Big Bash League

The Big Bash League is Cricket Australia’s men’s Twenty20 competition, played by eight city-based teams through the Australian summer. Seasons run from December into late January, with matches most nights over the holiday period and the final at the end of the tournament.

Each team plays 10 matches in the league stage, which produces 40 games in total. The top four then contest a four-match finals series, taking a full season to 44. Ten matches is a short league by franchise standards, and it leaves little margin: a side can be out of contention by early January.

Points are straightforward now, though they have not always been. A win is worth two, a defeat nothing, and a tie or a match with no result gives one point to each side. Teams level on points are separated by net run rate, which measures the rate a team has scored at against the rate it has conceded at.

The finals series rewards the top two heavily. First and second play the Qualifier, and the winner goes straight to the final. Third and fourth meet in the Knockout, where a defeat ends the season. The Challenger then puts the beaten Qualifier side against the Knockout winner for the second place in the final.