Perth blockbuster to open BBL15
Pakistan superstar Babar Azam and the Sydney Sixers will head across the country to launch the 15th KFC BBL season with a blockbuster in Perth with as league officials pin hopes this will be the biggest bash yet.
League boss Alastair Dobson declared BBL|15 was "the season we've been waiting a long time for" as a perfect storm of a clear window for fixturing and international star availability meets the huge wave of hype an Ashes Test summer generates.
The full Big Bash fixture was released today, a 44-game schedule running from December 14 to January 25, with a regular, nightly prime-time feast that breaks only for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
"Obviously anything we do around an Ashes summer is huge but to then have a good clear run of nights available from mid-December to the end of January where we can play the BBL every night is one that adds up to a pretty strong season for us," said Dobson.
With the Ashes to finish in the first week of January in Sydney, there's a strong possibility the likes of Steve Smith, Travis Head and other Test stars could close out the summer with their Big Bash clubs, including the finals campaign, something Dobson said "gives us confidence this will be as good as year as we've ever had".
It's the second successive season the Perth Scorchers have hosted the BBL opener, with their rivalry against the Sixers earmarked as a blockbuster between the competition's two most successful franchises.
Every club plays at home in the first 10 days of the season, with the Melbourne Renegades to host their first two fixtures in Geelong in a bid to give the Marvel Stadium surface more time to be fit for elite cricket following criticism last summer.
A rematch between last summer's finalists will see the Sydney Thunder return to meet Hobart Hurricanes on December 16.
League officials have also fine-tuned the schedule in a bid to ensure every match of the 40-game regular season impacts the finals, with every team to play at home in the final week.
That will culminate in another blockbuster clash with the Sixers travelling north to the Gabba to face the Brisbane Heat in a showdown between Pakistan superstar Azam and No.1 draft pick Shaheen Shah Afridi.
The league's finals series will follow the same four-game format as previous seasons beginning with the Qualifier on January 20 and concluding with a prime-time BBL|15 Final on Sunday, January 25.
Of the current men's Test squad, Usman Khawaja (Heat), Nathan Lyon (Renegades), Beau Webster (Hurricanes), Josh Inglis (Scorchers) Steve Smith (Sixers) and Scott Boland (Stars) all have BBL deals for the upcoming summer.
The Stars, who traditionally play one of their five home games away from the MCG due to the Boxing Day Test, will again host the Thunder in Canberra, this year on December 28.
As they were last season, Sydney and Perth will be the focal point for a Boxing Day BBL double header, with the Sixers hosting the Stars at the SCG before the Scorchers and Hurricanes go head-to-head at Optus Stadium.
For the 13th consecutive season, the Adelaide Strikers will host their annual New Year's Eve celebration – this time against the Brisbane Heat.
And 2025 will start in style with a New Year's Day double header – featuring the Renegades at Marvel for the first time this season, against the Sixers, before the Hurricanes host the Scorchers at Ninja Stadium.
The Melbourne Stars and Melbourne Renegades will face off in their hotly anticipated derbies in the New Year, with a 6:05pm start time locked in for an MCG blockbuster on January 4. While the two Sydney Smash fixtures will take place on Saturday, December 20 (ENGIE Stadium), and Friday, January 16 (SCG).
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