Now entering its 13th season, the Big Bash League continues to be one the world’s premier Twenty20 domestic competitions and has become a permanent staple of Australia’s summer sporting calendar.
Above all else, the BBL, with games almost every night, is a great avenue for keen punters, offering doens of quality markets, props bets, exotics and future markets to feast on each season.
We’ll walk you through everything you need to know about Big Bash betting this summer, including a look at each squad and the futures markets at our trusted online bookmakers.
Best Big Bash betting Sites
Australian Online Bookmakers
Each major Australian bookmaker has well and truly woken up to the betting potential of the Big Bash League and all run weekly and even daily specials for punters.
Each of the bookmakers we recommend above are a safe bet when it comes to betting on the BBL, but savvy punters will focus on having multiple betting accounts to take advantage of the different odds, different daily specials and maximise your profit.
BBL 2023-24 outright betting
After winning the 2017/18 BBL title, the Adelaide Strikers are the bookies’ favourite to go back-to-back, starting as the $4.50 favourites, with last year’s runners up, the Hobart Hurricanes, nipping at their heels at $5.
After making just their second finals appearance last year, the Renegades are fancied to get back to the pointy end at $6.50, sharing the third rung in this market with the Perth Scorchers, which will attempt to win a record fourth title.
The competition’s most consistent bridesmaid, the Melbourne Stars, start the season at $8 and will hope that skipper Glenn Maxwell can lead his team to a seventh finals campaign.
The Brisbane Heat, Sydney Sixers and Sydney Thunder have failed to build any hype in the build up to the season and with squads that largely echo their failed campaigns of last season, will start as $9 shots to go all the way.
Here is the full list of BBL Twenty futures odds (as of 7/10/2018):
- Adelaide Strikers – $4.50
- Hobart Hurricanes – $5
- Melbourne Renegades, Perth Scorchers – $6.50
- Melbourne Stars – $8
- Brisbane Heat, Sydney Sixers, Sydney Thunder – $9
Big Bash League team information
Besides the abundance of local talent on display, BBL 2018-19 will also play host to some of the biggest stars from around the globe.
Names like Brendon McCullum, Rashid Khan, Chris Lynn, Joffra Archer, Glenn Maxwell and Dwayne Bravo add an enormous wealth of class and power to the competition’s batting and bowling stocks.
While the competition is still quite young, the BBL franchises have wasted no time in building their own identities, establishing big crowds, giving young stars their first taste of the big time and attracting world-class talent.
Let’s take a look at each franchise:
Adelaide Strikers
- Established: 2011
- Home ground: Adelaide Oval
- Coach: Jason Gillespie
- Captain: Travis Head
- BBL titles: 1 (BBL07)
The Adelaide Strikers were able to go all the way last season around its prolific opening pair of Witherald and Carey, as well as the explosive wicket-taking ability of the world’s best T20 bowler, Afghanistan wizard Rashid Khan.
With the large majority of its squad returning and a real home-ground advantage at Adelaide Oval, expect the Strikers to go close again.
2018/19 Adelaide Strikes squad:
| Travis Head (C) |
| Wes Agar |
| Alex Carey |
| Michael Cormack |
| David Grant |
| Colin Ingram |
| Rashid Khan |
| Ben Laughlin |
| Jake Lehmann |
| Michael Neser |
| Liam O’Connor |
| Matt Short |
| Peter Siddle |
| Billy Stanlake |
| Cameron Valente |
| Jake Weatherald |
| Jonathan Wells |
| Nick Winter |
Brisbane Heat
- Established: 2011
- Home ground: Gabba
- Coach: Daniel Vettori (NZ)
- Captain: Chris Lynn
- BBL titles: 1 (BBL02)
With the bash brothers — Brendon McCullum and Chris Lynn — at the top of the order, the Brisbane Heat have a batting line-up to match any other in the BBL. The problem for the Heat has been in the bowling department and finding some late-order hitting to complement its top three batsmen.
2018/19 Brisbane Heat squad:
| Chris Lynn (C) |
| Joe Burns |
| Max Bryant |
| Ben Cutting |
| Brendan Doggett |
| Sam Heazlett |
| Matt Kuhnemann |
| Marnus Labuschagne |
| Josh Lalor |
| Brendon McCullum |
| Mujeeb Ur Rahman |
| James Pattinson |
| Jimmy Peirson |
| Jack Prestwidge |
| Matthew Renshaw |
| Alex Ross |
| Mitch Swepson |
| Mark Steketee |
Hobart Hurricanes
- Established: 2011
- Home ground: Blundstone Arena
- Coaches: Adam Griffith and Ben Rohrer
- Captain: Matthew Wade
- BBL titles:
–
Could this be the year the Hobart Hurricanes break their title drought?
With pace dynamo Joffra Archer returning, player of the tournament D’Arcy Short still in top form and a batting line-up that offers resistance and power all the way down to the bowlers, the Hurricanes will fancy their chances at repeating their Grand final appearance of last season and going on better.
2018/19 Hobart Hurricanes squad:
| Matthew Wade (C) |
| Jofra Archer |
| George Bailey |
| Johan Botha |
| Jake Doran |
| James Faulkner |
| Caleb Jewell |
| Ben McDermott |
| Riley Meredith |
| Simon Milenko |
| Tymal Mills |
| David Moody |
| Tim Paine |
| Tom Rogers |
| Clive Rose |
| D’Arcy Short |
| Aaron Summers |
Melbourne Renegades
- Established: 2011
- Home ground: Marvel Stadium
- Coach: Andrew McDonald
- Captain: Aaron Finch
- BBL titles: 0
After a number of barren seasons at the bottom of the table, the Melbourne Renegades put some strong form together last year and finished third on the BBL table before eventually being eliminated in the semi finals by Adelaide.
Aaron Finch will captain again and when he is away leading his nation in ODI and T20 cricket the team will be able to rely on veterans like Cameron White and Dan Christian to step-in.
Keep an eye on explosive middle-order batsmen Mohammad Nabi from Afghanistan to help propel this team up the ladder.
2018/19 Melbourne Renegades squad:
| Aaron Finch (C) |
| Cameron Boyce |
| Dan Christian |
| Tom Cooper |
| Zak Evans |
| Marcus Harris |
| Mackenzie Harvey |
| Jon Holland |
| Tim Ludeman |
| Joe Mennie |
| Mohammad Nabi |
| Kane Richardson |
| Will Sutherland |
| Chris Tremain |
| Beau Webster |
| Cameron White |
| Jack Wildermuth |
Melbourne Stars
- Established: 2011
- Home ground: Melbourne Cricket Ground
- Coach: Stephen Fleming (NZ)
- Captain: Glenn Maxwell
- BBL titles: 0
With Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis leading the way, the Melbourne Stars have two of the very best limited overs all-rounders in world cricket.
The question for the Stars is, do they have the depth to cover when those boys are away on international duty?
The Stars have the firepower to go all the way, but have often found a way of choking on the biggest stage. We’ll watch them with interest.
2018/19 Melbourne Stars squad:
| Glenn Maxwell (C) |
| Michael Beer |
| Jackson Bird |
| Scott Boland |
| Liam Bowe |
| Dwayne Bravo |
| Jackson Coleman |
| Travis Dean |
| Ben Dunk |
| Seb Gotch |
| Evan Gulbis |
| Peter Handscomb |
| Sandeep Lamichhane |
| Nic Maddinson |
| Jonathan Merlo |
| Liam Plunkett |
| Marcus Stoinis |
| Daniel Worrall |
| Adam Zampa |
Perth Scorchers
- Established: 2011
- Home ground: Perth Stadium
- Coach: Adam Voges
- Captain: Mitchell Marsh
- BBL titles: 3 (BBL03, BBL04, BBL06)
The masters of this competition don’t quite have the star-power of years gone by after the retirement of firebrand Mitchell Johnson, but will be highly-fancied again to be there when the whips are cracking late in the year.
2018/19 Perth Scorchers squad:
| Mitchell Marsh (C) |
| Ashton Agar |
| Cameron Bancroft |
| Jason Behrendorff |
| Hilton Cartwright |
| Nathan Coulter-Nile |
| Cameron Green |
| Josh Inglis |
| Matthew Kelly |
| Michael Klinger |
| Shaun Marsh |
| Joel Paris |
| Usman Qadir |
| Jhye Richardson |
| Ashton Turner |
| Andrew Tye |
| Sam Whiteman |
| David Willey |
Sydney Sixers
- Established: 2011
- Home ground: Sydney Cricket Ground
- Coach: Greg Shipperd
- Captain: Moises Henriques
- BBL titles: 1 (BBL01)
The Sydney Sixers carry an experienced squad into this tournament and, while there are not many household names that will excite fans, there are consistent performers throughout capable of lifting the men in pink to a fifth finals series.
2018/19 Sydney Sixers squad:
| Moises Henriques (C) |
| Sean Abbott |
| Justin Avendano |
| Tom Curran |
| Joe Denly |
| Ben Dwarshuis |
| Jack Edwards |
| Mickey Edwards |
| Dan Fallins |
| Daniel Hughes |
| Nathan Lyon |
| Peter Nevill |
| Stephen O’Keefe |
| Josh Philippe |
| Lloyd Pope |
| Jordan Silk |
| Henry Thornton |
Sydney Thunder
- Established: 2011
- Home ground: Spotless Stadium
- Coach: Shane Bond (NZ)
- Captain: Shane Watson
- BBL titles: 1 (BBL05)
The ageing Shane Watson will lead the Thunder again and hope to get access to their international stars like Pat Cummins, Joe Root, Jos Buttler and Usman Khawaja if they are to have any chance to work their way back into the finals.
Daniel Sams looks promising with both bat and ball and the English recruits look like they could offer quite a bit, but the Thunder squad lacks true depth and will struggle to win the required games.
2018/19 Sydney Thunder squad:
| Shane Watson (C) |
| Jos Buttler |
| Pat Cummins |
| Anton Devcich |
| Fawad Ahmed |
| Callum Ferguson |
| Ryan Gibson |
| Chris Green |
| Liam Hatcher |
| Chris Jordan |
| Usman Khawaja |
| Jay Lenton |
| Nathan McAndrew |
| Arjun Nair |
| Kurtis Patterson |
| Sam Rainbird |
| Joe Root |
| Daniel Sams |
| Gurinder Sandhu |
| Jason Sangha |
How to bet on the Big Bash Twenty20 cricket
The best sports betting sites offer a myriad of ways to have a punt on Australian T20 cricket. Below are some of the most popular markets available at our top-ranked bookmakers online.
Futures and outrights bets
Rather than betting on the outcome of a single match, you can place wagers on the eventual result of the tournament. These are called outright bets, or futures, and they are often available several months before the season kicks off. Popular Big Bash futures markets include:
- Which team will be crowned champions?
- Which teams will make the final?
- Who will score the most runs for the season?
- Who will take the most wickets for the season?
- Which team will finish bottom of the points table?
Head-to-head betting
This is your bread-and-butter betting market for cricket. Simply select which team you think will win the match – that’s all there is to it.
Other match markets
All the top cricket bookmakers offer a few additional options under the ‘Main Markets’ or ‘Match Betting’ tab for Twenty20 games. These include:
- Which team will hit the most sixes for the match?
- Which team will have the highest opening partnership?
- Which team will make more runs in the first six overs of the innings?
- Which team will win the coin toss?
Top run-scorer markets
This is one of the most popular T20 Australian cricket betting markets. Choose which player you think will top score for their team, or who will make the most individual runs for match overall.
- Top wicket-taker betting
This works just like the batting markets, except you have to pick which bowler(s) you expect to finish with the best figures. - Totals line betting
You can also opt to bet on whether a team will score more or less than a certain amount of runs within a particular time frame. For example: if the options are ‘India over 22.5’ and ‘India under 22.5’ before the first wicket, you must choose whether you think India will score 22 runs or fewer (under), or 23 runs or more (over) before they lose their first wicket. - Dismissal markets
Another option is to bet on the nature of how a batsman goes out, or on the frequency at which a certain mode of dismissal occurs. A popular one is to pick whether the first wicket of an innings will be out caught, bowled, lbw, stumped, and so on. You can also wager on whether there will be more or less than a certain number of run-outs in an innings.
Where to watch the Big Bash League live
The broadcast rights to the Big Bash League was sold in the off-season to a partnership between Channel 7 and Fox Sports.
Both of Channel 7 and Fox Sports will host every BBL match live, with separate commentary teams using the same footage.
Before the change this season, the BBL had been broadcast live on Channel 10 for the first seven seasons of competition’s existence.
Full list of BBL winners
| 11/12 | Sydney Sixers defeat the Perth Scorchers in the Grand Final by 7 wickets. |
|---|---|
| 12/13 | Brisbane Heat defeat the Perth Scorchers in the Grand Final by 34 runs. |
| 13/14 | Perth Scorchers defeat the Hobart Hurricanes in the Grand Final by 39 runs. |
| 14/15 | Perth Scorchers defeat the Sydney Sixers in the Grand Final by four wickets. |
| 15/16 | Sydney Thunder defeat the Melbourne Stars in the Grand Final by three wickets. |
| 16/17 | Perth Scorchers defeat the Sydney Sixers in the Grand Final by 9 wickets. |
| 17/18 | Adelaide Strikers defeat the Hobart Hurricanes in the Grand Final by 25 runs. |