Every club to play in front of home fans in bumper first eight days of men's Big Bash League's 14th edition
Opening week extravaganza as BBL|14 schedule revealed
The men's Big Bash will hit every market to open this summer with all eight clubs to play home games in the first eight days of KFC BBL|14.
Perth Scorchers, the league’s most successful club, will launch the tournament for the first time when they host Melbourne Stars at Optus Stadium on Sunday, December 15.
Sydney Thunder will host two games in the opening week – Adelaide Strikers in Canberra on December 17 before returning to their western suburbs base four days later for the first Saturday night clash of the season, a blockbuster Sydney Smash against the Sixers.
That match will form part of a Super Saturday double-header on Fox Cricket with Hobart Hurricanes to play their first home game of the season in a twilight (4pm AEDT) fixture against the Scorchers at Blundstone Arena.
Reigning champions Brisbane Heat will cap off an epic opening eight days on Sunday, December 22 when they face Adelaide Strikers as they return to the Gabba for the first time since lifting the BBL|13 trophy.
Key points of KFC BBL|14 schedule
– 44-game season runs December 15 to January 27
– Uninterrupted cricket every night (except December 24-25), including six double-headers
– Perth Scorchers to launch season at Optus Stadium for the first time
– Matches in all capital cities plus Geelong over the first eight days
– Seven Network and 7plus to broadcast 34 games live (including finals) with every match on Foxtel and Kayo Sports
Their final rematch against the Sixers is pencilled in for their next home game on December 29, but they'll have to wait until their last match of the regular season to take on finals hero Josh Brown who jumped ship to Melbourne Renegades in the off-season.
Australia's men's Test players will again be provided with an opportunity to suit up for their Big Bash teams with every club to play at least three regular season matches following the end of the fifth Border-Gavaskar Test on January 7.
Usman Khawaja (Heat), Nathan Lyon (Renegades) and Mitch Marsh (Scorchers) are currently the only Test regulars with BBL deals for the upcoming summer but batters Travis Head, Alex Carey (both Strikers), Marnus Labuschagne (Heat) and Steve Smith (Sixers) have long affiliations with their clubs, and all remain confident of securing their returns for BBL|14.
Clubs can also sign a maximum of two Cricket Australia contracted players to a marquee supplementary list, like the Sixers and Thunder did with Mitchell Starc and Test skipper Pat Cummins respectively last season and bring them into their squad should they become available.
However, with Australia set to tour Sri Lanka for two Tests in February, their involvement in the Big Bash, along with fellow paceman Josh Hazlewood's, appears set to be limited by their international workloads.
League officials are optimistic this season looms as their "best shot" for maximum representation of Aussie players with the changes made to player contracting and salary caps in recent years decreasing the risk for clubs to contract the nation's international stars, while the return of big crowds since the pandemic has also helped increased the appeal of the competition.
"This is a brilliant schedule for fans, with uninterrupted action every night of the regular season and all the marquee games our fans love," said Alistair Dobson, CA's general manager of Big Bash Leagues.
"We also can't wait to welcome back members of the Australian Test team once again in January, taking advantage of a bigger window following the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series."
The league's finals series will follow the same four-game format as last season beginning with the Qualifier on January 21 and concluding with a prime-time public holiday BBL|14 Final on Monday, January 27.
A new broadcast arrangement also comes into effect from this season with matches to be shown on the Seven Network's digital platform 7plus for the first time. The Seven Network will broadcast 34 matches, including all finals, on its free-to-air channels and 7plus, with all 44 matches to be shown live on Foxtel and Kayo Sports.
The Stars, who traditionally play one of their five home games away from the MCG due to the Boxing Day Test, will host the Thunder in Canberra on Saturday, December 28. It means the Thunder will continue to feature twice in nation's capital this season despite strengthening their presence at their Western Sydney base by hosting an extra home match at the showground's newly named ENGIE Stadium.
KFC BBL|14 key blockbusters
December 15: Scorchers v Stars season opener @ Optus Stadium
December 21: First Fox Cricket Super Saturday – Hurricanes v Scorchers @ Blundstone Arena followed by Thunder v Sixers Sydney Smash @ ENGIE Stadium
December 22: Heat return to Gabba v Strikers
December 26: Boxing Day double-header – Sixers v Stars @ SCG followed by Scorchers v Heat @ Optus Stadium
December 29: BBL|13 Final rematch – Heat v Sixers @ Gabba
December 31: Strikers' 12th New Year's Eve match v Scorchers @ Adelaide Oval
January 4: Stars v Renegades Melbourne derby @ MCG
January 17: Sixers v Thunder Sydney Smash 2 @ SCG
January 27: BBL|14 Final – winner of Qualifier v winner of Challenger
The Sixers will play in Coffs Harbour (against the Heat on January 3) for the fourth straight season while Melbourne Renegades return to Geelong (against the Hurricanes on December 19) after last summer's clash at GMHBA Stadium was abandoned after 6.5 overs due to an unsafe pitch.
"We pushed hard to host our first home game of the new season in Geelong and play in front of our passionate fan base," Renegades general manager James Rosengarten said. "Our fans in Geelong missed out last year and we want to make it a great show of cricket and entertainment on December 19."
The Hurricanes meanwhile won't play in Launceston this summer with venue redevelopments at UTAS Stadium limiting crowd capacity.
From start to finish BBL|14 will run for 44 days – the same duration as last summer (excluding a five-day break for the first Test of 2023-24 against Pakistan) – an optimum length, according to league officials, that is already paying dividends with overseas stars Sam Billings, Colin Munro, Tom Curran and Chris Jordan shunning the lure of rival franchise competitions to commit to the BBL for the entire season including finals.
"We were really happy with the length of the competition which provides a really good cadence for clubs and … spreads the BBL out across the peak cricket period," said Margot Harley, head of competition development and strategy for Big Bash Leagues.
"Making sure we start really strong in every market is really important, we're a national competition and the best way to showcase that is to be present with really strong matchups, which we feel we've got in the both the BBL and WBBL.
"As a league, we're super excited to start BBL|14 off in Perth as they take on the Stars.
"They've done a lot of work over previous years to really build their proposition and we know they're going to put on a really good show to start the season off and set up a big summer of cricket."
Tickets to all WBBL|10 and BBL|14 matches will be available to the general public from late August.