Big Bash League Cricket Team Generator

So you drew a Big Bash team

You wanted a Big Bash League team and the tool up top gives you one, or several if you raise the number, from the eight franchises that make up the league. There are only eight of them and they have stayed the same for years, so this is essentially the full set, and a pull hands you one of Australia's T20 sides.

The tool is simple. The league is worth knowing, and the interesting thing is how different its whole personality is from the cricket money-machine over in India.

Cricket for the Australian summer

If the Indian Premier League is about billions and Bollywood, the Big Bash is about something more homely: the Australian summer holidays. Launched in 2011 by Cricket Australia, the BBL was built as family entertainment, timed to run right through the school holidays from December into February, when the weather is hot, the kids are off, and going to the cricket is a cheap night out for everyone. Tickets are affordable by design, the grounds fill with families, and the whole thing is pitched as fun first. For years it drew some of the biggest crowds of any domestic T20 league in the world, not on the back of the richest contracts but on the back of accessibility. It is cricket as a summer night out, and that easy-going, family-friendly spirit is the essence of the competition the tool is drawing from.

Eight cities, and two-team towns

The league is made up of eight city-based teams, each with a punchy one-word identity: Strikers, Heat, Hurricanes, Renegades, Stars, Scorchers, Sixers and Thunder. Most of Australia's big cities have one side, but two cities are big enough for a proper local derby of their own: Melbourne has both the Stars and the Renegades, and Sydney has both the Sixers and the Thunder. Those cross-town clashes are some of the fiercest and best-attended nights of the season. So when the tool hands you a team, it is handing you a particular Australian city, and if you draw a Melbourne or Sydney side, a built-in rival across town.

The Perth dynasty

One team has ruled the Big Bash more than any other. The Perth Scorchers are the most successful franchise in the league's history, with six titles, roughly double any of their rivals, a genuine dynasty built out in the west and often sealed in front of huge home crowds at their fortress of a stadium. The Sydney Sixers are the next best, with three. And at the other end of the story sits the competition's great hard-luck tale: the Melbourne Stars, a founding club stuffed over the years with famous names, who have reached the final several times and, somehow, never once won the thing. Draw the Scorchers and you have pulled the champions of champions. Draw the Stars and you have pulled the nearly-men everyone has a soft spot for.

What a random Big Bash team is good for

• Picking a team for the summer. New to the Big Bash and want a side to follow over the holidays? Let the draw choose, and back them through the season.
• Fantasy and family assignments. Handing teams out to friends or family for the tournament, or running a friendly pool.
• Quiz and trivia prep. Draw a team and build questions on its city, its colours, its title record.
• Settling a derby debate. Pull the two Melbourne or two Sydney sides and argue the better team.
• A neutral's pick. No stake in the season? Let the draw give you someone to cheer for.

Big Bash questions

Which Big Bash team has won the most titles?

The Perth Scorchers, comfortably, with six, about double any other franchise. The Sydney Sixers are next with three. The Melbourne Stars are the only founding team never to have won it, despite reaching the final several times.

How many teams are in the Big Bash?

Eight, each based in an Australian city. Melbourne and Sydney each have two teams, which creates local derbies, while the other cities have one side apiece.

How is the Big Bash different from the IPL?

The BBL is built as affordable family entertainment for the Australian summer holidays, rather than around the huge television money and star contracts of the Indian Premier League. It is known for big, family-friendly crowds and a fun-first atmosphere.

Can I pull several teams, or narrow the pick?

Both. Raise the number for a few at once, with none repeating in a single pull, and use the text boxes to narrow things, such as a starts-with letter or a keyword the name has to contain.

References

1. Big Bash League, official site. bigbash.com.au
2. Wikipedia, Big Bash League. en.wikipedia.org