Scorchers and Sixers.

The 2015–16 season attracted an average audience of 1.13 million for each match in Australia this season, an 18% increase on the previous season. A cumulative audience of 9.65 million watched the matches in Australia, out of which 39% were females. The opening Sydney Derby match of the season attracted a peak audience of 1.53 million. The last group match between Renegades and Strikers in Session 2 was watched by an average audience of 1.36 million, which peaked at 1.67 million. The BBL Final was watched by an average audience of 1.79 million, which peaked at 2.24 million viewers. This was the first time that the ratings for a BBL match crossed the 2 million mark.

Grounds

A total of 10 grounds have been used to host BBL matches till date. Sydney Thunder moved out of ANZ Stadium after 2014–15 season and relocated to Spotless Stadium for the next 10 years. The Final of the tournament is played at the home ground of the highest-ranked team. #TheFurnace has hosted the final three times, more than any other venue. Manuka Oval hosted the final of 2014–15 BBL season as a neutral venue primarily because other major grounds were being prepared for the 2015 Cricket World Cup.

Perth Stadium will replace #TheFurnace as the home ground of Perth Scorchers starting from 2018–19. Main reasons behind the move are poor facilities at the ground as well as low spectator capacity.

Records and statistics

Here is a list of Big Bash League records. All records are based on statistics at espncricinfo.com. Perth Scorchers captain and opening batsman Michael Klinger currently holds the record of scoring most runs in the league. He has played 41 matches in the BBL so far, starting from 2011. The record of taking most wickets in the league belongs to Ben Laughlin, who currently plays for Adelaide Strikers. He has represented Hobart Hurricanes in the past, and has played a total of 43 BBL matches since 2011.

^{Last updated on 25 January 2017}