‘Clubs are taking over the world': Inside Australian cricket's Ashes summer sell-off
Cricket Australia and some states are planning to wine and dine potential investors in Australia's eight Big Bash League teams, following a Boston Consulting Group report that recommended the injection of private capital into the BBL.
CA chair Mike Baird and chief executive Todd Greenberg have been at pains to say no decisions have been made and their words of caution echo those of the state associations that own CA.
But at the same time, possible investors from India and elsewhere are already being courted for discussions, which may lead to the biggest transformation of the summer schedule since a 51-ball David Warner century heralded the arrival of the BBL in 2011. The theatre of the Ashes is regarded as the perfect time for an open inspection.
In some ways, this courting process has already started. GMR Group, owners of the Delhi Capitals, were a visible presence in Australia last summer. But more prospective buyers are likely to follow.
What the Australian summer of cricket could look like
The BCG report advised selling minority stakes in teams such as the Melbourne Stars and the Sydney Sixers, which until now have been owned and controlled by the states.
Crucially, CA has also controlled the summer schedule, allowing for Tests and T20 games to co-exist in the peak summer holiday period.
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ABC News
19 minutes ago
- ABC News
Why won't Musk let Tesla EVs power homes?
Sam Hawley: It's an idea Elon Musk hasn't fully embraced just yet, and he doesn't want Teslas used for it. Some electric vehicles are already being plugged in to provide power to homes and even to the grid. Today, energy reporter, Dan Mercer, on the revolutionary technology and why the world's richest man is wary of it. I'm Sam Hawley on Gadigal land in Sydney. This is ABC News Daily. Dan, this idea that electric cars could power our homes is fascinating, really. So I just want you to explain this for us. And to do that, it's good to talk about a guy called Richard Chapman. He is a petrol head, or we call them rev heads, I think. Dan Mercer: Yeah, indeed. He's an English fella, Sam, and he lives in the port city of Fremantle in Perth in Western Australia. Richard Chapman, car enthusiast: Absolutely adored cars ever since I knew what a car was. Dan Mercer: He says he's always loved his muscle cars, but he's also not the discriminating sort. He loves electric vehicles too. Sam Hawley: Yeah, he's the sort of, in my head, he's the sort of person you don't associate with an electric car. Dan Mercer: No, but you know, it's kind of funny. He loves Top Gear, he loves the smell of petrol, he loves a car that makes a lot of noise. He equally loves these things, which are sort of the polar opposite of cars. The opposite of that in many ways. Richard Chapman, car enthusiast: I never thought I'd quite embrace the EV thing so fully, but for me now, and I've still got a three litre V6 sports car but I look at that as like a horse. Like it's expensive, it's loud, it's very inefficient. It actually doesn't go as quick as the EVs, but that's more about sort of the emotion and real passion of something like a horse. Dan Mercer: There's this popular conception that tends to have these two things in completely separate camps. But Richard really does swear by his EVs. He reckons they're just phenomenal to drive and the technology behind them is mind blowing. Yeah, the measure of it in his case is that he has three EVs, Sam. Sam Hawley: It sounds like a lot. All right, and he is, Dan, really well set up for charging all of these EVs that he has. Dan Mercer: He is. He's one of these guys who just loves getting things to work really well, taking them apart and building them back together again so he understands them intimately. So in his instance, he's got a lot of solar on his roof. He's got batteries in his house and he's got tariffs that are really cheap in the middle of the day when there's heaps of renewable energy sloshing around the grid. What he does is he tries to charge the cars during those daylight hours. That way the energy that's powering the cars is dirt cheap. Either it's coming straight from his solar panels or it's coming from the grid during a time when prices are at their lowest. And for the most part, it seems to work. Sam Hawley: Yeah, okay. So he also likes to have his cars basically fully charged most of the time. And while they're just sitting there at night and not being used, he would actually like to use some of their power, right? But not for driving around. Dan Mercer: Not for driving, no. He's got a couple of batteries fixed to the wall of his garage as flagged. He can get by most of the time fairly cheaply. There are occasions though when his solar and those batteries aren't enough. And that tends to be in winter and the shoulder seasons when there might not be that much sun around but his demand for power might be quite high. And there are times too in summer when he reckons he just needs that much power because it's so hot and he has to run the air conditioning around the clock and the batteries aren't enough. At those times, he currently has to buy the power from the grid in the evening when prices unfortunately cost a fortune. Needless to say, that's something he's pretty keen to avoid. And he says the answer to those problems should be right there in front of him in the form of the energy that's stored in his EV's batteries. Richard Chapman, car enthusiast: When the main house batteries have run out, I wanna then be able to draw off of the electric vehicles that I've got hundreds of kilowatt hours sitting there and I wanna be able to use that back again. Sam Hawley: Wow, yeah. So using the car's batteries to power his home. And the EV batteries, they're massive, aren't they? So that is a possibility, isn't it? Dan Mercer: They are huge batteries, yeah. I mean, an average household battery is probably around 10 kilowatt hours of storage. A big EV battery can be 80 kilowatt hours or more. And as Richard notes, if you've got a car with a battery with that much power, even thereabouts, that's enough to run a typical household for days at a time. Richard Chapman, car enthusiast: You could run your house for, God, completely off grid for probably a fortnight on that. Sam Hawley: Wow, okay. So it sounds like a great idea. Why doesn't he just do it? Dan Mercer: Basically because his carmaker won't let him. There are other reasons, but the biggest one is that his carmaker won't let him. Richard has a couple of Teslas and Tesla just doesn't, at this stage in Australia at least, support customers using their cars to run their homes. It's not the only business that's going on. There's a big EV brand that's cool on the idea, but it's arguably the biggest name. Richard told me, there are ways he can hook his car slash cars up to his house. The problem is those ways aren't legally kosher. So if you do it, you void the warranty on your car. And if your EV costs $100,000, say, you're just not gonna do it. Sam Hawley: So why, just explain further then, Dan, why it is that Tesla doesn't want it to happen. Dan Mercer: Yeah, look, to be fair to Tesla, there are legitimate reasons why the company might be reticent. For starters, it's a fledgling technology we're talking about. It seems to lack a broadly accepted industry standard. Then there's just the physical reality of it. If you're discharging and charging your EV battery a whole lot more than you would normally do, a lot more because you're using it as a quasi household system, then that has an effect on the longevity of the battery. Most batteries, including the ones typically used in EVs, degrade over time as they're used more and more. And so Tesla doesn't want to be held liable for a warranty if the battery is being cycled in a way that wasn't envisaged, that wasn't tested, that wasn't guaranteed by their own standards. There are suspicions though that maybe Tesla has ulterior motives. The company famously sells household batteries and consumers are much less likely to buy those household batteries if their car battery can do the same thing. The thing is, Sam, this argy-bargy has big implications because some people reckon the technology in question could change the energy system completely. It has a few different names, including bidirectional charging, two-way charging, reverse charging, vehicle to grid and others. Ultimately though, it boils down to a simple proposition, not only charging EVs so they can be driven around, but discharging them too. Sam Hawley: All right, well then let's now, Dan, step through how this actually works because there are three main ways of using a car's battery for power, for powering a home, for instance. So let's run through those. Dan Mercer: Yeah, indeed. Well, and apologies for this next bit because it's all quite jargony. Sam Hawley: All right, we've been warned. Go forth. Dan Mercer: The first is what's called vehicle to load or V2L. And that's simply using your car to run things like tools from a power outlet in the car. At a high level, there's so-called vehicle to home or V2H, which is where you use the battery in your EV to run your house. That's what Richard wants to do. And there's evidence some people are already doing it in Australia, for example, during blackouts. And then there's the biggest one of all, which is called vehicle to grid. As the name suggests, it involves selling electricity from your car's battery to the grid at times when it's needed. A flip side to that is not only just selling it, but you can also store electricity in the car's battery, take it from the grid when there's too much supply, which of course is a problem that we're dealing with these days with so much solar around. Vehicle to home and vehicle to grid, especially are not straightforward. And there's a mix of hardware, software and regulatory permissions that are required to turn the energy that's stored in the car battery into something that can be put into the grid and used safely. So there's a whole bunch of technical challenges involved. Sam Hawley: But if you could transfer the power from your EV to the grid, you could make money from that, right? Dan Mercer: You could. How much? There's a big question mark. Presumably there'd need to be strong financial incentives for you to wanna do it. But ultimately this is kind of about trying to entice you to provide energy from your EV to the system when the system needs it. You might reasonably wonder what possible difference a few EVs could make to something as big as the grid, right? But eventually there will be millions of EVs on our roads and collectively they'll represent an enormous amount of storage that sits idle most of the time. Being able to tap into that in an efficient way could drastically reduce our need to generate electricity from sources like coal and like gas. Sam Hawley: Okay, and there are some people that think this could be revolutionary. Dan Mercer: In theory, yes. I spoke to Ross De Rango who used to run energy and infrastructure at the Electric Vehicle Council, which is an industry body. He now works as a consultant and Ross says there's, in his words, a big golden pot at the end of the rainbow if Australia can make bidirectional charging work. Ross De Rango, EV industry consultant: So the opportunity is the earlier closure of coal and gas-fired power stations. The opportunity is lower cost electricity for all consumers in the country. The risk of absence of support for this technology is that those benefits will take many more years to materialise. Sam Hawley: All right, well, Dan, this does all sound pretty amazing actually, but as you mentioned, there are car companies like Tesla that aren't playing ball at the moment. I think a few are, but there's a few roadblocks here. Dan Mercer: I'll be fascinated to see what happens with two-way charging, Sam. Ross De Rango, the ex-EV Council guy, says governments will need to take the reins and corral automakers in particular into a position of support for this. Ditto for the poles and wires companies that control the grid. Ross De Rango, EV industry consultant: So the automakers hold one set of keys, the energy networks hold the other set of keys. In order for vehicle to grid to occur, both of those parties need to put the key in the ignition and turn it on. Dan Mercer: We spoke to Federal Climate Change and Energy Minister, Chris Bowen, for this story, and he's certainly keen to see it happen. He was very keen to stress that he would like to see car makers get on board. Chris Bowen, Energy minister: Well, I certainly encourage car manufacturers to get with the programme. Consumers will want this, and I think consumers will march with their feet. If every car in Australia was electric and people were using it to charge their house or their grid, that's equivalent to five snowy hydro schemes, for example. And it's great for consumers because, as I said, it puts consumers more in charge of their resources. The battery in your driveway will, on average, usually be about five times more powerful than the battery in your garage. Sam Hawley: So, Dan, how long do you think it will take before our cars are powering our homes? Dan Mercer: This is a classic example of an idea where there's a disconnect between the rhetoric and the reality. You know, I've been reporting on energy for a while now, and it always amazes me how often I hear people say bidirectional charging is going to solve so many of our problems, and it's a no-brainer, so it's just going to happen, wait and see. But that's a big assumption, and there are big assumptions right through energy and the transition we're going through right now. Of course, there are many seemingly great ideas that never come to fruition in energy and elsewhere because they get mugged by reality. If you listen to the likes of Ross De Rango and Chris Bowen, this is a revolution that's coming. It won't happen overnight, but it will happen. It's just a matter of when. Others aren't convinced. They're just not convinced. Apart from the vested interests of some of these car makers, it's hard to imagine electricity retailers, for example, jumping out of their skins at the idea. Why would they want to pave the way for anything that involves them selling less electricity to you? While those poles and wires companies, they move notoriously slowly. They're heavily regulated. They are heavily bureaucratic. One way or another, there is a tidal wave of new storage that's coming to Australia as battery prices fall and as we get deeper into this transition. And a lot of that is going to be in the cars we drive, for sure. If we can figure out a way of tapping into that fairly and efficiently, then, in theory, everybody wins. Just don't know if you should hold your breath waiting for it, though. Sam Hawley: Dan Mercer is the ABC's energy reporter. This episode was produced by Sydney Pead and Sam Dunn. Audio production by Cinnamon Nippard. Our supervising producer is David Coady. I'm Sam Hawley. Thanks for listening.
The Advertiser
2 hours ago
- The Advertiser
Boomers down Qatar, go unbeaten into Asia Cup quarters
Youngster Jaylin Galloway has led the way as the Boomers won an at times heated clash against Qatar by 110-82, advancing directly to the quarter-finals of men's basketball's Asia Cup in Jeddah. The 22-year-old Sydney Kings star scored an equal game-high 24 points, shooting at 80 per cent from the floor, as the Australians overcame a stern early test from winless Qatar at King Abdullah Sports City on Sunday. Coach Adam Caporn's youthful side went unbeaten in Group A - previously downing South Korea and Lebanon - as they chase a title three-peat. Australia will wait for the winner between hosts Saudi Arabia and the Philippines in the qualification to quarter-finals phase on Monday to determine their opponents in the final eight, which starts on Wednesday. The Boomers have won the Asia Cup every year since they were added to FIBA Asia in 2017. Player of the match Galloway had strong scoring support from bench player Reyne Smith (15 points), William Hickey (15 points, eight assists, five rebounds) and Will Magnay (11). After a sluggish start, the Boomers led by just 22-20 at quarter-time and 46-43 at halftime but broke away in a 31-point third quarter to grab a 77-63 lead and went on with it. Qatar were heavily reliant on star point guard Brandon Datrelle Goodwin, who matched Galloway's 24 points, but with inferior shooting efficiency. Goodwin was involved in the most heated moment early on when a seemingly incensed Hickey bumped into him, earning the Australian an unsportsmanlike foul. Boomers veteran Xavier Cooks fortunately restrained Goodwin, who appeared to take a swing toward Hickey. Goodwin incurred a technical foul. Caporn was pleased with the way his team turned things around after halftime. "I was really happy with the win. I didn't think we started very well defensively but we finished very well defensively," he said. "Tactically, we weren't doing a very good job of protecting the rim - I think they had 25 free throws by halftime, which is not a number that we can give up. "That was one of the main things that changed. Then as we got stops, we got a bit more of a rhythm offensively and our energy improved. "I was also impressed with out resilience. Qatar is a good team, good talent and a really good point guard who puts a lot of pressure on you." Youngster Jaylin Galloway has led the way as the Boomers won an at times heated clash against Qatar by 110-82, advancing directly to the quarter-finals of men's basketball's Asia Cup in Jeddah. The 22-year-old Sydney Kings star scored an equal game-high 24 points, shooting at 80 per cent from the floor, as the Australians overcame a stern early test from winless Qatar at King Abdullah Sports City on Sunday. Coach Adam Caporn's youthful side went unbeaten in Group A - previously downing South Korea and Lebanon - as they chase a title three-peat. Australia will wait for the winner between hosts Saudi Arabia and the Philippines in the qualification to quarter-finals phase on Monday to determine their opponents in the final eight, which starts on Wednesday. The Boomers have won the Asia Cup every year since they were added to FIBA Asia in 2017. Player of the match Galloway had strong scoring support from bench player Reyne Smith (15 points), William Hickey (15 points, eight assists, five rebounds) and Will Magnay (11). After a sluggish start, the Boomers led by just 22-20 at quarter-time and 46-43 at halftime but broke away in a 31-point third quarter to grab a 77-63 lead and went on with it. Qatar were heavily reliant on star point guard Brandon Datrelle Goodwin, who matched Galloway's 24 points, but with inferior shooting efficiency. Goodwin was involved in the most heated moment early on when a seemingly incensed Hickey bumped into him, earning the Australian an unsportsmanlike foul. Boomers veteran Xavier Cooks fortunately restrained Goodwin, who appeared to take a swing toward Hickey. Goodwin incurred a technical foul. Caporn was pleased with the way his team turned things around after halftime. "I was really happy with the win. I didn't think we started very well defensively but we finished very well defensively," he said. "Tactically, we weren't doing a very good job of protecting the rim - I think they had 25 free throws by halftime, which is not a number that we can give up. "That was one of the main things that changed. Then as we got stops, we got a bit more of a rhythm offensively and our energy improved. "I was also impressed with out resilience. Qatar is a good team, good talent and a really good point guard who puts a lot of pressure on you." Youngster Jaylin Galloway has led the way as the Boomers won an at times heated clash against Qatar by 110-82, advancing directly to the quarter-finals of men's basketball's Asia Cup in Jeddah. The 22-year-old Sydney Kings star scored an equal game-high 24 points, shooting at 80 per cent from the floor, as the Australians overcame a stern early test from winless Qatar at King Abdullah Sports City on Sunday. Coach Adam Caporn's youthful side went unbeaten in Group A - previously downing South Korea and Lebanon - as they chase a title three-peat. Australia will wait for the winner between hosts Saudi Arabia and the Philippines in the qualification to quarter-finals phase on Monday to determine their opponents in the final eight, which starts on Wednesday. The Boomers have won the Asia Cup every year since they were added to FIBA Asia in 2017. Player of the match Galloway had strong scoring support from bench player Reyne Smith (15 points), William Hickey (15 points, eight assists, five rebounds) and Will Magnay (11). After a sluggish start, the Boomers led by just 22-20 at quarter-time and 46-43 at halftime but broke away in a 31-point third quarter to grab a 77-63 lead and went on with it. Qatar were heavily reliant on star point guard Brandon Datrelle Goodwin, who matched Galloway's 24 points, but with inferior shooting efficiency. Goodwin was involved in the most heated moment early on when a seemingly incensed Hickey bumped into him, earning the Australian an unsportsmanlike foul. Boomers veteran Xavier Cooks fortunately restrained Goodwin, who appeared to take a swing toward Hickey. Goodwin incurred a technical foul. Caporn was pleased with the way his team turned things around after halftime. "I was really happy with the win. I didn't think we started very well defensively but we finished very well defensively," he said. "Tactically, we weren't doing a very good job of protecting the rim - I think they had 25 free throws by halftime, which is not a number that we can give up. "That was one of the main things that changed. Then as we got stops, we got a bit more of a rhythm offensively and our energy improved. "I was also impressed with out resilience. Qatar is a good team, good talent and a really good point guard who puts a lot of pressure on you." Youngster Jaylin Galloway has led the way as the Boomers won an at times heated clash against Qatar by 110-82, advancing directly to the quarter-finals of men's basketball's Asia Cup in Jeddah. The 22-year-old Sydney Kings star scored an equal game-high 24 points, shooting at 80 per cent from the floor, as the Australians overcame a stern early test from winless Qatar at King Abdullah Sports City on Sunday. Coach Adam Caporn's youthful side went unbeaten in Group A - previously downing South Korea and Lebanon - as they chase a title three-peat. Australia will wait for the winner between hosts Saudi Arabia and the Philippines in the qualification to quarter-finals phase on Monday to determine their opponents in the final eight, which starts on Wednesday. The Boomers have won the Asia Cup every year since they were added to FIBA Asia in 2017. Player of the match Galloway had strong scoring support from bench player Reyne Smith (15 points), William Hickey (15 points, eight assists, five rebounds) and Will Magnay (11). After a sluggish start, the Boomers led by just 22-20 at quarter-time and 46-43 at halftime but broke away in a 31-point third quarter to grab a 77-63 lead and went on with it. Qatar were heavily reliant on star point guard Brandon Datrelle Goodwin, who matched Galloway's 24 points, but with inferior shooting efficiency. Goodwin was involved in the most heated moment early on when a seemingly incensed Hickey bumped into him, earning the Australian an unsportsmanlike foul. Boomers veteran Xavier Cooks fortunately restrained Goodwin, who appeared to take a swing toward Hickey. Goodwin incurred a technical foul. Caporn was pleased with the way his team turned things around after halftime. "I was really happy with the win. I didn't think we started very well defensively but we finished very well defensively," he said. "Tactically, we weren't doing a very good job of protecting the rim - I think they had 25 free throws by halftime, which is not a number that we can give up. "That was one of the main things that changed. Then as we got stops, we got a bit more of a rhythm offensively and our energy improved. "I was also impressed with out resilience. Qatar is a good team, good talent and a really good point guard who puts a lot of pressure on you."
ABC News
2 hours ago
- ABC News
Glenn Maxwell's catch lights up T20 as Tim David's half-century helps Australia defeat South Africa in Darwin
Australia has dominated South Africa's largely unknown batting line-up to claim an unlikely victory in the first match of a three-game Twenty20 series in Darwin. South Africa lost by 17 runs in Sunday's clash at Marrara Oval, bowled out for 161 after Australia was dismissed for a disappointing 178 from the final ball of an innings rescued by Tim David's 83. South Africa's innings was built around 71 in 55 balls from wicketkeeper and opening batsman Ryan Rickelton. Josh Hazlewood was the hero for Australia, claiming 3-29, while veteran leg-spinner Adam Zampa finished with 2-32 from his four overs. Opening the bowling, off-spinner Glenn Maxwell took 1-29 from four overs and claimed a typically spectacular leap-over-the-boundary and toss-the-ball-in-the-air catch to get rid of Rickelton in the final over. Australia has now, unprecedentedly, won 23 of their last 27 T20Is including a 5-0 clean sweep in the Caribbean last month. The Proteas had managed only six wins from their previous 13 matches and had not won any of their last three bilateral series. Wild batting saw Australia collapse to 6-75, attempting to cash in on fielding restrictions during the first six overs, but a bad miss in the field allowed Tim David to salvage matters, hitting eight sixes in his 52-ball innings while batting with the tail. David was given a costly life on 56 when he skied spinner Senuran Muthusamy to long on, only for Tristan Stubbs to drop a straightforward outfield catch. The next two balls went for six. Australian captain Mitchell Marsh set the tone by smashing the first ball of the match, from Lungi Ngidi, over long off for six after South African captain Aiden Markram won the toss and chose to bowl. But Travis Head (2) went in the second over and new number three Josh Inglis for a first ball duck in the third. Marsh (13) skied Kagiso Rabada to Kwena Maphaka at deep square leg, Cameron Green (35 in 13 balls) skied Ngidi straight up in the air and Mitch Owen (2) played the worst shot of the night, charging Maphaka to lose his off stump. AAP
