AFL fallout hurting cricket
THE AFL’s embarrassing bubble-bursting antics is not making life easy for cricket as administrators work around the clock to nail down a summer schedule.
Sydney was confirmed as the host of the Women’s Big Bash League, which will start on the same day as the NRL Grand Final on October 25.
Adelaide will be confirmed as the hub for four rounds of Sheffield Shield cricket, and the schedule for the Test summer against India including matches in Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane is expected to be officially announced next week.
A sticking point for CA is working out quarantine arrangements for Australia’s men’s players when they return from the UK and the
IPL, and as revealed by News Corp this week, the plan to use Perth is under a cloud thanks to the West Australian Government’s fury at the AFL over quarantine breaches.
Now the Queensland Government is in the midst of a major political backlash over Richmond’s strip club fiasco on the Gold Coast.
If WA cannot be used as a quarantine hub then other states or territories will be looked at, but cricket will be hoping the football codes do not burn out all the goodwill before a ball is even bowled.
Meanwhile, Channel 7 and Cricket Australia met face-toface on Friday and pledged to keep the lines of communication open.
After a volatile week, the waters appear to have calmed for the time being in cricket’s explosive TV war, after a positive meeting between Seven boss James Warburton and CA chief Nick Hockley in Sydney.
“We had a constructive meeting, no decisions made but we have agreed to keep talking,” Warburton said.
NSW was shunned by the AFL, but Cricket Australia has locked in a deal to host all 59 WBBL matches, with North Sydney Oval, Drummoyne Oval and Hurstville Oval likely to be put up in lights.
“We want to thank the
NSW Government for their willingness to work together to deliver the WBBL competition in Sydney,” Dobson said.
“We are incredibly proud to deliver a full season of WBBL and would like to thank the NSW Government, our partner states and territories associations, the Australian Cricketers’ Association as well as in particular Cricket NSW — for rallying together at this challenging time.”