Usman Khawaja believes cricket bosses should consider moving the Boxing Day and New Year’s Tests if it allows the top Australian players to take part in the Big Bash every year.
Radical changes to the Australian summer have been part of wide discussions about possible privatisation of the BBL, including the prospect of moving the league into an October-November window where it does not have to compete with overseas leagues for talent.
Khawaja celebrating the first of two
centuries on his return to the Test side at the SCG in 2022 against England.Credit: Getty Images
This masthead revealed dual $10 million offers to Pat Cummins and Travis Head to quit Australian cricket and play franchise cricket full-time, which emerged as Cricket Australia and the states wrestle with how to keep the BBL competitive with other privately owned leagues.
For Khawaja, a long-time advocate of privatisation, decision-makers must be bold enough to consider moving one or both of the summer’s showpiece Test matches if it means the likes of Cummins, Head, Cameron Green and others can play in the BBL.
“At some level, at some stage, everything that grows must change,” Khawaja told this masthead. “As much as I love the Boxing Day and SCG Test match and I don’t want to move them, if it’s better for the growth of the game and allows Australian players to play in the Big Bash, I think it’s worth talking about and exploring. People don’t like change.
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“My view is always for the growth of the game. I do think the BBL needs to be privatised for the growth of the game, but I do believe certain boundaries need to be put around how we privatise it, who we’re privatising to, what control CA has in terms of the product.
“There are some things we need to maintain, but also you need to let the bird fly. We can’t just keep holding the reins forever, because it’s a product that … look at sport in general, the NBA, Major League Baseball, these sports that have been growing through privatisation, I think the pros outweigh the cons, but there’s still a responsibility to the game. You can do both.”
The notion of moving the Melbourne or Sydney Tests out of the way of the BBL is highly contentious. It’s been subject to spirited debate within CA and among the states. Both CA chair Mike Baird and chief executive Todd Greenberg have repeatedly said neither the MCG nor SCG Tests are at risk of being moved.
