The Big Bash League (BBL) is an Australian professional franchise Twenty20 cricket league, which was established in 2011 by Cricket Australia. The Big Bash League replaced the previous competition, the KFC Twenty20 Big Bash, and features eight city-based franchises instead of the six state teams which had participated previously. The competition has been sponsored by fast food chicken outlet KFC since its inception. It is one of the two T20 cricket leagues, alongside the Indian Premier League, to feature amongst the top ten domestic sport leagues in average attendance. The winner of BBL|08 (2018/2019) was the Melbourne Renegades.
BBL matches are played in Australia during the southern hemisphere summer, in the months of December, January and February.
Out of the eight teams in the tournament, six have won the title at least once. The Perth Scorchers are the most successful team in the league’s short history, winning the title three times including consecutively for two years and have reached the final of the tournament in five of the eight seasons. The other five teams which have won the title are the Adelaide Strikers, Sydney Sixers, Melbourne Renegades, Brisbane Heat and Sydney Thunder. The current champions are the Sydney Sixers.
BBL FORMAT
TEAMS
Melbourne Renegades Perth Scorchers
Melbourne Stars Brisbane Heat
Sydney Sixers Adelaide Strikers
Sydney Thunder Hobart Hurricanes
Melbourne Renegades
The Melbourne Renegades are an Australian professional men’s Twenty20 franchise cricket team based in the Australian state of Victoria. They compete in the Australian Twenty20 cricket competition, the Big Bash League. The Renegades play their home matches at Marvel Stadium, in Melbourne’s Docklands precinct, whilst also using Geelong’s GMHBA Stadium for home matches. The team is coached by Michael Klinger and captained by Aaron Finch. Melbourne Renegades won their first title in BBL08 when they defeated their arch rivals the Melbourne Stars at Marvel Stadium.
Melbourne Stars
The Melbourne Stars is an Australian Twenty20 franchise cricket team, based in Melbourne, Victoria that competes in Australia’s Twenty20 competition, the Big Bash League. The Stars wear a green uniform and play their home matches at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the largest cricket stadium in the world. One of their longest-serving players, Marcus Stoinis, recently achieved the highest individual score in Big Bash League history, scoring 147* against the Sydney Sixers.
Sydney Sixers
The Sydney Sixers are an Australian professional franchise men’s cricket team, competing in Australia’s domestic Twenty20 cricket competition, the Big Bash League (BBL). Along with the Sydney Thunder, the Sixers are the successors of the New South Wales Blues who played in the now-defunct KFC Twenty20 Big Bash. The Sixers play at Sydney Cricket Ground in the south-eastern area of the inner city while the Thunder play out of Spotless Stadium further west. The inaugural coach was Trevor Bayliss, who was replaced in 2015 by current coach Greg Shipperd. The Sixers’ inaugural captain was Australian wicket-keeper Brad Haddin. Both Steve Smith and Moises Henriques have also spent time captaining the team.
As a result of their successful Big Bash League grand final win in BBL01, the Sixers competed for the first time in the Champions League Twenty20 tournament. The tournament was held in October 2012 in South Africa. Again, the Sixers made history by winning this tournament on their first attempt. The Sixers were top of their group going into the finals of the tournament. They went on to defeat the Nashua Titans in the semi-finals and then the Highveld Lions in the final of the tournament to be crowned champions.
Sydney Thunder
The Sydney Thunder are an Australian franchise professional cricket team, competing in Australia’s domestic Twenty20 cricket competition, the Big Bash League. The team’s home ground is Sydney Showground Stadium, known as Giants Stadium. Their team uniform is chartreuse yellow. Thunder won the fifth edition of Big Bash, as well as the inaugural Women’s Big Bash League.
Perth Scorchers
The Perth Scorchers is an Australian domestic Twenty20 franchise cricket team representing Perth in the Big Bash League (BBL).
The Scorchers are the most successful team in BBL history, winning three championships and coming runners up twice. They were defeated in their second final by the Brisbane Heat in BBL02. They then won the next two consecutive championships, becoming the first team to achieve the feat in the league’s history. These wins came against the Hobart Hurricanes and the Sydney Sixers in a last-ball thriller at Canberra’s Manuka Oval.
Mickey Arthur was originally appointed coach, but quit before the beginning of the 2011–12 season after he was appointed coach of the Australian cricket team. He was replaced by his former assistant, Lachlan Stevens. Justin Langer replaced Stevens in November 2012. Following the appointment of Langer as the Australian coach in May 2018, Adam Voges was named as the new coach for the 2018–19 season.
Brisbane Heat
The Brisbane Heat are an Australian men’s professional Twenty20 franchise cricket team that competes in the Big Bash League. The Heat wears a teal uniform and are based in Brisbane in the Australian state Queensland. Their home ground is the Brisbane Cricket Ground.
In their second season, they won the Big Bash League for the first time and thus qualified for the Champions League Twenty20.
Adelaide Strikers
The Adelaide Strikers, are an Australian men’s and women’s franchise professional Twenty20 cricket team that competes in Australia’s domestic Twenty20 cricket competition, the Big Bash League. The Strikers are based in the state of South Australia and represent Adelaide in the Big Bash League. Their home ground is the Adelaide Oval. The Strikers wear a cornflower blue uniform with a West End Draught logo on it, due to a sponsorship agreement with brewers, West End. The Strikers were formed in 2011 to play in the Big Bash League, succeeding the Southern Redbacks, who played in the now-defunct KFC Twenty20 Big Bash competition.
The Strikers men’s are currently coached by former Australian cricketer Jason Gillespie and captained by Travis Head. The women’s team are coached by Luke Williams and captained by New Zealander Suzie Bates.
Hobart Hurricanes
The Hobart Hurricanes are an Australian professional men’s T20 franchise cricket team based in Tasmania, Australia. They compete in Australia’s domestic T20 cricket competition known as the Big Bash League, which is a league where many international players compete. Their team represents Hobart. The Hurricanes play their home matches at Blundstone Arena. The Hurricanes wear a purple cricket uniform.
World Cricket Leagues 