CA UNVEILS BOLD PLAN TO SAVE BBL

CRICKET Australia is confident the David Warner and Chris Lynn crisis won’t force the Big Bash to privatise, as it reveals plans to boost the salary cap and reclaim the January window from overseas billionaires.

BBL marquee Faf du Plessis has warned Australia of the dangers of home-grown stars walking out on their own competition, as officials scramble to avoid a Twenty20 gulf war and stand on its own two feet.

Knowing it can’t match the $700,000 pay packets being flogged to Aussies and overseas stars by the new United Arab Emirates T20 League, it can be revealed CA chief Nick Hockley has officially written to his Dubai equivalents asking them to push the starting date of the inaugural UAE tournament back to mid-January this summer and then delay the start date by another week again in 2023-24.

That way the UAE League, with its bottomless pockets, might start around January 24 and only compete with the BBL finals rather than the heart of the competition.

“We’ve just returned from the ICC annual conference in the UK and we’re working constructively with all the members, including the UAE, to minimise the overlap with the Big Bash,” Hockley said.

Australian players are disgruntled that overseas stars like du Plessis are coming in on bigger money for less work, but Hockley has vowed to significantly increase the BBL salary cap next year to financially reward home grown heroes – and claims it can be done without needing to rush to the kind of private-equity model that is fuelling overseas leagues.

“We’re proud that Australian cricketers are among the best-paid sportspeople in the country and I think we’ve also invested additional funds in attracting the best overseas players as part of the draft,” Hockley said. “We’re in the fortunate position where we don’t need to rush any discussion in relation to private investment, but we continue to stay close to the market and will continue to discuss all our strategic options with stakeholders.”

T20 superstar du Plessis is arguably the biggest name in the Big Bash draft on August 28 and broadcast live on Kayo and Fox Sports.

But he will himself leave after a month because as well as a UAE League, there’s a new South African League starting in the now jampacked January period.

The Proteas great fears the ridiculous amounts of money now being offered by the UAE has threatened the patriotic loyalty that the Australian and South African competitions are relying on. “The amount of money that’s going into the T20 game is what’s making it a threat more than ever,” du Plessis said.