Big Bash League: Origin, History And Facts Associated With The Tournament

Advertisement

The Big Bash League, as it is known to all, is an Australian professional club Twenty20 cricket league, which was established in 2011 by Cricket Australia. The League is often known as the KFC Big Bash League for sponsorship reasons. As per reports, there are two domestic leagues in Australia: the “Big Bash League” and the “Sheffield Shield”. Throughout the years, the league came to be known as one of the world’s most popular domestic cricket leagues, like the Indian Premier League (IPL).

However, the league comprises eight teams, belonging to separate parts of the country. The different teams are: Adelaide Strikers, Brisbane Heat, Melbourne Renegades, Melbourne Stars, Perth Scorchers, Sydney Sixers, Sydney Thunder, and Hobart Hurricanes. As per reports, during each and every season the league has successfully put forward strong, competitive and impressive matches. And till date, six out of the eight mentioned teams have managed to register the title to their names for at least one time.

History of the Tournament

Based on resources, the Big Bash League was established by Cricket Australia, which was initially founded in 1905, as the Australian Board of Control for International Cricket. Moreover, this association is said to be in charge of looking after both professional and non-professional cricket in the country. Perhaps, one of the important motives behind this establishment was to replace the previous six-team cricket tournament, which is called the KFC Twenty20 Big Bash. With its successful progress, there have been discussions to further expand as well as include more cricket teams from nearby countries. But, due to lack of proper cricket equipment the expansion couldn’t be processed, and the attempts of expansion in the years of 2015 and 2016 further had to go through similar problems. 

Advertisement

As per reports, the Sydney Sixers successfully achieved the first league title during the 2011-12 season. The team afterwards went on to win two other consecutive league victories during the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons. Moreover, the western Australia side, Perth Scorchers has been recognized as the rising star of the competition till now. Perth Scorchers has successfully made it to seven out of ten final rounds, as well as achieved four titles. The other teams like Adelaide Strikers, Brisbane Heat, Melbourne Renegades, Sydney Thunder have successfully managed to register one Big Bash League title to their names. Whereas teams like Hobart Hurricanes and Melbourne Stars, have failed to achieve the league title till date. On successful completion of ten consecutive seasons, the team is all set and expected to come up with their 11th season in the month of December 2022. 

Formats of the league

Usually, the BBL season begins with the eight participating teams competing for points in the group stages. In the group stage, each team is required to play one home game and one away game against every other team. Later, the top five teams in the group, in terms of points, proceed to the next round, whereas the remaining three are eliminated. Moreover, a team is required to score three points in order to win in this stage. If there’s a tie then the team can score one, but no points are awarded for losing.  However, the next rounds consist of a series of knockouts and elimination, thereby making the competition a little bit complicated. The later phases include stages like the eliminator, the knockout, the qualifier, and the challenger. Since its formation the Big Bash League has made notable contributions to its increased financial value, thereby making it a significant attraction in the sports betting industry. Overall the competition is recognized as one of the top cricket competitions in the world in terms of fan base, popularity, value, and quality.

“Get more sports news, cricket news, and football updates, log on to sportsdigest.in. Follow us on Facebook or Twitter and Subscribe to our YouTube Channel.”

Advertisement