In a desperate attempt to salvage the ongoing edition of the Big Bash League at any cost despite the continuous outbreak of Covid-19 in multiple sides, Cricket Australia has made a move to shift the whole tournament to Melbourne.
The move, in views of Cricket Australia, CEO Nick Hockley, will give the organisers flexibility while dealing with last-minute complications arising out of Covid-19 cases and subsequent mitigation processes.
“What we’re dealing with is unprecedented. We’ll be gradually centralising (the teams) into Melbourne. “What that enables us (Cricket Australia) to do is if a team is significantly impacted, it gives us much more flexibility to be able to swap teams in and complete the fixture,” Hockley told Australia’s SEN Radio.
Hockley, who himself has contracted Covid-19 and is under isolation, also took cognisance of the state of Brisbane Heat and Melbourne Stars, who have been the worst affected sides from Covid-19. He expressed regrets over those sides not having their “full-strength” team to pick from but expressed hope that things will start falling in place and teams will have their best players to choose from in the business end of the tournament.
“Those two particular clubs (Stars and Heat) have been heavily impacted,” Hockley said. “We’ve faced some different timing challenges with test results coming back. It’s not ideal. Obviously, we want everyone to have their full-strength team available. “We’ve got a really clear plan now for the final run-in of the competition. We are very confident that we’ll be able to complete the competition,” he added.