By W D Nicolson, 19 July 2011
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE SYDNEY SIXERS - INAUGURAL BIG BASH CHAMPIONS!
They defeated the Perth Scorchers by 7 wickets on Saturday January 28th at the WACA.
Full Scorecard here
When Cricket Australia announced a re-launch of their Big Bash League earlier this year, the message was simple: 'We're going big, very big.'For the last few years the KFC Big Bash had been a nice little sidebar to the International Cricket season in Australia, but now the sport's governing body Cricket Australia has realised that unless they amped up the Big Bash to fulfil the expectations that its name promoted - domestic cricket in Australia would continue to suffer from an out of sight out of mind situation with the general public.
So the six states have been split up into eight individual franchises and for five or six weeks over the height of summer (December 2011 to January 2012 have been set aside for this coming season) Twenty 20 Cricket in Australia will become the epicentre of domestic cricket in the country.
While Test Match Cricket will still be played this summer alongside the Big Bash League - Australia v India in a Four Test Series starting on Boxing Day - this incarnation of the Big Bash will feature more international players than ever before and when the signing period ends in late July, we will know which unsigned Australian Test players will play in the new league and which players are choosing to focus on the longer form of the game. Mitchell Johnson is one example of the latter (until he changed his mind in mid-November and will in fact play for the Perth Scorchers).
Current Australian Captain Michael Clarke remains one of the few international players who have yet to sign with a Big Bash team.
To keep up to date go to the Big Bash League News website or join the Facebook Group. They are also on Twitter @BigBashLeague.
The Big Bash League officially launched on Wednesday July 27 - with Team Logos, Uniforms and Team Websites released.
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| Shane Warne shows off the new KFC Big Bash Trophy |
The full fixture guide can be found here.
So here are the KFC T20 Big Bash League signings for each franchise to date (07/11/2011)
Featuring the current depth at each of the four key 'roles', the coach and the stadium each team will play at.
Batsmen: Aiden Blizzard, Cameron Borgas, Tom Cooper, Callum Ferguson, Daniel Harris, Michael Klinger (c)
Batsmen: Ryan Broad, Peter Forrest, Matthew Hayden, Chris Lynn, Steve Paulsen, Andrew RobinsonWicket-Keepers: Brendon McCullum, Chris Hartley
All-Rounders: Nick Buchanan, Ben Cutting (Injured will not play), Daniel Christian, Nathan Hauritz, James Hopes (c), Daniel Vettori
Bowlers: Matthew Gale, Ryan Harris, Alister McDermott, Michael Neser, Chris Swan
Home Ground: Gabba | 2011-2012 Season Fixture
Batsmen: Mark Cosgrove, Phil Jaques, Nick Kruger, Asthon May, Ricky Ponting, Owais Shah, Jonathan WellsWicket-Keepers: Travis Birt, Tim Paine (c) (Injured will not play), Tom Triffitt
All-Rounders: Evan Gulbis (Injured will not play), Matt Johnston, Rhett Lockyer, Rana Naveed-ul-Hasan
Bowlers: Xavier Doherty, Luke Feldman, Ben Hilfenhaus, Michael Hogan, Jason Krejza, Ben Laughlin
Home Ground: Bellerive Oval | 2011-2012 Season Fixture
Batsmen: Aaron Finch, Michael Hill, Brad HodgeWicket-Keepers: Ryan Carters, Graham Manou
All-Rounders: Shahid Afridi, Meyrick Buchanan, Andrew McDonald (c), Glenn Maxwell, Abdul Razzaq, Nathan Reardon, Will Sheridan
Bowlers: Shane Harwood, Aaron Heal, Jayde Herrick, Brenton McDonald, Dirk Nannes, Shaun Tait
Home Ground: Etihad Stadium | 2011-2012 Season Fixture
Batsmen: George Bailey, Peter Handscombe, Alex Keath, Robert QuineyWicket-Keepers: Matthew Wade
All-Rounders: James Faulkner, John Hastings (Injured will not play), David Hussey, Chris Simpson, Adam Voges, Cameron White (c), Luke Wright
Bowlers: Jackson Bird, Jade Dernbach, Jon Holland, Clint McKay, James Pattinson, Peter Siddle, SHANE WARNE (Now in doubt with burnt bowling hand)
Home Ground: MCG | 2011-2012 Season Fixture
Batsmen: Tom Beaton, Liam Davis, Herschelle Gibbs, Michael Hussey, Shaun MarshWicket-Keepers: Luke Pomersbach, Luke Ronchi
All-Rounders: Paul Collingwood, Mitchell Johnson (Injured will not play), Simon Katich, Mitchell Marsh, Marcus North (c)
Bowlers: Michael Beer, Mark Cameron (Injured will not play), Nathan Coulter-Nile, Ryan Duffield, Ben Edmondson, Brad Hogg, Joe Mennie, Nathan Rimmington
Coach: Lachlan Stevens (formerly Mickey Arthur)
Home Ground: WACA Ground | 2011-2012 Season Fixture
Batsmen: Ed Cowan, Michael Lumb, Nic Maddison, Ben RohrerWicket-Keepers: Brad Haddin (c), Peter Nevill
All-Rounders: Dwayne Bravo, Moses Henriques, Brett Lee, Ian Moran, Stephen O'Keefe, Steven Smith, Dominic Thornley, Shane Watson
Bowlers: Patrick Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Stuart MacGill, Mitchell Starc
Home Ground: SCG | 2011-2012 Season Fixture
Batsmen: Tim Cruickshank, Chris Gayle, Philip Hughes (Unlikely to play, will focus on Grade Cricket instead), Usman Khawaja, Craig Philipson, David WarnerWicket-Keepers: Ben Dunk, Daniel Smith
All-Rounders: Sean Abbott, Tim Armstrong, Luke Butterworth, Scott Coyte, Matthew Day, Jason Floros
Bowlers: Nic Bills, Doug Bollinger, Luke Doran, Fidel Edwards
Home Ground: ANZ Stadium | 2011-2012 Season Fixture
There will be more KFC T20 Big Bash League content on www.wdnicolson.com as the signing period finishes with a full evaluation of the talent in each franchise and how Australian representation will impact the chances of each team.
Who do you think has spent their money wisely and which team will you support come December?http://www.wdnicolson.com/2011/12/kfc-t20-big-bash-league-preview-2011.html
Who do you think has spent their money wisely and which team will you support come December?http://www.wdnicolson.com/2011/12/kfc-t20-big-bash-league-preview-2011.html
