Despite a developing club v country battle for players, Big Bash League boss Anthony Everard says he cannot envisage a time when a star would turn down the chance to play for Australia to play for their BBL team – even in a final.
In the wake of Marcus Stoinis' unavailability for the Stars v Sixers blockbuster on Saturday night, the issue of priorities between the incredibly popular BBL and one-day internationals is developing in cricket circles.
Kevin Pieterson lashed out at Cricket Australia on Friday for reneging on a promise to free all-rounder Stoinis for the crucial match against the Sixers, given Stoinis was highly unlikely to play for Australia, saying: "I just find it bitterly disappointing that a guy can't play in a fixture tomorrow, which is a big fixture for us. He will be sitting in a hotel room."
Last season the Stars were decimated for the BBL final – Glenn Maxwell, James Faulkner, Scott Boland and John Hastings were all unavailable on international duty – and this season Chris Lynn, Steve O'Keefe and now Stoinis will miss the pointy end of the Big Bash season.
However, Everard is adamant a player will not turn down national representation to play in the Big Bash, despite the huge exposure of the burgeoning league compared to the dwindling support for some internationals.
"It's obviously a hypothetical, and in six years we haven't had a player even come close to saying that," Everard said. "I think that we're years away from getting to that point, if we ever get there."
But Everard conceded that if such an issue did arise where a fit player turned down Australia to play for their BBL side, there was no policy in place to deal with the fallout.
"There's no formal system because it hasn't been an issue and we don't see it as being an issue any time soon," he said.
Lynn, the undoubted star of BBL06 was called up to make his debut for Australia against Pakistan in the first one-dayer, forcing him to watch from the Gabba sidelines as his Brisbane Heat lost to the Perth Scorchers. As fate would have it, Lynn succumbed to a long-term neck injury after that match and was ruled out for the remaining BBL games in a significant blow to the Heat's chances of taking the title.
Heat general manager Andrew McShea says he understands the problems with the overlapping schedule, but would like to see changes.
"You want to see the best guys playing," he said. "But at the same time, we understand that's the current challenge of the scheduling. You want to see the guys rewarded for their performance and represent their country, but at the same time, it's a balancing act."
McShea admitted that BBL clubs prepare to have their best players snatched for international duty and develop a roster with depth to account for this but, he says, the fans would prefer to see the best players playing for their BBL clubs and a strong national team playing on the world stage.
"It's very hard to find someone to do what Chris Lynn does," he said. "We're pretty comfortable with [our depth], but I can certainly see the public discussion about it. Obviously people would love to see Chris probably doing both [BBL and international games].
"Why can't we try and get the best of both worlds?"
Everard points to the success of the BBL in the "graduation to the national team" for a host of former Big Bash stars, but said the overlapping schedule did create these types of scenarios where the Big Bash gets pilfered but the national team. However, he did not see it as a big issue.
"We don't necessarily see it as a problem," Everard said. "It's always envisaged when we do the schedule that there's going to be a point of the season where there is a bit of movement of players. But I think we acknowledge that we can't have our cake and eat it too. If we want to schedule the BBL in that sweet spot of the school holidays, it needs to run in parallel with international cricket."
International cricket "is the pinnacle" and should always take precedence over a domestic league, regardless of the size and scale of the BBL, former Test star and Sydney Thunder director of cricket Mike Hussey says.
"As far as the Test players not being available [for Big Bash games], or the one-day international players, the pinnacle has still got to be to play for Australia," he said. "That's the No.1 thing. Big Bash doesn't take precedence over playing for Australia. Australia is the ultimate.
"To play a Test match, or one-dayer, or T20 for Australia, that should remain the [goal]. Because the Big Bash is a fantastic competition with a lot of talent, but it is still a domestic competition. It's not international cricket."
