Big Bash robbed of stars

THE Big Bash League risks being robbed of its biggest stars including D’Arcy Short and Alex Carey for the finals due to cricket’s congested schedule, if they earn national call-ups.

Australia’s Twenty20 squad is due to go into camp for its international Tri-series on January 31, the day before the BBL’s finals begin.

Complicating matters further is the fact Australia is due to play a four-Test series in South Africa in March, and selectors have confirmed some of their multi-formatted stars will head there early to begin preparations.

That will rule those players out of the T20 tri-series with England and New Zealand, which doesn’t conclude until February 21 in Auckland — the day before a tour match begins in South Africa.

Both squads will be selected at the same time, and those named in both will have to play the T20 tournament in its entirety, therefore skipping the only warm-up match in South Africa and entering the Test series with no red-ball cricket since the Ashes.

Last summer’s 13-man Australian T20 squad, picked while the Test team was in India, was a virtual BBL all-stars side with eight players named from the tournament who did not play in the preceding one-day series against Pakistan.

If a similar approach is followed, it means Hobart’s bighitting Short, Adelaide’s Carey and Billy Stanlake, Perth’s Hilton Cartwright and Ashton Turner along with Brisbane’s Joe Burns could all have shots at selection, leaving them unavailable for potential finals.

The Scorchers’ task could be made even harder with the losses of Jhye Richardson and Andrew Tye if they retain their spot from the one-day side, while Adelaide skipper Travis Head would also be in the same boat.

This summer marks the first time the Big Bash finals clash with Australian international T20s, and will be more of a nuisance to clubs given they have had their trump shortestform stars available for the whole of the regular season.

The loss of players to oneday sides was controversial last summer after Kevin Pietersen claimed cricketers wanted to be playing in the booming BBL.