BIG BASH MAY TURN TO BIG CASH FOR LYNN

SACKED drawcard Chris Lynn could be lost to the Big Bash altogether because of a new South African league offering marquee superstars more than $400,000 for just four weeks work.

The BBL is set to introduce an overseas player draft for the first time this summer in a bid to lure the game’s biggest international names back down under and recapture the competition’s former magic ahead of a new make-or-break TV rights deal.

But already that plan is under serious threat from cashed-up foreign raiders and Lynn’s shock axing has laid bare the latest potential predicament facing the besieged BBL.

South Africa is launching a new six-team T20 franchise league to run directly against the BBL in January and the mail is it’s prepared to offer up to $433,000 to fill overseas marquee player spots on each team.

That’s a problem when Lynn was one of only a couple of players in the BBL – Australian or overseas – earning top dollar at $200,000 a season, with the average more around the $100,000 mark.

“Chris Lynn is a world-class entertainer and an obvious target for the new South African league,” respected South African broadcaster Neil Manthorp said.

“There’d be executives watching his departure from Brisbane Heat very closely.”

Players have complained about the BBL’s drawn out six-week duration and South Africa has looked to seize on that sentiment by promising a season of just four weeks which starts late enough that players can enjoy Christmas at home.

And, as if one rival league wasn’t enough, there is also talk about another T20 competition launching in the United Arab Emirates in January or February – including a Manchester United team – where marquee players like Lynn could easily earn double – or more – what they can pocket in the BBL.

Lynn’s agent is English based and very much in-tune with the global cricket market outside the BBL.

It must be said the BBL has seen plenty of these would-be T20 Leagues come and go over the years – and the last South African T20 competition fell in a financial heap and never made it off the ground.

One thing the BBL can guarantee is it’s a well-run competition which pays its players and there are countless examples of Australians struggling to get paid what’s owed to them in these start-up overseas leagues.

But nonetheless the threat is there and the BBL would be advised to take it seriously.

Cricket Australia sources say they are and administrators are looking at ways they can compete with the new overseas leagues financially and with the timing of when the draft is held – trying to get first dibs on international stars for the BBL.

But the view of the Big Bash from overseas is that it got too greedy and may never fully recover.