CA confirm full BBL 10 schedule, Perth, Melbourne awarded matches

Western Australia, New South Wales and Victoria have been confirmed host matches in the upcoming edition of the Big Bash League (BBL) in January next year "subject to the public health situation and associated impacts including border restrictions", Cricket Australia announced on Monday.

Earlier this month, the board had announced the schedule for first 21 BBL matches in December in which it confirmed that bubbles in Hobart and Canberra will host the initial games starting December 10 before venues in Queensland (December 23) and Adelaide (December 28) join the party.

Five matches will be played at Optus Stadium in Perth, with the first to be held on January 3. Four of these matches will be Perth Scorchers home games.

From January 13, the BBL will travel to Sydney and Melbourne for the run to the finals. Eight matches will be played in Sydney, with the Sydney Cricket Ground and Sydney Showground Stadium to host four each.

Melbourne will host 11 matches in total. Five of these will be held at Marvel Stadium and six at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Additional matches have also been confirmed for the Adelaide Oval (three), the Gabba (two), Metricon Stadium (four) and Blundstone Arena (two) in early January.

The final day of the regular season will be played on January 26 and feature a triple-header split between the SCG (one match) and MCG (two matches). The five-match finals series begins on January 29 with the final slated for February 6.

Cricket Australia has held off selling tickets for December games at the Adelaide Oval owing to the rising number of Covid-19 cases in the state. "The league is monitoring the situation in South Australia closely and is working with governments to understand its impact on the BBL 10 season," a CA release stated.

"The league is delighted to confirm the boldest schedule in Australian sport since the pandemic began by committing to take matches to every club's home market in BBL 10," said Alistair Dobson, Cricket Australia's Head of Big Bash Leagues.

BBL 10 will start with the season opener between Hobart Hurricanes and defending champions Sydney Sixers at the Blundstone Arena on December 10.