The BBL returns for its 13th edition and The Cricketer has all the information you need to know...
The Big Bash is Australia's T20 competition and this year is its 13th edition.
BBL13 begins on Thursday, December 7 in Brisbane, with the Heat taking on Melbourne Stars.
The 40-match group stage concludes on Wednesday, January 17 and is followed by a four-team playoff series from Friday, January 19.
The final will take place on Wednesday, January 24.
As usual, eight teams will be battling it for the Big Bash trophy.
There are two teams each from Sydney (Thunder and Sixers) and Melbourne (Stars and Renegades) alongside Adelaide Strikers, Brisbane Heat, Hobart Hurricanes and defending champions Perth Scorchers, who are searching for their sixth title.
The Hurricanes and Melbourne Stars are the only sides still searching for their maiden title.
Haris Rauf will be seeking a reversal in fortunes back at Melbourne Stars (Mike Owen/Getty Images)
Following criticism surrounding the length of the competition, BBL 13 has a reduced schedule of 44 matches (down from 61 in BBL 12).
Each team will contest 10 group games instead of 14 while the knock-out stage has been cut from five teams to four.
The first and second-placed teams will face off in the Qualifier and the winner will advance straight through to the final. The loser will progress to the Challenger, where they will play the winner of the Knockout (third versus fourth) for a spot in the final.
The venues for the knockout stages will be determined by which sides progress to the playoffs.
Perth Scorchers captured their fifth BBL title, beating Brisbane Heat by five wickets at Perth Stadium. They were the dominant side throughout the competition, topping the regular season table with 11 wins from 14 matches.
Brisbane Heat, by contrast, came from the back of the pack to reach the final, advancing to the playoffs in fifth position before defeating Sydney Thunder, Melbourne Renegades and Sydney Sixers.
Melbourne Stars' campaign was one to forget, however, as they finished rock bottom with just three wins.
Can Sydney Thunder upset the apple cart? (Jeremy Ng/Getty Images)
English players proved popular at September's draft, with more than a dozen due to feature in BBL 13.
Defending champions Perth Scorchers recruited Test opener Zak Crawley and Laurie Evans – a member of their BBL 11-winning squad, while Adelaide Strikers (Jamie Overton and Adam Hose), Brisbane Heat (Sam Billings and Paul Walter), and Hobart Hurricanes (Chris Jordan and Sam Hain) also opted for a pair of English players.
Fan favourite Alex Hales, the competition's leading overseas run-scorer, will once again play for Sydney Thunder while Tom Curran returns to Sydney Sixers after missing last year's tournament through injury. He will be joined in magenta by James Vince. while Joe Clarke (Melbourne Renegades) and Liam Dawson (a partial replacement signing at Melbourne Stars) are the other English representatives.
Colin Munro (Brisbane Heat), Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Quinton de Kock (both Melbourne Renegades), and Pakistan pair Usama Mir and Haris Rauf (Melbourne Stars) are among the other overseas names involved in BBL13.
However, Adelaide Strikers regular Rashid Khan (back) has withdrawn from the Big Bash due to injury while England pair Harry Brook (Melbourne Stars) and Rehan Ahmed (Sydney Sixers) have also pulled out of their respective contracts.
With BBL 13 overlapping with the SA20 and ILT20 in January, there could be some high-profile departures at the back end of the tournament while Test series against Pakistan (December 14-January 7) and West Indies (January 16-29) mean a number of Australia's red-ball players, such as Mitchell Marsh, David Warner, and Usman Khawaja, may miss the entire season.
Perth Scorchers are the team to beat once again (Paul Kane/Getty Images)
Unsurprisingly, the bookies have the current holders, Perth Scorchers, as the favourites to win a third successive crown.
However, there isn't much to separate the sides. Brisbane Heat cannot be overlooked after reaching last year's final while Sydney Sixers have finished in the top three in each of the past five tournaments.
Sydney Thunder may be something of a dark horse after reaching the playoffs in BBL 12 – securing the services of Hales once again is a huge boost.
Sky Sports hold the rights for UK coverage of the Big Bash League, with matches shown across Sky Sports Main Event, Sky Sports Cricket and Sky Sports Mix.
Radio commentary will be provided via BBC Radio 5 Live Extra and BBC Sounds for selected matches.
Fox Sports and Seven Network have the television rights in Australia. All matches can be streamed via Kayo and radio commentary will be provided by Sports Entertainment Network via their Big Bash Nation show.
The Star Sports Network will carry the footage for fans based in India. The Disney+Hotstar app and website will meanwhile stream every delivery.
In South Africa, Supersport will show the matches and Sky Sport is the place to go in New Zealand.
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