The cricket world is abuzz with excitement as the 13th edition of the Big Bash League (BBL) begins on December 7, offering fans a condensed yet thrilling display of T20 cricket.

The 13th edition of the Big Bash League (BBL) is scheduled to begin on December 7, Thursday, with an opening match between Brisbane Heat and Melbourne Stars at the Gabba. This season marks a return to a 10-game regular season schedule after five years of facing seven rivals twice. There will be 40 home and away games in total, with each team playing three opponents twice, including the highly anticipated derbies in Melbourne and Sydney.

In the first week, five teams - Brisbane Heat, Perth Scorchers, Melbourne Renegades, Melbourne Stars and Sydney Sixers - will play two games each before the tournament takes a five-day break from December 14-18. The two best teams in the league will enjoy two chances and fight for a place in the final. The losing team of this game will face the winner of the game between the third and fourth placed teams to determine the other contender for the BBL title on January 24th.

BBL 13 will feature 40 league games, followed by an optimized four-team playoff series, culminating in the grand final on January 24th. Each team will now play 10 group games instead of the previous 14, contributing to a more intense and competitive group stage.

One of the key changes to the format concerns the knockout round, which has been reduced from five to four teams. The first and second placed teams at the end of the group stage meet in the qualifying tournament. The winner of this game secures a direct place in the final, while the losing team still has a chance at redemption.

The team that loses the Qualifier advances to Challenger, where they face the winner of the Knockout Match (third versus fourth). There is a lot at stake in the Challenger as the winning team earns the right to compete in the final for the coveted BBL title.

Big Bash League 2023/24: Full Squads

Adelaide Strikers: Wes Agar, James Bazley, Cameron Boyce, Alex Carey, Brendan Doggett, Travis Head, Adam Hose, Henry Hunt, Thomas Kelly, Chris Lynn, Ben Manenti, Harry Nielsen, Jamie Overton, David Payne, D'Arcy Short, Matt Short, Henry Thorton, Jake Weatherald

Brisbane Heat: Xavier Bartlett, Sam Billings, Josh Brown, Max Bryant, Spencer Johnson, Usman Khawaja, Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan McSweeney, Colin Munro, Michael Neser, Jimmy Peirson, Will Prestwidge, Matthew Renshaw, Mitchell Swepson, Jack Wildermuth, Paul Walter, Jack Wood

Hobart Hurricanes: Corey Anderson, Iain Carlisle, Nikhil Chaudhary, Tim David, Paddy Dooley, Nathan Ellis, Liam Guthrie, Sam Hain, Peter Hatzoglou, Sam Heazlett, Caleb Jewell, Chris Jordan, Ben Mcdermott, Riley Meredith, Mitch Owen, Billy Stanlake, Matthew Wade, Mac Wright

Melbourne Renegades: Joe Clarke, Quinton de Kock, Harry Dixon, Aaron Finch, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Mackenzie Harvey, Ruwantha Kellapotha, Nathan Lyon, Nic Maddinson (c), Shaun Marsh, Fergus O'Neill, Kane Richardson, Tom Rogers, Peter Siddle, Will Sutherland, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Jon Wells, Adam Zampa

Melbourne Stars: Scott Boland, Joe Burns, Hilton Cartwright, Brody Couch, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Liam Dawson, Sam Harper, Campbell Kellaway, Nick Larkin, Glenn Maxwell, Usama Mir, Joel Paris, Haris Rauf, Tom Rogers, Mark Steketee, Marcus Stoinis, Imad Wasim, Beau Webster (replaced by Jono Merlo for the first game)

Perth Scorchers: Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Cooper Connolly, Zak Crawley, Laurie Evans, Stephen Eskinazi, Aaron Hardie, Liam Haskett, Nick Hobson, Josh Inglis, Matthew Kelly, Mitch Marsh, Hamish McKenzie, Lance Morris, Jhye Richardson, Sam Whiteman, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye

Sydney Sixers: Sean Abbott, Jackson Bird, Tom Curran, Joel Davies, Ben Dwarshuis, Jack Edwards, Moises Henriques, Daniel Hughes, Hayden Kerr, Todd Murphy, Izharulhaq Naveed, Steve O'Keefe, Kurtis Patterson, Mitch Perry, Josh Philippe, Jordan Silk, Steve Smith, James Vince

Sydney Thunder: Cameron Bancroft, Oliver Davies, Liam Doddrell, Matt Gilkes, Chris Green, Alex Hales, Liam Hatcher, Zaman Khan, Nathan McAndrew, Blake Nikitaras, Alex Ross, Will Salzmann, Daniel Sams, Gurinder Sandhu, Tanveer Sangha, Jason Sangha (c), David Warner

Big Bash League 2023/24 Schedule