Chappell Seeks Gayle Cricket Ban

Australian cricket great Ian Chappell has called on Cricket Australia to propose a worldwide contracting ban on Chris Gayle following his controversial sideline interview with sports reporter Mel McLaughlin.

Gayle was fined $10,000 by his Big Bash League (BBL) side Melbourne Renegades for his on-air mid-match comments to McLaughlin on Monday night.

The big-hitting West Indian batsman’s hopes of returning next season could also be all but over, given Cricket Australia (CA) has the power to essentially veto any BBL player contract.

Some CA officials wanted Gayle to be suspended over the interview, during which he told McLaughlin she had beautiful eyes and asked her out for a drink before saying “don’t blush, baby”.

Ex-Australian skipper Chappell said CA needed to send a zero-tolerance message on what he deemed “totally inappropriate” behaviour in a sport trying to gain traction with women.

“I wouldn’t have a problem if Cricket Australia said to the clubs, ‘he’s never to be contracted again in this country’,” Chappell said in Sydney, where he participated in an Optus SMB Cricket Legends event alongside Tom Moody.

“And I also wouldn’t have a problem if Cricket Australia said to the ICC, ‘what we’re doing should be worldwide’.

“You’d have to talk to the individual countries then ... but I wouldn’t have a problem if it was tabled at an ICC meeting that Cricket Australia said, ‘this is what we’re doing and we would recommend that everybody else do the same’.

“How are you going to stop it otherwise?”

Gayle has apologised for any offence, saying it was a “simple joke”.

But Chappell thought he was “past help probably now”, and said the focus should be on sending a message to up-and-coming male cricketers.

“If it was a one-off thing, yeah, slap him with a $10,000 fine and say ‘mate, don’t do it again’,” he said.

“But every woman I spoke to [about Gayle] who’s working at the cricket, you got the same answer from.

“They were quite adamant about it.”

Gayle is expected to open for the Renegades on Saturday, when they host Melbourne Stars at Etihad Stadium.

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Test Cricket Crowds Given Big Bash

The Big Bash League’s dominance over the summer of Test cricket has been highlighted with another crowd record tumbling.

Defending champions Perth Scorchers announced on Friday their remaining two home fixtures had sold out, making them the first franchise to sell out their full four-match regular season home match schedule in the BBL’s five-year history.

It means the four games at the 20,000-capacity Waca Ground will dwarf the crowd figures from the drawn Test match against New Zealand played at the venue in November.

Only 40,288 people turned out across the five days of the Test, at an average of just over 8,000 fans per day. In comparison, a combined 39,762 fans have already attended the Scorchers’ opening two BBL home games.

It is also anticipated that Saturday’s Melbourne derby between the Stars and Renegades could outdraw the 53,389 who attended the opening day of the Boxing Day Test against the out-matched Windies last week.

Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland has already acknowledged that the BBL has impacted on Test crowds.

“Look, the numbers would indicate that, yes,” Sutherland told ABC Grandstand recently. “The Big Bash League has changed the dynamic a lot, and let’s be open, all over the country it has cannibalised the demand for international cricket.”

Average BBL crowd figures have risen to 22,597 across the 13 matches so far this summer, more than the single-day attendance numbers at any of the Brisbane, Perth and Hobart Tests this year.

The lowest crowd figure at any of this summer’s BBL matches is the 14,868 for the Hobart-Brisbane match, which is still just 475 fans shy of the total attendance across the three days of the Hobart Test match.

CA has already hinted at the inclusion of day-night pink-ball Tests at the Gabba and Blundstone Arena next year to attract more fans, however there is no chance of a shift in Perth given the time zone difference to the east coast.

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Christian Hurricanes Survive Heat

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Hobart allrounder Dan Christian has belted his former Brisbane team-mates out of the Gabba – and probably the Big Bash League – on Tuesday. Christian smashed an unbeaten 56 off just 24 balls – including a massive 117m six which landed on the Gabba roof - to lift the Hurricanes to 4-194 in their 20 overs.

Heat skipper Chris Lynn smashed 101 off just 51 balls in reply to give the hosts hope of a first victory in this summer’s tournament. But Lynn’s dismissal with 16 balls remaining silenced the massive crowd of 29,876 as the winless Heat collapsed to finish 9-176.

Leg-spinner Cameron Boyce, a team-mate of Lynn in Queensland’s state team, was the man who picked up the vital breakthrough on his way to impressive figures of 2-22 off four overs.

The loss means the Heat must win all four of their remaining matches to even have an outside chance of reaching the semi-finals.

Earlier, Christian’s free-wheeling knock came after West Indies leg-spinner Samuel Badree fired for the first time this summer for the Heat. Badree removed Hurricanes openers Ben Dunk (27) and Tim Paine (25) as the visitors battled to 4-129 off 15 overs.

Christian, who played a leading role in the field during the Hurricanes’ win over the Heat in Hobart last week, teed off in the 19th over. The 32-year-old smashed three sixes of Luke Feldman’s (1-53) final over, including a giant hit to cow corner which not only cleared the fence but also the stands.

Despite his personal satisfaction at reaching triple figures, Lynn was gutted that his team had once again come away with nothing.

“Personally hitting the ball better than ever, confident with my body at the moment even though it’s not 100 per cent and enjoying the captaincy,” Lynn told AAP. “I’m hoping what’s in store around the corner is a couple of wins and just go that next level.”

Admitting his monster six was comfortably the biggest of his career, Christian said the thought pattern for his assault had been a simple one.

“I swung as hard as I could and it landed exactly where I wanted it to and came out of the middle of the bat,” he said. “I was waiting for it to come down in front of the sails and it kept going and that’s when I realised it was obviously a decent one.”

Hobart’s next game is against the table-topping Sydney Thunder in Tasmania on New Year’s Day while the Heat welcome the Thunder in their next match on Sunday.

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