Big Bash Chat

 

Cricket used to be played in white, by individuals more interested in dry sherry than skin-fold measurements, on unpredictable and uncovered pitches and strictly between 11am and 6pm. How times have changed!

Today's breed of professional cricketer is just as likely to be wearing a mauve shirt as they are a moustache. And they can stand to pick up more pay for six weeks in said mauve shirt than they could doing just about any other summer job you may care to mention.

This summer, cricket fans across the country are set for the introduction of a re-vamped domestic Twenty20 competition – the inaugural Big Bash League. Here, I’ll be running a rule over the eight BBL franchises and I’ll be doing it alongside Making The Nut stablemates, Nick Tedeschi and Cliff Bingham.

So, guys, the first round of signings have been announced and we’re inching closer and closer to BBL season. Who are you looking forward to seeing plying their trade in the shortest form of the game?

Nick Tedeschi:As always, I am looking forward to seeing Brad Hodge. Thanks to the incompetent criminals that are the Australian selection panel, watching Hodge has become increasingly difficult but he continues to be the gold standard for batting in Australia at any level and in any format. Hodge will turn out for the Melbourne Renegades. With Shahid Afridi also in the team, they are the team to watch. And if I was prepared to give Cricket Australia one more cent, I would be out watching them. But I'm not.

I'd imagine they will go into the tournament favourites though, perhaps with the Sydney Thunder, who have signed Chris Gayle and Fidel Edwards as well as local boy Dave Warner.

The Perth Scorchers are also well worth watching. Simon Katich returns home and is as bitter as sin, while Herschelle Gibbs and Paul Collingwood are good international additions.

Alex Keath is mighty talented and will be looking to make a name for himself with the Melbourne Stars.

Cliff Bingham:I’m not as sure about Perth Scorchers – T20 cricket is a young man’s game and the Scorchers have four players on their roster whose 35^th birthday parties have come and gone.

Parochialism leads me to focus on the Brisbane Heat, who have shored up their list to date with the signing of the hard-hitting Redback Dan Christian. Nick Buchanan may prove to be the Alex Keath of the north and my fingers are crossed for the healthy return of Ryan Harris, but with only 9 of their 18 roster spots filled to date and plenty of talent already stockpiled elsewhere, it’s hard to see the Heat challenging for the title.

The Sydney Strikers look to have similar depth issues, with11 roster spots yet to be filled and Moises Henriques seemingly their second best player signed to date. Hopefully he uses the theme music from Mario Brothers as his entrance music again this season.

My top-4 right at the moment: Melbourne Renegades on top (love their depth), Adelaide Strikers next best (strong batting, in desperate need of some bowling though), then the Hobart Hurricanes (another well-balanced outfit) and Sydney Thunder (tough to ignore the Gayle-Warner opening combination).

Stu Warren:I’m going to play the parochial card, too, Cliffo. Hobart Hurricanes all the way for me –and I agree with your ‘steady’ assessment. They’ve almost filled the list already and while there’s no Gayle or Afridi in the squad, there’s a bunch of handy cricketers with bat and ball. Looking forward to Paine and Ponting as the backbone with some slap and tickle from Mark Cosgrove, Owais Shah and Trav Birt. And that’s not to mention the return of Rana “The People’s Mullet” Naved to sashay in off the short run and light up Bellerive Oval.

Adelaide Strikers are an outsider, but given their form in last year’s T20 can’t be discounted. Kieron Pollard is a premium signing in anyone’s book but for mine, the Strikers might be shy of a frontline bowler or two. Nathan Lyon is turning heads in Zimbabwe with Australia-A at present, but a rookie off spinner alone makes not a fearsome attack (that’s a proverb I learned last summer when Michael Beer got his Baggy Green).

I’ll also take a slice of the Melbourne Stars, a franchise I already like the look of. Cam White, David Hussey, Adam Voges and George Bailey represent a particularly talented batting core with young allrounders in James Faulkner and Chris Simpson as well as a bowling spearhead in Peter Siddle to round things off. My only concern is how they fill the other half of their list given a talent pool that must soon be drying up. Look for some international flavour to join this mob before long.

Guys, I guess in terms of lists, we’ll know more and more as the year progresses. But the other talking point at present is with regards to playing conditions. I like the fact CA are approaching the BBL as a whole new ball game and will be tweaking certain rules – for the good of the game and the fans. One suggestion is that balls hit over the fence can be kept by the crowd. I like the prospect of this promoting big hitting early to remove the new ball from the equation.

Another rule I’d love to see considered is the return to an eight-ball over. I think this has the potential to increase batting fluency, but may also reward the bowler who has the ball ‘doing a bit’ with a couple of extra balls to strike while the pressure’s on. Any other thoughts regarding rules you may implement given the chance?

Nick Tedeschi:I would like to see a couple of new balls used. I don't like how the batsmen get everything they want these days. Sometimes, they should just get what they need, to quote ‘The Stones’. More ball movement, a bit of excitement. Very fun.

I'd also make every over a power play. At no stage can you have more than three men outside the circle. I don't want to see pushing singles and the like.

And one thing that I would like to see brought back…the jackpotting signs. Remember the old Mercantile Mutual Cup, when the signs would jackpot each week and batsmen would try to whack them? They were great fun. Let's get a piece of that going on.

Cliff Bingham:I’m with Nick on the jackpot signs, prevalence of new balls and only three men outside the circle – is there anything more against the grain of a competition than singles being pushed in a T20 match?

The eight-ball over intrigues me – if you kept each match to 120 deliveries per side, that would constitute 15 overs instead of 20, which means five less occasions where a minute or so is wasted changing ends. In a T20 environment, anything that reduces the amount of ‘dead time’ during a match gets a co-sign from me.

One other thing I’d like is to increase the maximum number of overs that can be sent down by each bowler  – let’s say a maximum of six overs per bowler if we’re sticking with the current format, or four overs per bowler if the games moved to a 15 x 8-ball overs per innings format. Better quality bowlers + the field up for the whole match = batsman having to earn their runs and creating a better spectacle for the fans when they are able to do so.

Stu Warren:Just gotta love the fact you two have managed to turn the spotlight back onto the prospect of winning a jackpot for hitting the sponsor’s sign. So, in the spirit of turning a profit from a well-placed bet or two, I wonder what sort of price you might get if you wanted to bet on the ‘Catfish’ James Hopes being the first batsman to hit said sign during a match? Or how much Hilfy will pay as first wicket taker for the Hurricanes?

Presumably there will be plenty of markets for total runs, highest scorer etc., but what else do you doyens of sports gambling see as potential betting options on the BBL? And how simple is it for people with an interest to test their knowledge (and luck) in the big bad world of punting?

Nick Tedeschi:You'll be able to have a bet on this, no risk Stu. Despite claims to the contrary, tournaments like these are put on nearly entirely for the benefit of gamblers. That is where much of the interest derives and bookies will put together plenty of markets.

I'm sure our major sponsor Luxbet will have a string of markets up. As the tournament gets closer, we will get the head trader, Jimmy, in and discuss the types of markets that will be available.

But you can certainly expect to see team and tournament top runs, top wickets etc and you will certainly have a smorgasbord of in-game betting options.

Score a $100 Free Bet from Luxbet!

Personally, I love the team runs and wickets. I made a killing at the World Cup and anticipate something similar here. With wickets, often only one player is a chance and if there are three or four, go wide. I love taking an all-rounder like Jimmy Hopes at fair odds but will load up on someone like Dirk Nannes.

With the runs, you want someone who will play every game. I had AB De Villiers for top run scorer in the World Cup. He killed it. But he also got rested a couple of times. You want someone who will be there every week.

I'm sure Cliffo has some more thoughts.

Cliff Bingham:Agree with Nick here – you only need to look at the number of markets offered in the past for the IPL competitions to get a sense of what may be on offer in Australia this summer.

The point Nick raises about wanting someone who will play every game (or close to it) is very important here. With squads of 18 players, there will be a significant level of player rotation within each team and as such, punters should focus their energies on the most integral players in each squad when thinking about top run-scorer/wicket-taker markets. Yes, it is fun to pick a bit of a roughie sometimes, but a tournament where your roughie only plays in half the matches is not the time. Battles will need to be chosen wisely.

Stu Warren:With roughies in mind and in the interest of wrapping this up for our readers, how long ‘til we see a BBL ‘Cinderella Story’? I’m talking about the kind of story where a genuine up-country slogger happens in from the bush leagues and shows that all the coaching and technology in the world is no match for forearms like Popeye, an eagle eye and the kind of devil-may-care attitude that just screams “I’ll bloody well hit across the line because I want to – and because I can!”

It might be wishful thinking. It might even be absolute fantasy, but gee it’d be a great yarn. Thanks for your input, fellas. And here’s hoping the men in purple hoist the BBL trophy come February 2012.

 

Thanks to Scott Barbour/Getty Images AsiaPac for the shot of Brad Hodge in full flight.