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Only the most cynical traditionalist - you know, the ones still calling themselves crickets fustiest word, purist - could have failed to be impressed with the manner in which the Big Bash League, the bold, brash Big Bash League, strode into 2016.The last night of 2015 saw Travis Head pull off an outrageous heist - compelling cricket, whatever your favoured format - for the Strikers against the Sixers in front of 46,389 adoring Adelaidians, supporting a team (with genuine gusto) that did not exist six years ago. The next night, Hobart Hurricanes hosted their first-ever sell-out at Bellerive Oval (by seasons end, they had had two more).January 2, however, was the whopper, with 80,883 (breaking the competitions record by more than 30,000) at the MCG and over 20,000 more at the Waca. At the G, vendors were out of food by half-time, conservative estimates suggested 1,500 people gave up when queuing for tickets, and A$80,000 of merchandise was sold. Only three of the 45 games hosted by the MCG in the 2015 AFL season - a veritable Melbourne religion with 150 years of tradition and deep-seated rivalries behind it - drew a larger crowd.When placed alongside a Test summer against weak opposition on dreary pitches (and, in Sydneys case, under rainy skies) these numbers were arresting evidence that the BBL had changed Australian cricket in ways greater than simply succeeding in encouraging fans - young and old - to don a literal cardboard bucket, meant for housing fried chicken, on their heads.No, the impact of the competition, gearing up for its sixth season for men and into its second for women, has been profound, and the landscape altered for good. It has muscled its way to the very heart of the summer; in every sense of the word, the BBL is primetime. When the holidays start, the BBL starts; when the holidays end, the BBL ends, and for 40 days, there is cricket on almost every evening - it pauses for thought on Christmas Eve (although Sydney Sixers want to play then too), Christmas Day (when Melbourne Renegades fancy a game), and the days that Australia play their January ODIs. The trick has been in its regularity, and sheer simplicity. Administrators argue that the BBLs schedule sits neatly alongside the summers international calendar, and that the shortest form is the gateway drug that is conscripting the next generation of Test obsessives. In essence, the BBL extended the cricketing day; Australia play Tests, then their fans switch the channel at the close of play and watch the shorter stuff. Those administrators may be right - and there is no doubt the BBL has brought new fans to the sport, particularly kids, women and ethnic minorities - but whether that translates into sold-out Tests in years to come, it really is far too early to tell.For players, opportunities are greater, and deeper. Six teams became eight, providing more slots, with Channel Tens free-to-air broadcast elevating their profiles; non-international players are household names, playing before large crowds and huge TV audiences. A new type of star emerged too, like Craig Simmons, from outside the mainstream - for some, this will lead to highly lucrative careers in leagues around the world, without ever playing an international. Among professionals, Test cricket remains the pinnacle of the game, but do kids now grow up dreaming of playing BBL, not international cricket?This has come at a price, with the less lucrative or marketable - and thus popular - Matador Cup and Sheffield Shield shunted to the summers margins. If Australias Test fortunes do not pick up, the BBL is likely - rightly or wrongly - to be blamed. As one player says: they have probably been the victims of the success. They are hotly contested but the wider public arent really interested and they are also increasingly treated as sort of talent-development competitions by administrators. This cant help but flow down to how the players feel about them.TV has made stars of those players, and the BBLs newfound power in the broadcast market was indicated by American giants NBC showing 10 games this year. In the UK, BBL was a key plank in BT Sports decision to snap up the rights for all Australian cricket, but things will be most interesting at home: later this summer, the next batch of rights (the current lot expire at the end of the 2017-18 season) for Australian cricket will be sold. Network Ten paid $20m a season for the last round of BBL rights, while Channel Nine paid $80m for international cricket; industries experts anticipate that the gap between those figures will narrow significantly, with the BBLs value at least trebling. Channel Seven may want a slice of the pie, while it is thought Fox Sports may set up a dedicated cricket channel.Perhaps, though, beyond the increased participation, crowds and players opportunities, the shuffled shape of summer and economic expansion, the BBLs greatest impact has on the sports image. CA were brazen in their belief that cricket was too male, pale and stale and have targeted non-traditional audiences with abandon.While some of the BBLs gimmicks pursued to this end have been excruciating, the atmosphere at games is welcoming and seldom boozy (unlike T20 in England or international cricket in either country), the crowds are diverse and, most eye-catchingly, full of families and kids - at whom everything is aimed. It is these values that mean young girls now have cricketing role models through the WBBL and underpinned CAs absolute conviction that Chris Gayle, the human with more runs in the competitions format than any other, would not return this year having compromised the BBLs values last year.Image matters and, as a result of the pursuit of these ideals through the BBL, cricket is a broader, bigger sport. The game has changed for good.BT Sport is your new home for Australias home international matches and Big Bash League, including the 2017-18 Ashes series. For more info please visit sport.bt.com/cricket Discount Air Max Shoes . Malkin got tangled up with Detroits Luke Glendening early in the third period and his left skate took the brunt of collision with the boards behind Pittsburghs net. Cheap Air Max 720 China Discount . -- Peyton Manning will have all of his wide receivers available for the first time in a month when the Denver Broncos begin their playoff run Jan. http://www.cheapairmaxchinadiscount.com/ . -- Golden State Warriors coach Mark Jackson asked his players a simple question during Fridays morning shootaround: How many of them had ever been on a team 14 games over . Cheap Vapormax China Discount . Shot outdoors against the stunning backdrop of Banff, Alta., the networks 30-minute original production airs tonight at 8pm et/5pm pt on TSN2. The four All-Star teams will play for $100,000 in prize money during TSNs annual skins game, airing live this weekend on TSN from The Fenlands Banff Recreation Centre. Cheap Air Max Free Shipping Michael Cheikas Clowngate rant may have served to take heat off what history will remember as one of Australias worst-ever Bledisloe Cup campaigns.Saturdays 37-10 defeat at Eden Park not only ensured the all conquering All Blacks held the trans-Tasman trophy for the 14th straight year, it also extended their statistical dominance over the Wallabies to a new level.The 108-27 cumulative points margin in favour of the All Blacks was the heaviest in a Bledisloe Cup series.And there were other stats that also make uncomfortable reading for Australian fans.The 16 tries conceded by Australia represents the equal-worst defensive effort in a three-Test Bledisloe series - tying the 1972 team who were nicknamed the Woeful Wallabies by Kiwis.The Wallabies tally of 27 points scored also equals the worst return in a three-match series, also held by the 1972 team, although that side had to play all three of their Tests in New Zealand.Remarkably, the Wallabies two tries scored is not their worst tally for a three-Test series, having managed just one in 2012 - but that Robbie Deans-coached team conceded only three All Blacks tries.Its also the first time Australia has ever copped two 3-0 series defeats in the same year, having suffered the same fate at home in Junee against England.ddddddddddddCheika may have provided the ideal smokescreen with his outburst over a newspaper cartoon in his post-match press conference, ensuring he was the focus of attention this week, not his players or the stats sheets.But the irony is Australias performance in Auckland was just about their best of the international season, despite conceding six tries to one.The Wallabies had 65 per cent of possession, spent 68 per cent of the match in New Zealands half, ran more metres (586-566), had more carries (155-101) and beat more defenders (24-20).That was probably the most disappointing facet of the game - that we had a lot of chances, a lot of opportunities, a lot of possession and territory at their end of the field and we lacked that execution, playmaker Bernard Foley said.We were just unable to get that last pass to stick or score that try and thats crucial.Whenever you get the opportunity against a side like the All Blacks, you have to take it.Cheika and his team have less than two weeks to lick their wounds ahead of their grand slam tour to Europe which begins on November 5 against Wales in Cardiff. 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