Summer on the auction block

SP on the high stakes battle over Australian cricket's future

In a sport now run on muscular majoritarianism, Bollywood gravity and venture capital, Australian cricket is staring down the bar-room mirror and asking itself: do we sell a piece of our soul to the global franchise carnival, or risk becoming the Newtown Jets of world cricket?

Summers will soon look very different for Australians under Cricket Australia’s current proposal to privatise the Big Bash League, with ground being softened for change to sacred cultural touchstones like the Boxing Day and New Years Tests.

Under their proposal, summer Tests will be played in December, January will be cleared for the Big Bash, while initially there may be potential overlap of the two. While the Boxing Day and New Years Tests are guaranteed until the 2030-31 TV rights deal is completed, as CA CEO Todd Greenberg told The Grade Cricketer in January, those Tests “remain where they are, primarily because they’ve been contracted…but that doesn’t mean it will always be like that in the future.”

Australians might be surprised to learn that the Boxing Day and New Years Tests may have five years to live, yet between the return of footy season and the energy required to manage public sentiment, maybe it suits all vested parties to keep such permutations quiet. Few would want to serve the public that particular sandwich.