Big Bash League 2024-25: Travis Head, Pat Cummins and Starc out, Smith and Labuschagne allowed to play BBL
Big Bash League 2024-25: Only a few players of the Australia team, who performed brilliantly in the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25, have been allowed to participate in the domestic T20 league.
Travis Head, who was part of the five-match Test series against India, and the Australian bowlers have been ruled out of the remaining matches of the Big Bash League. Travis Head, Scott Boland, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon and Mitchell Starc will not participate in this season of the BBL despite being contracted players. In the recently played Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25, Head scored the most runs, while Pat Cummins, with excellent captaincy, led India to victory in this series after 10 years. Apart from this, many players who played in the Test series against India have been allowed by Cricket Australia to play in the Big Bash League.
Steve Smith will play three BBL matches before the Sri Lanka tour, while Marnus Labuschagne and Usman Khawaja will appear in only one match. Alex Carey, Sam Constas, Beau Webster, Mitchell Marsh, and Jay Richardson have been approved to participate in the remainder of the BBL season. Australia is expected to announce a 16-member squad for the two-Test series in Sri Lanka in the coming days. The team will leave for a pre-tour camp in the UAE on 19 or 20 January. The players who went on this tour will not be available for the BBL final to be held from 21 to 27 January.
It is probably too early to say that those Australian players will be included on the Sri Lanka tour who played the last Test against India in Sydney. Josh Inglis, Peter Handscomb, Todd Murphy, and Matthew Kuhnemann can probably be included. Australia has already qualified for the World Test Championship (WTC Final 2025) final. Glenn Maxwell is also being considered. However, the selectors might keep the India tour in mind while selecting the team in 2027.
Smith will miss Thursday's Sydney Sixers match with the Melbourne Stars at the MCG, while he is free to face the Perth Scorchers on Saturday night at the SCG. Marsh and Richardson are available to face the Renegades on Tuesday night. Smith will then be available to play for the Sixers when they take on Adelaide Strikers at home on 15 January, and Sydney Thunder away on January 17 Konstas likewise will play all four of the remaining regular season matches of the Thunder which start with its tomorrow night's sell-out match at Sydney Cricket Ground against Hobart Hurricanes.
