Tight-lipped on draft, BBL boss admits star player challenges

The head of the KFC Big Bash League is remaining tight-lipped on the potential of an overseas player draft, but stressed teams may have less flexibility signing international stars this season.

As Cricket Australia (CA) announced the tentative fixture for the BBL's 10th season on Wednesday, league boss Alistair Dobson also conceded Australia's best male players may have limited involvement in the competition this summer.

The possibility of clubs drafting overseas players from a central pool has been widely reported and although Dobson refused to divulge further details, he flagged "exciting initiatives" for the coming season.

Bringing in players from abroad looms as a more difficult task than ever given global uncertainty over travel and the likelihood of quarantine periods continuing to be enforced for international arrivals.

Big Bash clubs have in previous seasons secured international players only days out from the beginning of the season, or even during it, but Dobson suggested teams will this summer likely need to be committed to their signings earlier in the year.

"The ability for clubs to bring in replacement overseas players is going to be more challenging on a short-term basis than it has in the past," Dobson told reporters via Zoom conference.

"List management strategies for clubs are going to have be in place ahead of time.

"We’re confident we'll be able to get the players in that we think are going to be important to the league. Whether they are here for the whole tournament or parts of it, time will tell."

Test stars including Steve Smith, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood, Marnus Labuschagne and James Pattinson returned to the BBL to make meaningful contributions with their clubs last summer due to a significant gap in Australia's international schedule that culminated with the BBL's climax.

But the league may not be so lucky this season.

While CA has emphasised the BBL and international fixtures remain subject to change, as it stands the season will get underway on the night of December 3 following day one of the Australia-India Test series opener.

That four-Test campaign runs through until January 7 before Australia are scheduled to host India for three Gillette ODIs and then New Zealand for three more. The final home international, a T20 against the Kiwis, is set for February 2.

The BBL's last regular season game is listed for January 26 and the final for February 6.

Dobson said the league's off-season focus has been on securing overseas talent given the likely lack of involvement from star Aussies.

"We loved last year how a couple of the biggest names were able to come back and play the back half of the season," said Dobson.

"On face value, it looks challenging (this season) given the complexity and busyness of the (international) schedule … that's going to present some challenges in terms of ongoing availability. It's an ongoing discussion with the high-performance part of the industry and our national teams.

"I must admit our focus since the off season has been on overseas players and continuing to find a way to get them in … albeit making sure, where the schedule allows, there is as much (Australian international) participation as possible."

Dobson said the league was committed to staging a season in which each team plays each other at home and away for a total of 14 matches apice.

But the former marketing manager at the Australian Football League said he had taken note of how the winter football codes have changed their schedule on the fly and introduced ‘hubs’ for concentrated series of games in one location.

"Cricket has its own unique considerations," said Dobson when asked about the possibility of hubs.

"We've spent a lot of time working through that, whether its wicket preparation or venue availability … a whole range of different scenarios.

"We know the clubs and broadcasters are as flexible as they need to be to get the season away.

"I've got nothing but admiration for the way the footy codes have been able to adapt and we're learning a lot from them."

View the full Rebel WBBL|06 and KFC BBL|10 fixtures here.