Canberra could cop sting of BBL season change, as David Warner highlights cricket schedule 'saturation'

Players have mostly welcomed the Big Bash League's move to slash games as soon as next season. It would mean more player availability, less strain on players' fitness and fewer clashes with other Twenty20 competitions worldwide.

However David Warner believes Cricket Australia have failed to fully perfect the playing schedule yet.

"Administrators have had 12 seasons now [in the BBL] - they haven't gotten it right yet, but they'll get it right one day," Warner told The Canberra Times.

As part of the new $1.5 billion broadcast deal between Cricket Australia and Channel Seven and Fox Sports, from the 2024/25 BBL competition, regular season games will be cut from 14 to 10, with a three-game final series.

But there has been recent talks that Cricket Australia will make the BBL change a season earlier.

With four less games on the BBL schedule, it potentially jeopardises the future of teams like Sydney Thunder playing in regional areas like Canberra, where they have played a handful of games each year.

"The most important thing is not having a tight and saturated competition," Warner said about the BBL.

"It's extremely difficult as it is with the length of it.

"It's disappointing that we potentially might not be able to come and play those games [with a shorter season], but at the end of the day I think we need to make sure that the product is moving in the right direction and we need to improve that."

Warner played just his third match of the BBL season for the Thunder on Thursday night in their eight-wicket win over the Melbourne Renegades, in front of a sell-out crowd of over 10,000 at Manuka Oval.

It was an improvement on the 6,000 at the Thunder's Tuesday night season-opener last month at the same ground.

With Australia's tour of India starting on February 9, the Thunder won't have Warner for much more of the season - a frustration for other stars too.

"For the last nine years I haven't been able to play all three forms but I'm at the back end of my career where I can give that time back," Warner said.

"I know speaking to the other guys that they want to play, it's just difficult, especially for the fast bowlers.

"So from our point of view we'd like to play more down here and more out in the regional areas, that would be fantastic.

"But we'll have to obviously service where we are in the city areas first."

Cricket Australia chief executive Nick Hockley told media earlier this month that the shortened season was a result of "listening to the fans and players", and would be more beneficial for all.

"It allows us to tighten it into the school holidays, so starting at around the middle of December through to just before the end of January," he said.