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DARREN BERRY’S CLUB-BY -CLUB BIG BASH GUIDE

DECEMBER is synonymous with Christmas but now in our country it also means Big Bash time.

The seventh edition of the BBL will kick off on Tuesday evening and many summer nights will be spent glued to the television for some highly entertaining cricket.

This might be the fast food outlet of cricket, but the nourishment is very good.

The Perth Scorchers have been the most successful team in the six seasons of this format. They have featured in every finals series and played off in five of the six grand finals, winning three.

The highly acclaimed Melbourne Stars have made the finals in every year also, but cannot break the drought, bombing out in the semi-final every year except for 2015-16 when they hosted the Sydney Thunder in the final to finish the bridesmaid once again.

The Sydney Sixers are always highly competitive and again have a strong list to choose from.

They have played off in three of the six finals. Sydney Thunder has been the weakest team in the competition by a long way, apart from a remarkable season in 2015-16 when it won the title.

Brisbane Heat and Hobart Hurricanes have dragged the chain a little in the BBL, although the Heat has won the title once back in 2012-13 and was very competitive last year.

The Adelaide Strikers have finished minor premiers on two occasions but never played off in the final. Melbourne Renegades have also finished minor premiers once but also never appeared in the main event.

The semifinal format is wrong and should have been adjusted years ago as it denies the top team any real advantage come finals time. Each semifinal is cut-throat and on four occasions the fourth-placed team has upset the first in the semifinal. It’s the only flaw in an otherwise fantastic package.

The eight competing teams have assembled their squads and here is a look at the strengths and weaknesses of each.