'Shocked and disappointed': Captain questions huge BBL changes
Sydney Thunder captain Callum Ferguson says he was ‘shocked’ by the Big Bash League’s new rules for the 2020/21 season, and questioned whether they came about as a result of too many lopsided matches last season.
The BBL has controversially introduced the Power Surge, X-Factor and Bash Boost, drawing scepticism from the likes of former Australian captain Michael Clarke and former Test opener Ed Cowan.
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While Ferguson said the Thunder, as well as the rest of the league, would accept the changes having experienced how they work in a practice setting, he pondered whether officials had overreacted to lopsided matches last season.
“If I am honest, I was pretty shocked they were looking to make big changes to the game,” Ferguson said in an interview with news.com.au.
“I’m a firm believer the T20 game is a great product as it is.
“I feel like we might have been looking to change the game a little bit on the back of some lopsided games, which were probably more a result of the wickets not being what they normally are in Australia.
“I felt shocked and a little bit disappointed initially. However, now that the changes have been made, our team will be embracing those changes.”
Among the key concerns for players Ferguson had spoken with was whether or not the game would continue to be accessible for new fans.
The BBL is set to get underway on Thursday night, when the Thunder take on the Hobart Hurricanes in Tasmania.
Concerns remain over lengthy BBL season
The BBL will embark on another 14-game season on Thursday, despite concerns the season was running for too long.
Ferguson is of the opinion the BBL needs to return to the original 10-match season, wary of the situation the domestic T20 competition in England has fared since choosing to expand.
“I do think the tournament’s a little bit longer than it needs to be,” Ferguson said.
“I thought 10 was a really good number, games wise, and I think a majority of the players had concerns about pushing out to 14 games when it was proposed.
“We were really keen to make sure that we didn’t go down the path that the English T20 went down. They flooded and saturated the T20 market in England, and the tournament went backwards.
“We think that we’ve probably just stretched it a little bit too far, and that we could probably rope it back in a little bit and have a few less games.”
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