Of the nine times a player has hit nine sixes in a BBL innings, five have come this season.
Power is king and it is noticeable that the batsmen in the top order of several BBL teams now look as cohesive as baseball batsmen. This will likely be even more pronounced next year, with teams able to use a “designated batter” who doesn’t even have to run and field.
It’s raining crowd catches this season. The Scorchers-Heat match at the Gabba in December produced an amazing 36 sixes. The Scorchers scored 257 – the second highest total in BBL history – before the Heat caught up with eight wickets in hand.
It had to be seen to be believed. A bit like Steve Smith’s blistering knock at the SCG last week, where the ageless Test star hit a 42-ball 100. One Ryan Hadley smashed a record 32 runs and also hit a six on the roof of the Brewongle Stand. It was probably the biggest to see at the SCG.
Smith also holds the BBL record for most centuries, with four, which is crazy considering he barely played in it during the trip.
Smith scored all those hundreds in the last four seasons, during brief returns to the Sixers. Smith has scored four centuries and three fifties in his 11 innings since 2023 (out of 39 in total) – yet the eccentric right-hander was not considered good enough for a place in the squad for next month’s T20 World Cup.
Go, as they say in Smith’s Manhattan digs.
Those not upset at the selection are BBL bosses as well as the suits at Channel Seven and Fox Sports. Smith’s performances helped the Sixers-Thunder game win an audience of more than two million viewers on Seven on Friday, and pay-TV numbers would have similarly increased. Since Smith started shooting his January portraits in purple a few years ago, there has been a significant increase.
This year, Cricket Australia created a two-week block to allow all Aussie players to return to the BBL after the Ashes, and it was a success – with some caveats. Most of the Test players who have shone are those who are also not in the Aussie T20 squad like Usman Khawaja, Alex Carey and Marnus Labuschagne.
And the old-school rock star who rivaled Smith in production and ratings — Travis Head — stayed to freshen up for the World Cup. (Worryingly, many who they are in the Aussie T20 team they don’t set the world on fire in the BBL).
But the buzz around Smith and David Warner’s knocks – who also hit centuries – at a sold-out SCG on Friday, along with runs from Babar Azam and a late appearance from Mitch Starc, perfectly illustrated why Cricket Australia and BBL bosses are looking to inject private capital into the competition. Six performance is good but star performance is better.
We’re told plans to sell stakes in the franchises to investors, particularly squillionaires from the Indian Premier League, are at an advanced stage, and the hundreds of millions raised will be used to shore up Aussie cricket’s finances and increase the BBL’s salary cap to attract more international stars.
Even without them, it is already one of the highest quality competitions in the world, with the total number of T20 leagues now equaling podcasts. Cricket Australia has already set its sights on becoming second only to the IPL and getting stars from home and abroad to play most of the season is key to boosting the BBL.
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“I would like to play more and for the internationals to play a lot more,” Smith said recently. “That’s what most teams around the world have in their T20 tournaments. I know, it’s tricky scheduling, but if they’ve been able to get the international players to play as much Big Bash as possible, I think it’s only going to benefit the tournament.”
Obstacles would have to be overcome and the Australian summer remade to suit both Test cricket and a better BBL. And that may alienate some, but the masses keep talking. They can’t get enough of Smith and Head cleaning the rope – in creams and colors.
Sorry, pitchers.
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