World News – UA – ‘Bubble fatigue’: Warner set to miss BBL as hub life bites for test stars

Original Australian Twenty20 blaster David Warner set to miss the Big Bash League again as bubble fatigue undermines Cricket Australia’s bid to lure its biggest names to the tournament

There is a window for Australian internationals to play in the final two to three weeks of the event, but convincing Steve Smith, Warner, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and others to play in the spotlight of the BBL

Plans to attract the cream of Australian cricket are in their early stages, source familiar with the issue says BBL clubs were taken aback by last week’s CA announcement that matches against Afghanistan and New Zealand were postponed

While many clubs have little room in their salary caps to play late for big names, insiders say player well-being and mental health after long periods of biosecurity bubbles are the main concerns

One idea being considered is to allow players to live at home, outside the hub, when the traveling BBL roadshow visits their hometowns

This would require government approval, an even more complicated matter if clubs in Western Australia and Tasmania, the states with the heaviest quarantine measures, advance to the home finals

CA has not yet finalized the BBL calendar One option is to release it in phases to give the fixtures flexibility in the later stages of the event

Player restrictions have also become a topic of discussion in women’s cricket game NSW wrote to CA asking why Sydney-based WBBL players are required to live in the hub rather than at home

The Sydney Sixers have made inquiries with test stars Smith, Starc and Josh Hazlewood but are aware of the downsides of spending time at another hub Some players will have lived under strict COVID-19 protocols for almost five months by the time testing against India ends in mid-January

It doesn’t have to do with money, it’s to do if he wants to do it

Smith, Warner, Hazlewood and Cummins, all playing in the lucrative Indian Premier League, have already been at a hub for six weeks, having already spent two more weeks in a third leg before leaving for the August tour in England

Warner manager James Erskine has cast huge doubt on the three form players participating in the BBL for the first time since 2013/14

« It doesn’t have to do with the money, it’s about whether he wants to do it, » Erskine told the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. « I haven’t discussed it with him but I think he’s more than likely to spend time with his family than at BBL The fact that we haven’t had the conversation probably tells me he won’t « 

Last month, men’s national coach Justin Langer said « blood had spilled from some of their faces » when it was pointed out that some players could spend 173 days in a row in a bubble

The coach and the selector have previously reported the likelihood of players missing games this season so they can spend time with their families

Whether Hazlewood, Cummins and Starc are allowed to play in the high performance arm of BBL by CA will depend on their workload during testing. Some in the game believe there might be pressure from above to release them, given the in-game broadcast money.

The prospect of spending more time on the road in either South Africa, if this test tour takes place, or New Zealand in February and March, is another factor against playing in the BBL Many players would then leave for next year’s IPL

Attracting the best headline-grabbing talent will strengthen Jolimont’s counter-argument against Channel Seven’s concerns about the quality of this year’s BBL in the battle over the value of broadcast rights

However, Seven believes that even if Smith, Warner and Starc were signed, it would be too late to sell advertising packages

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Big Bash League, David Warner, Australian Men’s Cricket Team, Indian Premier League, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Test cricket, Sydney Sixers, Twenty20