The 13th edition of the men’s Big Bash League commenced today (07th December) with a mouthwatering clash between the last season’s runners-up Brisbane Heat and Melbourne Stars at the Gabba.

The competition reverts to a 10-game regular season schedule this summer after five years of playing the seven rival teams twice. That means there will be 40 home-and-away matches in BBL|13 with each club playing three others twice, which will of course include two blockbuster Melbourne and Sydney derbies.

Five teams (the Heat, Scorchers, Renegades, Stars and Sixers) will each play two games in the first week before the tournament goes on a five-day hiatus from December 14-18 to avoid going head-to-head with play in the first Test between Australia and Pakistan in Perth.

Mushfiqur Rahim gets out for “handling the ball”
Men’s 2024 Future Tours Program of Sri Lanka Cricket

The new-look four-team finals series gets underway two days after the Thunder host the Renegades at Sydney Showground in the last match of the home-and-away season on January 17. The first- and second-placed teams get a double chance and will play off for a spot in the decider on January 19, while the loser of that match will play the winner of 3 v 4 for the other spot at taking out the BBL|13 title on January 24.

New Rules

After two batters received six runs for hitting the Marvel Stadium roof in the same match last season, Cricket Australia has scrapped the rule automatically awarding a six for launching the ball into the Marvel ceiling. The new rule that will be in place for BBL|13 will allow the umpires to decide if the ball was going to clear the boundary or not.

If they decide it was, they will award the batter six runs. If not, it will be ruled a dead ball.

It’s the third time the rule has been changed since the inception of the competition in 2011 and comes after the Renegades were cruelly robbed of two catching opportunities in the same match against crosstown rivals the Stars last season when Englishman Joe Clarke and Beau Webster skied shots straight up into the roof. On both occasions the ball landed within the 30-yard fielding restriction circle.

Another change for BBL|12 is third umpire referrals for stumpings will only review the stumping decision and no other methods of dismissal in a bid to minimise delays in play. Captains can still ask the third umpire to check other forms of dismissal but will need to use their review to do so, with each team allocated one unsuccessful Decision Review System (DRS) challenge per innings.

And following the introduction of the DRS last season, the third umpire will also use the technology to adjudicate no-balls in BBL|13. Consistent with what already takes place in men’s international cricket, the third umpire will analyse the bowler’s front-foot of all deliveries and any that are deemed front-foot no-balls will be identified and communicated to the on-field umpire to signal no-ball and a free hit for the batter. The third umpire can also assess waist-high no-balls if there is a wicket taken on that delivery.

Players to watch

Fresh off a World Cup triumph, Aussie white-ball stars Adam Zampa (Renegades), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis (both Stars), Josh Inglis (Scorchers) and Sean Abbott (Sixers) will all be in action for their respective clubs for the entire season, beginning on Thursday night when Maxwell and Stoinis travel to Brisbane to take on Marnus Labuschagne and Usman Khawaja’s Heat in the season opener.

Khawaja and Labuschagne, along with Steve Smith (Sixers), will play the first game of the Big Bash season for their respective clubs before assembling in Perth with the Test squad.

Australia’s BBL all-star T20 squad will return from India just in time for the opening matches of the season with the likes of Matt Short (Strikers), Chris Green, Tanveer Sangha (both Thunder) and Aaron Hardie (Scorchers) having earned international debuts over the four months on the back of their form in last summer’s Big Bash. And there’s plenty to play for this BBL season for those squad members with the likes of Matthew Wade, Tim David, Nathan Ellis (all Hurricanes), Jason Behrendorff (Scorchers) and Kane Richardson (Renegades) all aiming to impress with another T20 World Cup on the horizon mid next year.

Among other big names hitting form at the right time in Jhye Richardson (Scorchers) who made an electric return for WA in last week’s Marsh Sheffield Shield clash with Queensland, taking four wickets in the first innings. State teammate Cameron Bancroft will also be hoping to hit the ground running at his new club after his high-profile switch from the Scorchers to the Thunder during the off-season.

And Heat duo Josh Brown and Spencer Johnson will be hoping to build on their breakout campaigns from last season with left-arm speedster Johnson also earning an Australia debut on the back of his BBL|12 form. Brown meanwhile warmed up for BBL|13 by smashing a 45-ball 112 against the Renegades Academy in a practice match last week.

BBL|13 squads

Adelaide Strikers

Wes Agar, James Bazley, Cameron Boyce, Alex Carey, Brendan Doggett, Travis Head, Adam Hose (England), Henry Hunt, Thomas Kelly, Chris Lynn, Ben Manenti, Harry Nielsen, Jamie Overton (England), David Payne (England), D’Arcy Short, Matt Short, Henry Thorton, Jake Weatherald

Ins: James Bazley (Heat), Brendan Doggett (Thunder), Jamie Overton, David Payne (Scorchers), D’Arcy Short (Hurricanes)

Outs: Harry Conway, Ryan Gibson, Peter Siddle (Renegades), Rashid Khan (injured)

Brisbane Heat

Xavier Bartlett, Sam Billings (England), Josh Brown, Max Bryant, Spencer Johnson, Usman Khawaja, Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan McSweeney, Colin Munro (New Zealand), Michael Neser, Jimmy Peirson, Will Prestwidge, Matthew Renshaw, Mitchell Swepson, Jack Wildermuth, Paul Walter (England), Jack Wood

Ins: Jack Wood, Paul Walter

Outs: James Bazley (Strikers), Mark Steketee (Stars), Sam Heazlett (Hurricanes)

Hobart Hurricanes

Corey Anderson (USA), Iain Carlisle, Nikhil Chaudhary, Tim David, Paddy Dooley, Nathan Ellis, Liam Guthrie, Sam Hain (England), Peter Hatzoglou, Sam Heazlett, Caleb Jewell, Chris Jordan (England), Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, Mitch Owen, Billy Stanlake, Matthew Wade, Mac Wright

Ins: Corey Anderson, Nikhil Chaudhary, Liam Guthrie, Sam Hain (Heat), Peter Hatzoglou (Scorchers), Sam Heazlett (Heat), Chris Jordan (Sixers)

Outs: Wil Parker, Chris Tremain, Joel Paris (Stars), D’Arcy Short (Strikers), Tim Paine (retired)

Melbourne Renegades

Joe Clarke (England), Quinton de Kock (South Africa), Harry Dixon, Aaron Finch, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Mackenzie Harvey, Ruwantha Kellapotha, Nathan Lyon, Nic Maddinson (c), Shaun Marsh, Fergus O’Neill, Kane Richardson, Tom Rogers, Peter Siddle, Will Sutherland, Mujeeb Ur Rahman (Afghanistan), Jon Wells, Adam Zampa

Ins: Harry Dixon, Nathan Lyon (Sixers), Peter Siddle (Strikers), Adam Zampa (Stars), Quinton de Kock, Joe Clarke (Stars), Fergus O’Neill

Outs: Zak Evans, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Harris, Jack Prestwidge, Corey Rocchiccioli, David Moody, Fawad Ahmed

Melbourne Stars

Scott Boland, Joe Burns, Hilton Cartwright, Brody Couch, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Liam Dawson (England), Sam Harper, Campbell Kellaway, Nick Larkin, Glenn Maxwell, Usama Mir (Pakistan), Joel Paris, Haris Rauf (Pakistan), Tom Rogers, Mark Steketee, Marcus Stoinis, Imad Wasim (Pakistan), Beau Webster (replaced by Jono Merlo for first game)

Ins: Haris Rauf, Usama Mir, Scott Boland, Sam Harper (Renegades), Joel Paris (Hurricanes), Corey Rocchiccioli (Renegades), Mark Steketee (Heat), Imad Wasim

Outs: Adam Zampa (Renegades), Liam Hatcher, (Thunder), Sam Elliott, Clint Hinchliffe, Cameron McClure, Tom O’Connell

Perth Scorchers

Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Cooper Connolly, Zak Crawley (England), Laurie Evans (England), Stephen Eskinazi (England), Aaron Hardie, Liam Haskett, Nick Hobson, Josh Inglis, Matthew Kelly, Mitch Marsh, Hamish McKenzie, Lance Morris, Jhye Richardson, Sam Whiteman, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye

Ins: Zak Crawley, Laurie Evans, Liam Haskett, Hamish McKenzie, Sam Whiteman (Thunder)

Outs: Cameron Bancroft (Thunder), Cameron Green, Peter Hatzoglou (Hurricanes)

Sydney Sixers

Sean Abbott, Jackson Bird, Tom Curran (England), Joel Davies, Ben Dwarshuis, Jack Edwards, Moises Henriques, Daniel Hughes, Hayden Kerr, Todd Murphy, Izharulhaq Naveed (Afghanistan), Steve O’Keefe, Kurtis Patterson, Mitch Perry, Josh Philippe, Jordan Silk, Steve Smith, James Vince (England)

Ins: Tom Curran, Joel Davies, Mitch Perry

Outs: Dan Christian (retired), Nathan Lyon (Renegades), Mickey Edwards

Sydney Thunder

Cameron Bancroft, Oliver Davies, Liam Doddrell, Matt Gilkes, Chris Green, Alex Hales (England), Liam Hatcher, Zaman Khan (Pakistan), Nathan McAndrew, Blake Nikitaras, Alex Ross, Will Salzmann, Daniel Sams, Gurinder Sandhu, Tanveer Sangha, Jason Sangha (c), David Warner

Ins: Cameron Bancroft (Scorchers), Liam Doddrell, Liam Hatcher (Stars), Zaman Khan, Will Salzmann

Outs: Ben Cutting, Brendan Doggett (Strikers), Joel Davies (Sixers), Baxter Holt, Sam Whiteman (Scorchers)

Cricket fans in Sri Lanka can watch Big Bash League on ThePapare – Sri Lanka’s No.1 Sports Channel. ThePapare is available on Dialog Television Channel 126, Dialog ViU app and ThePapare.com Web.