Stars braced for hub life in a season like no other

Australia's cricketers remain hopeful that a full domestic season can be played as state associations brace for the prospect of Australia's cricket summer being played in 'hubs' similar to the nation's winter football codes.

There's a collective will across the sport to ensure as much cricket as possible can be played in what is shaping to be a summer unlike any other amid the global health pandemic, and Peter Siddle voiced players' expectations there would be "some sort of hub" system this summer, adding "how it works and what we play is still up in the air".

With international cricketers and players returning from the Indian Premier League expected to face a quarantine process before any international cricket can be played, hubs for domestic cricket competitions bring a new raft of challenges.

"Domestic cricket plays a big part in the development of a lot of players for the different formats in Australian cricket, so it does have a big role to play," Siddle told cricket.com.au while quarantining in a Hobart airport hotel room for two weeks having joined Tasmania for state cricket this year.

"But we also understand that the financial costs of running domestic cricket compared to the Big Bash and international stuff, there is a big difference.

"There's a lot of players that aren't involved in the Big Bash and international cricket so the domestic game is something a lot of guys live off and want to be a part of, so fingers crossed for everyone involved that there's more cricket than less.

"But we have to have in the back of our minds that the season could be reduced in some way, whatever that might be, we don't know. But I think we have to be prepared."

Australia wicketkeeper Alyssa Healy said the nation's women's cricketers were likewise willing to go into hubs to get the 50-over Women's National Cricket League played.

"The theme that's come out of a couple of surveys and a lot of phone calls about what might potentially happen this season, the majority of responses have been, 'yeah we're willing to (go into hubs), we're willing to do whatever we can to play cricket'," Healy told News Corp.

"The girls work incredibly hard. Especially the state girls. They're not contracted full-time but they pretty much train full-time and don't get to play a lot of cricket (as is).

"They're willing to put their hands up and do whatever they can to play as much as they can and if that means going into a bubble or a hub or six weeks, they're willing to do that."

With the WNCL typically starting in September, Healy suggested finding a window after Christmas might be better given the current spike of cases in parts of Australia, and with the women's ODI World Cup still scheduled for New Zealand in early February.

"I think there's plenty of time within the New Year that things might have changed by then and we might be able to run it cheaper," Healy said.

"I think those competitions in particular, the WNCL and the Shield competitions, are really important to cricket in this country and especially the growth of the game."

With five top-flight domestic competitions, as well as men's and women's international cricket, the logistical challenges of scheduling the summer sport have become ever more complex amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

CA is yet to release fixtures for the domestic summer, with the Marsh One-Day Cup and Marsh Sheffield Shield typically starting in September and October, respectively.

The confirmation of the Indian Premier League's schedule – with 53 games to be played between September 19 and November 10 – means there could be a one-off clash with Australia's domestic summer for the 17 Australians with IPL contracts.

What impact the pandemic and associated border restrictions and quarantine periods have on this summer's fixtures remains to be seen, but hubs would be less of an adjustment for cricketers, who are used to spending long periods on the road. Reducing flights while controlling hotels could help lessen the risk to the sport.

Western Australia and Tasmania have both publicly declared their willingness to host cricket hubs this summer, with both states relatively well-placed amid the current COVID-19 outbreaks along the eastern seaboard.

"We're working hard on it, we've spoken to Cricket Australia about our willingness to be a hub," said WACA chief executive Christina Matthews this week.

"There are discussions going on. It's becoming more and more real the schedule may not go ahead as planned and we're set to go.

"There's great opportunities in WA, we've got two ICC-accredited grounds (but) it really comes down to the government.

“It doesn't matter what cricket wants to do, the governments in each state are going to determine what will happen.

"We are very fortunate in WA we are perfectly placed to have a hub for India and also domestic cricket."

Cricket Tasmania chief executive Dominic Baker said the IPL schedule "put some signposts for us to start working to" as the sport seeks to remain agile.

"We're doing a lot of scenario planning, and we're doing that with all the other states, trying to work out how we will get a domestic Shield, one-day and BBL all completed alongside international cricket as well," Baker told RSN last week.

"We're going through a whole raft of scenarios and there's things starting to fall into place. The IPL starts to put some signposts for us to start working to.

"We've also been able to watch how footy and other winter codes have managed. We're looking at hubs, we're looking at all kinds of different ways to get a season up running, but fair to say it's not going to be a traditional cricket season."