Aussie T20 specialist Chris Lynn admits he is feeling “nervous” ahead of his foray into a new domestic cricket tournament.
This weekend the explosive batter is taking part in the Brisbane Premier League (BPL) — a local cricket event with a few innovative twists.
Watch South Africa’s Tour of England. Every ODI & T20 Live & On-Demand on Kayo. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >
The BPL sees eight teams compete across two pools, with the tournament culminating in the semi-finals and final, which will be played on Sunday afternoon.
“Hopefully there’s a bit of a festival happening and we’re able to see some quality cricket,” Lynn told news.com.au.
Dubbed ‘The Century’, the games will see 20 balls bowled from each end five times with the aim of speeding up the game without having to break for overs across the 100-ball innings.
“For the seniors this weekend, the rules are based around The Hundred from England but it’s called The Century,” Lynn said.
“So we’ve got a bit of a twist, we try to spice things up.”
All the action is available to stream via Kayo Freebies and the BPL has created a concept called the ‘Kayo Call’, where Lynn and former Queensland teammate Nathan Reardon will be the two VIP batters for the 6pm games on Friday and Saturday night.
“It’s all on Kayo Freebies,” Lynn said.
“With that, myself and Nathan Reardon will be commentating tonight’s game at 6pm and tomorrow night’s game at 6pm. Whoever wins the toss gets to choose either myself or Reardo, that’s a little bit of a novelty.”
How the ‘Kayo Call’ works
— Both players (Lynn and Reardon) are available to bat.
— The winner of the toss can either choose the player they want to bat for them or whether they bat or bowl first.
— If the winner of the toss chooses a player, the loser of the toss gets the other play and decides whether they want to bat or bowl first.
— If the winner of the toss chooses to bat or bowl, the loser of the toss gets to choose which player they want.
— The player not on the field will be in the commentary box.
Lynn, who is a part-owner of the Northern Kings, said the Kayo Call could even see him playing against his own local side.
“I could actually be playing against the Kings… so it’s going to be quite funny,” he said.
Lynn’s future in the Big Bash is up in the air after he was cut by the Brisbane Heat, but he is hoping to continue his strong from the T20 Blast in the UK into this weekend’s action.
“I’m looking forward to getting out in the middle,” he said.
“I haven’t played local cricket for a while now so I’m keen to see how the juniors are travelling.”
“There’s going to be some buzz around Norths cricket club and we’re going to see some local talent on display. I’m probably a bit nervous because you’re expected to score runs.
“It’s all about scoring runs, I’m going to try and entertain. For those who can’t get down to Norths, it’s on Kayo so it’s a great endorsement from them to allow the Brisbane Premier League on that.”
The 32-year-old said the aim of the BPL is to showcase junior local talent to top level cricket.
“We’re trying to get some youngsters some exposure in men’s cricket,” Lynn said.
“We’ve just seen Adelaide starting their league as well. Ideally we’d love to have teams in every state. The world’s your oyster after that. The winners can play against each other, there’s a number of options that we’ve got.
“The guys have put a really good foundation in Brisbane. Having this festival century tournament is really going to make its mark in Brisbane Premier Cricket.”
The Brisbane Premier League (BPL) is available to stream live and free via Kayo Freebies. No credit card details are required to sign up.
.