Former Australian captain Mark Taylor has backed calls for a re-jigging of the Big Bash system, saying that the format would work better with a designated window for the tournament.
The men’s BBL had 61 games scheduled across an eight-week period, but many of them suffered from a lack of star power due to both international commitments and players testing positive to COVID-19.
Taylor said that international cricket had to be prioritised in a COVID-affected world, but that the lack of key players in each Big Bash team had hurt the competition.
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“You haven’t got every side at potentially their absolute, 100 per cent strength – if you’ve got that, and you’ve got a window for it, you’ve got a much better game than when you’re trying to patch it in around games of cricket which are deemed more important,” he said on WWOS radio.
“You’re just trying to fit them in because you have to.”
There’s no denying the popularity of the competition has waned slightly in recent years, with fixture fatigue cited as the main reason.
Despite not adding any extra teams, the league expanded from 35 matches in 2016-17 to 43 matches in 2017–18, and then 59 in 2018-19.
Greg Chappell wrote in his book that “more expansion of an entertainment product like this runs the growing risk of killing the golden goose through over-saturation,” an opinion that has been proven by lower crowds and TV ratings per match.
In addition to crowds, a recent reporty from the Daily Telegraph claimed that the league competition had dropped nearly half a million viewers per game since 2016, steadily declining in the six seasons since.
“It’s a real tough one for those who do the schedule, because I’m not sure how you fit it all in,” Taylor said.
In addition to Big Bash, the former captain was asked how the future of the men’s Test team was shaping up – and outlined two key areas of improvement.
“There’s talent out there, the problem we’ve had is the problem with every sport,” he said, referring to the COVID pandemic.
“I really think we’ve got a lot of bases covered. Our concern is obviously replacing Nathan Lyon.
“We’ve got to find a really quality spinner, and we’ve got [Mitchell] Swepson and [Ashton] Agar going on the next tour to Pakistan, so they’re the sort of guys who’ve got to keep coming through.
“And we’ve got to find a few more batters.”
Australia’s Test series against Pakistan begins in early March.
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