Glenn Maxwell wants CA to pump more money into the BBL to help the league retain its stars. GETTY IMAGES
Aussie cricketer Glenn Maxwell called on Cricket Australia to "find more money to stop the loss of stars" to competing leagues as criticism mounts over the quality of games in this year's Big Bash League, according to Peter Lalor of THE AUSTRALIAN. A number of "big names," including AB de Villiers, Andre Russell and even Nepal's Sandeep Lamichhane, "opted for the Bangladesh Premier League over the BBL this season." Suggestions from CA execs that "any extra money for the BBL would have to come from domestic players' wages are likely to reignite the ugly pay dispute" of '17-18. Commentators believe poor pitches, low scores, uncompetitive games and the absence of int'l "stars" has made for "one of the least interesting incarnations of the highly successful league" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 1/30).
'THE RIGHT BALANCE': In Sydney, Pierik & Nicolussi reported the man in charge of CA when the BBL was born has "defended the tournament and its longer format," and maintained that two internationals for each franchise "was the right balance." James Sutherland quit CA midway through '18, but "happily defended his former employer when it came to the latest edition of the Twenty20 tournament." Sutherland: "People jump to almost binary conclusions. ... They'll get it right. Every time you do these things you learn and it gets better. ... What people don't appreciate is every season is different, and people think every season has to be structured exactly the same" (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 1/29).
