Ashes euphoria perfect for BBL

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IN cricket as in life, nothing succeeds like success.

And so, riding a tidal wave of national euphoria generated by the Ashes triumph - not much gets the Australian sporting juices flowing quite like beating England at cricket - the return of the Twenty20 Big Bash League has been timed to perfection.

"Cricket is in a good place now," Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland said yesterday.

If he sounded just a touch smug, that was entirely forgivable.

It is a few short months since uncomfortable questions were starting to surface about his tenure in charge of a sport seen to be struggling on the field and not necessarily making much progress of it.

Suddenly all is well with the world again, with the national team dominating the media in the most positive way yesterday and the Boxing Day Test expected to go close to breaking the MCG's cricket crowd world record of 90,800 regardless of the series having been decided.

MGlenn Maxwell and Clint McKay of the Melbourne Stars along with Aaron Finch and Fawad Ahmed of the Melbourne Renegades pose for photos during the BBL Launch Breakfast. Source: Getty Images

Indeed, the prospect of seeing the Poms given another shellacking - a chance to join in the blood sport - might even tempt a few more. Call it the Colloseum effect.

But first things first. The Big Bash's third season which begins at the G on Friday night with about 35,000 expected to watch the Melbourne derby between the Stars and the Renegades has immediately become the focal point of all CA's considerable marketing and promotional clout.

At breakfast-time yesterday, Sutherland and a good few other men in suits and smartly-dressed women - some his staff, some sponsors - were at Middle Park beach, mingling with a handful of high-profile players, cartoon mascots playing beach cricket with kids and, of course, media.

It was only a few hours after the Renegades had "launched" their season at a swish South Yarra hotel the night before and a few before the Stars did the same at their former captain Shane Warne's even more up-market nightspot at the casino last night.

Even as the Perth Test was still proceeding to its inevitable conclusion, the Twenty20 sales job was in full swing with practice matches, press conferences and photo opportunities" taking place all over Melbourne and in Ballarat and Cranbourne. It has been relentless.

That's because CA are totally committed to the strategic imperative for which the BBL was conceived.

Life's a beach for James Sutherland right now. Source: Getty Images

"The BBL is our investment in cricket's future and it is very important for us," Sutherland told the breakfast guests.

"Our vision is for cricket to be Australia's favourite sport and a sport for all Australians. We are passionate about it.

"The BBL is an absolutely critical plank in that strategy.

"It's about bringing new people to the game, families and females _ 50 per cent who attended last year were families and 13 per cent were attending cricket for the first time.

"We're proud of that. If the BBL isn't doing that, it isn't doing what it is meant to do.

"So far the investment has been fantastic and we're expecting bigger and better things this summer."

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The heightened expectations are based on two major changes. One, the timeslot has changed with the competition starting later. More importantly, it is on free-to-air TV for the first time, with Channel 10 making an enthusiastic entry into the sport.

Ten are having a fair-dinkum crack, too. General manager Russel Howcroft said they will have 33 cameras, a helicopter, more than 40 staff and some gee-whiz technology at the MCG, with a commentary team that includes Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, Sir Vivian Richards, Ian Botham, Mark Waugh and Damien Fleming.

If they had a time machine they would win the competition themselves - by some margin - with that lot. And presumably there will be no need to resort to cheerleading as Channel 9 has been guilty of rather too much lately.

With only three little-noticed Sheffield Shield matches so far, the cricket season has been a long time arriving in Melbourne.

But it is now here with all guns blazing.

Twitter: @Reedrw

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