At least three English batsmen; Jonny Bairstow, Jos Roy and Dawid Malan are in touch with Big Bash League (BBL 2020) franchises to ink deals.
According to the ESPNcricinfo, England wicketkeeper-batsman Jonny Bairstow is expected to feature in the Melbourne Stars for a brief season. However, his appearance is further subjected to England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) commitments.
Besides, ranked fifth in Twenty20 cricket Dawid Malan, who has done exceedingly well against Pakistan — and recently against Australia, also confirmed that he is set to join the BBL.
Some contact with one of the clubs: Dawid Malan on BBL 2020
However, regarding Malan, there is no announcement regarding which club he will join to feature in the BBL.
“There has been some contact with one of the clubs. That’s still ongoing at the moment so hopefully, we can finish and finalise that soon and hopefully that can get announced. I don’t know if I’m allowed yet [to say which club], so I’ll sit on the fence with that one,” ESPNcricinfo quoted Dawid Malan as saying.
On the other hand, another English opener Jason Roy has shown keen interest to take part in Australia’s lucrative league. He had some experience of featuring in the BBL and had been to Australia on a number of occasions.
Moreover, the reports suggested that Alex Hales might strike a deal with the Sydney Thunder. In addition to it, Hobart Hurricanes had already expressed their interest in young and lanky pacer, Jofra Archer.
It is important to maintain that the tenth edition of the BBL will kick-off in December 2020.
Nevertheless, England team is scheduled to tour South Africa for limited-overs series, however, many English players are expected to partake in the major part of the BBL despite COVID-19 pandemic.
The impediment on contracts for BBL has been recently scrapped and this would result in franchises opting to fill their overseas quota of players. So far Tom Banton and Tom Curran had their contracts intact. Banton represents Brisbane Heat whereas; Curran will don Sydney Sixers jersey in BBL 2020.
Following the lifting of the embargo, Daniel Worrall and Billy Stanlake exchanged their clubs; Melbourne Stars and Adelaide Strikers.
Given the statistics, it was the fourth trade since the inception of the BBL in 2011.
Following a swapping, Melbourne Stars general manager Nick Cummins remarked that they are delighted to have Stanlake in the squad.
“It’s pleasing to see Billy sign for us, and we look forward to seeing him in action. We’re well underway in a number of our squad discussions, particularly as far as our international players go and we’ll be in a position to make announcements soon,” Cummins said.
Eoin Morgan sees BBL 2020 as an opportunity for English players:
Earlier, England skipper Eoin Morgan maintained that BBL 2020 is something to look at for England given to the instability due to the COVID-19 which has impacted international cricket and their extended tour to India.
Morgan also asserted that it will help English players to push IPL franchises to have an eye on them following their performances.
“The IPL is going ahead, and we have a long tour to India which actually frees up guys to play a full Big Bash and then potentially put their case forward to be selected in an IPL in the new year,” Morgan addressed.
Meanwhile, Cricket Australia (CA) is reported to spend whopping amounts in a bid to avail services of overseas players for the BBL 2020