As part of separate plans arranged with Cricket Australia's high-performance squad, Steven Smith will play three BBL games before the Sri Lanka tour, while Marnus Labuschagne and Usman Khawaja would only be permitted to play one. Meanwhile, Australia's bowlers including Travis Head are scheduled to have a break before travelling abroad.
Alex Carey, Sam Konstas, Beau Webster, Mitchell Marsh, and Jhye Richardson have all been cleared to play in the remaining BBL games, while Smith, Labuschagne, and Khawaja will have limited playing time.
Head, despite being under contract, will not participate in the BBL season, nor will Scott Boland, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, and Mitchell Starc.
In the next few days, Australia is expected to announce a 16-man touring party for two Test matches in Sri Lanka. The team is scheduled to leave for the United Arab Emirates for a pre-tour camp on January 19 or 20, therefore none of the touring party will be available for the January 21–27 BBL finals series.
Whether Josh Inglis, Peter Handscomb, Todd Murphy, and Matthew Kuhnemann are all included in the side for the Sydney Test match against India is still up in the air. Although Glenn Maxwell has the opportunity to travel to Sri Lanka, his subcontinental experience is no longer as necessary given Australia's World Test Championship berth, and the selectors may decide to base their squad selection on the 2027 tour of India.
Smith will be available to play against the Perth Scorches at the SCG on Saturday, despite missing the Sydney Sixers' match against the Melbourne Stars at the MCG on Thursday. Marsh and Richardson will also participate, since they were selected in the Scorchers' squad to play the Renegades at home on Tuesday night.
Smith will then be allowed to play against the Sydney Thunder on January 17, where Konstas will also be playing, and the Adelaide Strikers on January 15. Konstas will play for Thunder against the Hobart Hurricanes in Sydney tomorrow night and in Thunder's final four games, even though the fifth Test ended a few days ago.
After taking ten days off, Khawaja and Labuschagne will only be eligible for the Brisbane Heat's home game against the Hurricanes on January 16. Due to their probable departure for overseas the following day, they will not be available for Heat's final match versus Renegades in Melbourne on January 18.
Oddly enough, Carey has been available for the Adelaide Strikers' last three games, including one on January 18 in Perth. At this point, Webster is reportedly available for Stars on January 19. It is acknowledged that if necessary, those players may travel to the UAE in phases to participate in those BBL matches.
Head, who has a contract with Strikers, stated that he needs to take a break right after the Sydney Test and will not be playing in any of those games. In addition to his IPL contract, Head appears to have a nearly continuous tour itinerary starting in Sri Lanka. He will travel to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy, India for the IPL, England for the WTC final, and the Caribbean for three Test matches and a few white-ball matches until July.
Despite the fact that Cummins will probably miss both Sri Lanka Test matches owing to the birth of his second child and that Hazlewood may be sidelined due to a calf injury, Starc, Hazlewood, and Cummins are all facing a similar schedule.
Although Lyon's workload during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy was extremely light, they were rested from the BBL. After suffering a serious calf injury in 2023, he is currently being managed at the age of 37 in preparation for two Test matches in Galle, when he is expected to be Australia's most dependable bowler.
The availability of the Test stars during this brief window between the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and the Sri Lanka tour has long been a topic of discussion between the BBL and CA's high-performance team. The national selectors, coaches, and medical staff were eager to have as many of their stars take advantage of this valuable break from international cricket, while the BBL was eager to have all players available for as many games as possible. Ben Oliver, CA's head of National Teams, stated that each program's requirements had been taken into consideration while determining each player's BBL availability.
"A five-Test match series is gruelling, and this was amplified by the intensity of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy," Oliver stated. "The players and staff are deserving of a lot of praise for their management and preparation, which allowed them to perform consistently during a demanding international calendar.
In order to help each player recuperate from the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and get ready for future international obligations, such as the tour of Sri Lanka and the ICC Champions Trophy, we have collaborated with them to create customized plans. Players representing their clubs in the current BBL season over the next two weeks should be included wherever feasible.
Alistair Dobson, general manager of the BBL, expressed his satisfaction at seeing some of the Test stars participate in the league over the next two weeks.
We appreciate their dedication to the BBL and are happy to see several Australian Test players joining the competition starting tonight following their historic Border-Gavaskar Trophy victory. "Said Dobson."