Big Bash League Unfortunate To Lose Big Names Due To ODI Series, says Aaron Finch

Australia and Melbourne Renegades skipper Aaron Finch, on Wednesday (January 10), said it is “unfortunate” some of the stars will not feature in the latter stages of the ongoing Big Bash League due to Australia’s upcoming five-match one-day international series against England. At the same time, Finch also admitted that it is unlikely that the scheduling clash would change.

Big names missing the league due to international commitments has always been a topic of debate, and the never-ending discussion is set to continue this season too as the likes of Finch, Marcus Stoinis, Jhye Richardson and Adam Zampa are set to miss the business end of the tournament. The players have played in the first half of the BBL season but are looking unlikely to return because of ODI and Twenty20 international commitments.

The departure of the players will deal another big blow to the league which is already missing the likes of Steve Smith, David Warner, Mitchell Starc, and Pat Cummins.

The business end of the ongoing season coincides with the five-match one-day series beginning on Sunday (January 14) and will conclude on January 28. Within a week after the conclusion of the ODIs, Australia will play the first match of the T20 tri-series against England on February 3. The series also features New Zealand.

Finch is looking set to be named in the T20 squad which effectively rules him out the BBL semi-finals on February 1 and 2 and the final on February 4 – if Renegades make it to the knockouts.  Finch is the only player from the Melbourne-based outfit in the Australian ODI squad, but as captain and their best batsman, his absence would hurt the Renegades who are third in the table.

“It’s been a talking point for a few years now. I am sure that everyone in the country would love to see Starc and Cummins and Smith and Warner being available for the Big Bash full-time and guys that go out for the one-day series as well,” Finch said.

At the same time, Finch said the absence of big names gives other players the opportunity to rise up to the occasion.

“Does it weaken it [BBL]? I think it gives other players an opportunity which will test the depth of squads and probably really puts list management to the test in the Big Bash, making sure that teams do have a couple of guys to cover a few spots in case someone gets selected,” he said.

“I think it would be great to see everyone available to play but scheduling is a pretty hard thing to do. You do have to fit cricket in somewhere – it is unfortunate it does have to happen like that. You can make the same arguments for shield cricket and one-day cricket, making players available the whole time but it’s not possible,” he added.

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