SS has never been about attendance it’s about preparing the best side to play the most important form of cricket in the world.
Looking at this series and what if Head, Harris, Starc etc fail early on or we get injuries. Do we pick a replacement on the back of BBL form?
All test aspirants should be playing SS right through the test period.
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I know it’s here to stay but play SS at the same time. If that means the BBL gets second tier players then bad luck. Most of the viewers of the BBL don’t care who is playing, you put a bowling machine out there and people would still attend
I absolutely love the BBL
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It’s the SS that would get second tier players, not the BBL, because the BBL pays the bills
Ashes would make more than the BBL so they can afford to compensate SS players. There are plenty of ways to schedule games so players can juggle formats but it’s absolutely inexcusable that 4 day cricket isn’t being played whilst the Ashes are on. Either that or they pick a larger test squad and take them out of the system for a month to train/play internal trials.
You could play 4th string cricketers in the BBL and crowds wouldn’t be affected.
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lel
You really are old af aren’t you?
I totally agree
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Nope, not at all. There is a place for all formats and even though I don’t like it I realise that we need it and people enjoy it. The scheduling just has to be worked accordingly
Maybe on the days tests are being played you don’t play BBL on those days and you play SS, maybe you stagger the SS season so that say 1 game of SS per week is played which would then mean BBL sides are near full strength, I don’t know the answer but for me it’s definitely not pausing the whole SS season for 6 weeks.
Can the BBL be condensed more and more double headers etc? I think there are ways to maximise the efficiency of both
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I thought Cricket Australia were going to shorten the BBL season this year. But it’s longer isn’t it?
Pretty sure the Poms had The Hundred and the County championship running concurrently…
I reckon the shield season pause is a huge none storm in a teacup. It’s so overblown as an issue. By the time the shield season pauses for the BBL, you’ve normally played ~4 rounds of cricket and you’ve got a test out of the way. Unlikely gonna see anyone brought into the side from shield cricket at that point that wasn’t already in a Test squad.
This year has been different and more of a challenge because the myriad scheduling issues that COVID has resulted in.
I wonder if the English press bleat about pausing the County Championship for the Hundred as much as the Aus press bleat about pausing for the BBL?
No they don’t. The County Championship pauses from early July to late August every year as well.
I think the Aussie players complain about more than the press especially those on the verge of test selection.
I’d bet that Khawaja and Richardson are just two that would rather be playing SS this week
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Crowds were softening for the BBL the few years before covid and one of the reasons was the lack of big name players. The BBL was regarded much higher in the early years.
You dilute the BBL in terms of player quality and ratings and crowds/ratungs would be affectefd.
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No need to keep the SS going during the silly BB season, but absolutely need Australia A playing regular red ball cricket against touring team 2nds, NZ 2nds etc.
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Every year the same people sook about the BBL with the same boring arguments. Time to get over it.
Thank goodness Blitz wasn’t around when ODIs came in.
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I can appreciate the interest and revenue T20/BBL generates for CA, however I don’t think they have found the correct balance between BBL and Shield cricket at this stage. Shield cricket definitely needs to continue whilst the test matches are being played.
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Only possibility is if they start BBL around Dec 20. Play SS up until then, pick squad for last two tests so it doesn’t matter so much no SS for those last two weeks from Dec 20 and all other players available for BBL from Dec 20.
But they don’t seem to want to limit the BBL at all, and zero chance you play BBL without test or shield players available.
Maybe spread the start of BBL out during December so that SS can keep running (maybe BBL games Fri-Sun, SS Mon-Thur?), and then after Christmas jam all the remaining BBL into a three-week block, then finish off the SS at the end of Jan onwards?
Cricketers always talk about test cricket as the pinnacle, and yes, BBL is here to stay, but we compromise the preparation for our home summer of test cricket by the way CA schedules the whole set-up.
I don’t buy this. The BBL made house hold names out of the likes of Ben Dunk and Chris Lynn, it never relied on your Warners or Smiths as a drawer cards. Channel Ten deserve the credit for turning it into the behemoth it briefly became with its relentless marketing, high production values and all games fta during prime time days a week. They treated it as a viable commercial product before it was one. Now that it’s become bloated and partially pay walled it feels less essential and tired.
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