Big Bash 2021 Betting: A betting guide to the Australian domestic T20 franchise competition

Sunday 5th December sees the return of the Big Bash League and our resident cricket guru @OddsTerrier has all the info you need for this exciting T20 competition from down under. We'll be regularly updating the page with info, odds and tips so bookmark it for all your Big Bash betting needs.

What is the Big Bash League?

The Big Bash League or BBL11 is the eleventh season of the Professional men's Twenty20 domestic cricket competition in Australia. It is one of the premier T20 franchise competitions in the world and probably only second to the Indian Premier League (IPL) in stature. 

When does the competition take place and where can I watch it?

BBL11 runs from Sunday 5th December through to the final on Friday 28th January.  It will be broadcast live and exclusively in the UK on Sky Sports for the first time, taking over the contract from BT Sport.  Fixtures will generally start between 7.30 and 10.30 am BST. 

What is the Format?

Eight Franchise teams will play each other home and away, comprising 56 regular season matches, staged at 14 venues across Australia. They are listed below:

Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney

Manuka Oval, Canberra

Docklands Stadium, Melbourne

Aurora Stadium, Launceston

Perth Stadium, Perth

Adelaide Oval, Adelaide

Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne

Sydney Showground Stadium, Sydney

Carrara Oval, Queensland

Bellerive Oval, Hobart

The Gabba, Brisbane

International Sports Stadium, Coffs Harbour

Junction Oval, Melbourne

Simonds Stadium, Geelong

The top five teams in the league phase will progress to the playoff stage. There is a heavy advantage in finishing higher up the league - a team finishing 4th or 5th would have to win four extra matches to win the title whereas a team finishing 1st or 2nd can win it in just two. 

Who are the eight franchises and what do their squads look like?

Adelaide Strikers

Wes Agar, Alex Carey, Harry Conway, Travis Head (c), Spencer Johnson, Harry Nielsen, Liam O'Connor, Matthew Renshaw, Liam Scott, Peter Siddle, Jon Wells, Daniel Worrall, George Garton, Ryan Gibson, Fawad Ahmad, Rashid Khan, Matt Short, Jake Weatherald

Brisbane Heat

Xavier Bartlett, Tom Cooper, Sam Heazlett, Chris Lynn, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Jimmy Peirson (c), Mark Steketee, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Willans, Marnus Labuschagne, Michael Neser, Ben Duckett, Tom Abell, Jack Wildermuth, James Bazley, Matt Kuhnemann, Max Bryant, Connor Sully

Hobart Hurricanes

Scott Boland, Tim David. Nathan Ellis, Peter Handscomb, Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, Mitch Owen, Wil Parker, D'Arcy Short, Matthew Wade (c), Mac Wright, Sandeep Lamichhane, Caleb Jewell, Joel Paris, Harry Brook, Josh Kann, Tom Rogers, Jordan Thompson

Melbourne Renegades

Cameron Boyce, Zak Evans, Aaron Finch, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Sam Harper, Marcus Harris, Mackenzie Harvey, Josh Lalor, Shaun Marsh, James Pattinson, Mitch Perry, Jack Prestwidge, Kane Richardson, Will Sutherland, Nic Maddinson (c), Reece Topley, Unmukt Chand, Mohammad Nabi, Zahir Khan

Melbourne Stars

Hilton Cartwright, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Seb Gotch, Liam Hatcher, Clint Hinchliffe, Nick Larkin, Glenn Maxwell (c), Tom O'Connell, Billy Stanlake, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa, Joe Burns, Sam Rainbird, Joe Clarke, Qais Ahmad, Sam Elliot, Beau Webster

Perth Scorchers

Ashton Agar, Cameron Bancroft, Jason Behrendorff, Aaron Hardie, Peter Hatzoglou, Josh Inglis, Matthew Kelly, Mitch Marsh, Lance Morris, Kurtis Patterson, Jhye Richardson, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye, Colin Munro, Laurie Evans, Tymal Mills, David Moody, Cooper Connolly, Nick Hobson

Sydney Sixers

Sean Abbott, Jackson Bird, Dan Christian, Tom Curran, Ben Dwarshuis, Jack Edwards, Mickey Edwards, Moises Henriques (c), Daniel Hughes, Hayden Kerr, Nathan Lyon, Ben Manenti, Josh Philippe, Lloyd Pope, Jordan Silk, James Vince, Steve O'Keefe, Chris Jordan 

Sydney Thunder 

Jonathan Cook, Ben Cutting, Ollie Davies, Brendan Doggett, Matt Gilkes, Chris Green, Baxter Holt, Usman Khawaja, Nathan McAndrew, Alex Ross, Daniel Sams, Tanveer Sangha, Chris Tremain, Alex Hales, Sam Billings, Baxter Holt, Saqib Mahmood, Jason Sangha

Who are the favourites to win the Outrights and what are our picks?

Winner Market

Sydney Sixers are the 7/2 favourites to defend last years title and to become the first Franchise to win three straight Big Bash's. Second in the betting is the other dominant team in the competition's history - the Perth Scorchers. The three-time winners are slightly larger priced at 4/1.

The Stars, Thunder and Hurricanes all are priced around the 5/1 - 7/1 mark whilst the Heat , Strikers and Renegades are the outsiders in the competition but still modestly priced  between 9/1 and 12/1. 

As you can tell from the odds the competition is extremely even and competitive and any team should be capable of beating another. I personally like the Perth Scorchers squad. Mitch Marsh showed what he can do with the bat in the recent T20 world cup and in Tymal Mills and Jhye Richardson they have express pace and cunning in the death bowling stages.

Man of the Tournament

For this one I like the look of Mitch Marsh(17/2) or Rashid Khan (12/1). Both players are in red hot form and showed how destructive they can be with the bat and ball. I'd probably go for Marsh in this market as he's more likely to reach the later stages of the competition.

Top run scorer

I can see Alex Hales having a massive tournament with the bat. He's currently 17/2 with Paddy Power and will be opening for the Sydney Thunder. He will have a massive point to prove after his recent role in the Azeem Rafiq racism scandal and will be looking to show he should have been included in the England T20 World Cup squad.

Top wicket taker

The top two in the betting are both leg spinners reflecting that bowling actions' dominance in the shorter format of the game. Adam Zampa is shortest in the betting at 15/2, closely followed by the aforementioned Rashid Khan (17/2). Khan is joined on that mark by Andrew Tye who possesses a fantastic change of pace in the opening/latter stages of the innings. I'm going to stick my neck out and stay with my man. Im taking the Afghani Khan to run riot down-under just like he did in the middle east. 

You can follow all those selections at once using the link below. Please remember to gamble responsibly.