The Big Bash League kicks off its eleventh season on Sunday, December 5 when the Sydney Sixers takes on the Melbourne Stars live on Seven, Fox Sports, and Kayo.
The 45 match season will be shown live on Channel 7 and every match will be broadcast on Foxtel and Kayo. SEN radio will be broadcasting matches around the country with free radio streaming available on cricket.com.au and the CA Live app.
There will be 56 regular season matches in 46 days, before the five finals matches: the Eliminator, the Qualifier, the Knockout, the Challenger and the Final.
The competition is scheduled to wrap up in late January, an earlier finish from the previous four seasons when the final has been held in early February. That means more double-headers are pencilled in and even see three games on the final day of the home-and-away season in a mega day of the Big Bash League.
Christmas Eve will see the Hurricanes host the Stars down at Blundstone Arena and on Boxing Day, the Ashes Test will take centre stage from 10:30am AEDT, before a BBL double-header immediately follows – up first the Sydney Derby from the Sydney Showgrounds, followed by the Scorchers and the Renegades later in the evening. The Strikers will again be hosting the New Year’s Eve match at Adelaide Oval, hosting the Sydney Thunder.
Seven’s commentary team will feature Damien Fleming, Simon Katich, Mel McLaughlin, James Brayshaw, Lisa Sthalekar, Greg Blewett, Matthew Hayden, Brad Hodge, Trent Copeland, Tim Lane, Alison Mitchell, Callum Ferguson, Abbey Gelmi, Jason Richardson, Andy Maher, Alister Nicholson, and Erin Holland.
They will be joined by former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum and five-time ICC Umpire of the Year Simon Taufel, while current Big Bash stars Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Aaron Finch, Andre Russell, and Ashton Agar will be regulars on Seven’s live and free BBL coverage.
Fox Sports Commentary team will be headlined by Adam Gilchrist, Isa Guha and Shane Warne who will be joined by Kerry O’Keeffe, Mark Waugh, Mike Hussey, Brett Lee, Allan Border, Andrew Symonds, Mel Jones, Brendon Julian, Pat Cummins, Kath Loughnan, Jess Yates, Mark Howard, Sarah Jones, Alex Blackwell, Tom Morris, Megan Barnard and Nathan Lyon.