Earliest start, mega days and DRS: Men's Big Bash confirmed to return from December 5

The 56 tournament matches will be played across 46 days, with the home and away format back subject to Covid-19 travel restrictions

Big Bash fixtures 2021-22: Full BBL schedule, matches, dates

The Men's Big Bash League will start at its earliest date of December 5.

Fifty-six matches will be staged across 46 days and climax with the final on January 28.

Sydney Sixers will host Melbourne Stars at the SCG in the opening game of the 11th edition of Australia's premier T20 competition.

For the first time since 2017, the tournament will not bleed into February, finishing within the Australian school holidays.

In amongst the schedule are eight 'mega days' when Test cricket during the day is followed by a BBL double-header. Seven of those days include an Ashes Test.

BBL 10 most-watched tournament in league history, confirms Cricket Australia

There are a dozen days on which two matches fall, with the final day of the group stage including three consecutive games.

Six of the nine highest-rating regular-season matches last summer came after a day of Test cricket, according to Cricket Australia.

"(The clash with the Ashes) is a combination of having to play 56 games in that (school holiday) window but also wanting to optimise every single minute of the summer," said CA's head of the Big Bash Alistair Dobson.

"If a day's play finishes early in a Test or a Test finishes early, the Big Bash is there to keep people excited about cricket.

"We know that the BBL is at its strongest when there's really strong Test cricket during the day and the BBL at night. We know that any BBL after a day's play of Test cricket has a bump (in TV ratings) compared to a non-Test day. The double-headers just take advantage of that even more, and they allow us to complete the 56 games within the right window for the competition.

The timing of the final means Australia's white-ball players should be available for the closing stages before the New Zealand matches begin on January 30.

^{Seven of the mega days will include an Ashes Test}

It is hoped that with 14 venues across seven states on the schedule that all travel restrictions due to Covid-19 will have been fully lifted. It is intended that a BBL match will be staged at Junction Oval for the first time.

It is hoped that Afghanistan, England and England Lions' tours next summer will help bolster out the number of overseas players on show. 

Cricket Australia expect quarantine requirements to remain in place and will impact on the number of foreign players travelling just for the BBL. The overseas player draft has therefore been delayed by 12 months.

"It isn't getting any easier and at this point, everyone needs clarity and certainty around the contracting landscape," Dobson added. 

"So we've made the decision to postpone for another year, with the intention of bringing it in when – fingers crossed – the landscape is clearer and we can give what we think is a great idea the best chance to be successful.

"Last year we saw a great group of English players playing in the BBL and the fact their team's coming out anyway, we hope that might make things simpler and more straightforward. Having those two national sides in the country gives us a chance to work more closely with those players."

^{Umpires could be helped by technology next season}

It appears likely that some form of technology will be introduced to assist umpires with decisions, but the BBL appear resistant to using all forms of the Decision Review System which is seen in international cricket.

The main concerns surround the increasing length of matches, which are taking more than three hours to complete. Penalties for slow over-rates, similar to those used in the T20 Blast in England are being considered.

"If we do bring something in, it'll be unique to the BBL," Dobson said of the prospect of DRS being used.

"Our proposition is around quick, fast entertainment and putting kids and families first, so if we were to bring something in, there's an opportunity to do something really creative around it.

"It's on the cards.

"Whatever we bring in needs to be reliable and deliverable. When we play at a mixture of big stadiums and regional venues and multiple games in one day, they all create some considerations that probably don't exist in a lot of other competitions."