Big Bash League
The KFC Big Bash League, also known as the KFC Big Bash League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Twenty20 cricket league in Australia. Established in 2011 by Cricket Australia, it features eight city-based franchises and is held annually between December and February. In 2016–17, it was one of the two T20 cricket leagues—alongside the Indian Premier League—to feature amongst the top ten domestic sport leagues in average attendance.
The Perth Scorchers are the most successful team in the tournament's history and the most dominant franchise in Australian sport, having won the title six times including consecutively for two years twice., there have been 15 seasons of the tournament. The current champions are the Perth Scorchers, who won the 2025–26 season after defeating the Sydney Sixers by 6 wickets in the final.
History
Predecessor
The KFC Twenty20 Big Bash was an Australian domestic Twenty20 cricket tournament.Running over six seasons from 2005–06 to 2010–11, the Twenty20 Big Bash was the first top level domestic Twenty20 competition in Australia, contested by the six traditional Sheffield Shield state cricket teams.
The Victorian Bushrangers were the most successful team during the tournament's running, winning four out of the six titles.
The competition was replaced by the franchise-based Big Bash League from 2011–12.
Trophy
A design contest was held in 2011 to determine the design of the Big Bash League trophy. The competition was restricted to Australian designers, with the final design, chosen by the public from a field of three, revealed on 13 December 2011.The Power Surge
The Power Surge is a strategic rule where the batting team can activate a two-over "floating" powerplay after the tenth over, allowing only two fielders outside the inner circle, designed to boost scoring and add excitement in the second half of the innings. It replaced the traditional six-over opening powerplay with a four-over initial one, giving teams tactical choice and creating more high-scoring opportunities for the batsmen.Expansion proposals
It had been proposed that the tournament would undergo expansion into more regional areas not supported by international cricket. The expansion was originally planned to be implemented in 2012. The proposed teams included: Newcastle, Canberra, Geelong, and Gold Coast. A New Zealand-based team was also mentioned as a possibility which would be based at Auckland or Christchurch, but this is unlikely to happen. The expansion proposal was suspended, mainly because the proposed cities lacked the proper cricket hosting facilities.File:Shane Warne MelbourneStars.jpg|thumb|Shane Warne of Melbourne Stars bowling against Sydney Sixers at the SCG in 2011
In 2015, former Black Caps captain and Melbourne Stars coach Stephen Fleming suggested the expansion of the tournament to include New Zealand teams and become a trans-Tasman competition. He said an expansion into New Zealand would be widely supported by locals. His views were also supported by Brisbane Heat coach and former Black Caps captain Daniel Vettori. Melbourne Renegades chief executive Stuart Coventry also stated that he wants Cricket Australia to grant each club a fifth home fixture next season. Coventry said the BBL was ready to expand from 8 to 10 games, and adding matches would further establish the franchises.
In 2016, Anthony Everard, head of the BBL, flagged the league's intentions to approach expansion through a soft launch. He stated the short to medium term goal was to schedule BBL games involving existing franchises in regional markets before potentially adding new teams after the 2017–18 season when the broadcast deal expired. He also indicated the regional markets of Canberra, Geelong, Launceston, Coffs Harbour, Albury, Moe, Cairns, Gold Coast, and Alice Springs will likely host games during the soft launch period. On 27 January 2017, Everard announced an extra eight matches would be added to the 2017–18 season and implored each existing franchise to look at new markets when considering where the extra games would be played, although the lengthened season was not implemented until 2018–19.
In 2018, it was reported that the Gold Coast Suns were interested in securing a Big Bash League franchise if the competition was expanded.
Cricket ACT has campaigned for an expansion team in both the men's and women's competition. In October 2024, Australian Capital Territory Chief Minister Andrew Barr announced as part of his campaign for the 2024 Australian Capital Territory election, that the ACT Government would provide funding for an expansion team in both the men's and women's competitions in partnership with Cricket ACT, if the territory was granted a team. The proposed team would be based at Manuka Oval in Canberra, where the Australian national team have hosted international fixtures. In July 2025, Cricket Australia CEO Todd Greenburg floated the idea of expanding the competition to New Zealand, following a Boston Consulting Group report on improving and innovating the league. ESPN reported in December 2025 that "New Zealand, which boasts teams in many Australian sports leagues, is an obvious first foray abroad . Its proximity to the east coast of Australia makes it easier from a logistical sense while being attractive to broadcasters. With New Zealand being two hours ahead of Sydney and Melbourne, and five in front of Perth, having triple headers on game days could create a television bonanza." The CA board was reported to also be considering an expansion into Singapore.
Women's Big Bash League
Former women's Test captain and Head of Brisbane's Centre of Excellence, Belinda Clark, revealed on 19 January 2014 that planning for a women's BBL was in its early stages but could become a reality very soon. She stated that the proposal was being considered due to the huge rise in television ratings during the 2013–14 season, and the rise in women's cricket popularity.On 19 February 2015, Cricket Australia announced that a Women's Big Bash League would commence in the 2015–16 season, with teams aligned to the men's competition. It was announced that the teams would share the names and colours of the existing men's BBL teams, meaning that there would be two teams from Sydney and Melbourne and one team from Adelaide, Brisbane, Hobart, and Perth.
The inaugural Women's Big Bash League was won by the Sydney Thunder against the Sydney Sixers by 3 wickets. The current champion from the 2022–23 Women's Big Bash League season is Adelaide Strikers who won their maiden WBBL title by defeating Sydney Thunder by 10 runs.
Christmas Day match
In December 2015, Cricket Australia revealed that they are looking into the possibility of hosting a Christmas Day BBL match in the coming years, possibly after the next season. If the proposal is passed, it would have been a first in the history of Australian sport since no professional matches had played in Australia on Christmas Day at that time. "It is something we have just recently started discussing, the possibilities of that. We're talking about playing a Christmas Eve match, we already play Boxing Day," CA's Executive GM Mike McKenna said. This has not yet occurred, but in September 2018, it was reported that Cricket Australia had struck a deal with the Australian Cricketers' Association to play BBL matches on Christmas Day.Tournament format
Since the inception of the BBL in 2011, the tournament format has changed a number of times.The first BBL season had 28 group stage matches, before expanding to 32 in the following season.
In previous seasons of the tournament, the group stage matches were divided into eight rounds, with four matches played in each round. Each team played six other teams once during a season, and one team twice. This allowed for both Sydney and Melbourne to play 2 derbies within a single season. Each team played eight group stage matches, four at home and four away, before the top four ranked teams progressed to the semi-finals. In the 2017/18 Season, the format changed so that there would be 40 group stage matches with each team playing 10 matches before the semi-finals. The season was held over a similar time-frame thus resulting in more doubleheaders and teams playing more regularly.
From the 2018–19 season, each team played all other teams twice during a season, for a total of 56 regular season matches before the finals series.
The 2023–24 season was shortened, with each team played ten regular season matches, playing three teams twice, and four teams once; for a total of 40 regular season games and 4 finals. This was in response to concerns that the 61 game season was too long.
The final of the tournament is played at the home ground of the higher-ranked team. The only exception to this rule was 2014–15 season when the final was played at a neutral venue, due to the 2015 Cricket World Cup.
In the 2018–19 season, the league introduced a 'bat flip' to decide who would bat/bowl first.
Up to the 2018–19 season the top four teams contested the finals, which consisted of two semi-finals and a final.
The finals structure was changed in the 2019–20 season to include a fifth team, and a "double chance" for the top two teams. The structure was a hybrid version of the Page–McIntyre final four system with the addition of 'The Eliminator' being the difference between the original and hybrid versions.:
- Eliminator – Fourth v Fifth
- Qualifier – First v Second
- Knock-Out – Third v Winner of the Eliminator
- Challenger – Loser of the Qualifier v Winner of the Knock-Out
- Final – Winner of the Qualifier v Winner of the Challenger
- Qualifier – First v Second
- Knockout – Third v Fourth
- Challenger – Loser of the Qualifier v Winner of the Knock-Out
- Final – Winner of the Qualifier v Winner of the Challenger