BBL boss stunned by stars swipe at new rules

Sydney Thunder skipper Usman Khawaja claimed on Tuesday that the “power surge”, the “X-factor player” and the “Bash Boost” innovations for the coming season were complicating an already complicated game, while T20 great Shane Watson lashed them as “gimmicky”.

BBL boss Alistair Dobson responded on Tuesday, confirming that Khawaja was one of many stars contacted by the BBL committee during the year for their thoughts on the proposed rule innovations, while Watson is president of the Players’ Association who effectively ticked off on the changes.

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Dobson welcomed the powder keg of debate that has erupted – including from Khawaja and Watson – because it showed people cared about the competition.

But he stressed that none of the innovations would change the fundamentals of the game, and maintains it’s the BBL’s role to keep pushing the envelope.

“It’s still bowlers bowling and batters batting and runs winning,” Dobson told News Corp.

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“We consulted with a number of players throughout the process and then at the end of the day there’s a committee that exists within Australian cricket that considers proposals around rule changes and playing conditions of which the ACA (Australian Cricketers Association) and representatives of the ACA sit on those committees and endorsed and supported these proposals.

“Absolutely the player voice is loud and strong in that.

“We did speak to Usman a while back, through that process. Callum Ferguson, Aaron Finch to name a few. We spent a lot of time with coaches of each BBL team to get their input around how they might use these rules and how we might drive new looks at strategy and the way the coaches are involved in games.

“Cricket more than any other sport around the world has a rich history of innovating and pushing the envelope on making cricket as exciting and engaging and fun to watch as possible and that’s been our philosophy here and we think we’ve landed on a good formula.

“There’s a significant amount of data and analysis that’s sat behind the development of these innovations … and we’ve consulted across a wide range of experts, including players, coaches, broadcasters and match officials so we’re really confident they’re set up to succeed.”

It’s understood broadcasters weren’t unanimous in their support of the three rule changes – one a power play, one a substitute player who can be called in mid-match, and the other a bonus point system – but believe the negative reaction on social media has been over the top.

Fox Sports were disappointed Watson as ACA President was so damning.

“We find that extremely disappointing given the Players Association ratified these rules,” said Fox Cricket boss, Matt Weiss.

“Any new rules tend to get a negative reaction. We’re going to get behind them and see how it plays out. We’re really excited about the BBL and can’t wait for it to start.”

The ACA said Watson was entitled to his opinion as one of the all-time greats of T20 cricket, and said its playing group would have a wide-range of individual thoughts on the rule changes.

It says consultation was more around communication from CA that the changes were being made rather than input into their development – but say it’s CA’s prerogative to bring in new rules.

The AFL and the NRL saw the COVID year as an ideal time to trial new rules, and privately CA officials believe that even if only one or two of the changes come off it will be worth its while, and there’s no harm reassessing at season’s end.

Australian T20 star Alex Carey went the opposite way to Khawaja and Watson in endorsing the changes.

“I am a big supporter. Any time we can make what is already an amazing competition even better for the crowd and the viewers at home is a good thing,” said Carey.

“It certainly should make the games even more exciting and it really opens it up for the 12th or 13th man to play a really big part. It’s always good to try some new things to enhance what is already a great product.”