Fri Fix: How the BBL sale stalled, Bellamy's neurological scare and Origin recap

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That sound is relative silence, which is what we got in the last 24 hours,

as cricket Australia parked their BBL sale plans.

There was a written statement and a small media briefing,

but no press conference to explain the situation.

So where do we stand on the much heralded,

biggest decision in Australian cricket history?

Is it over?

Or are we just waiting for the guy holding four beers to move out of the batter's

eye line and play to continue?

New South Wales got off to a winning start in the women's state of origin.

Plus, a serious health scare for the already under-the-pump storm coach Craig Bellamy.

I'm Declan Bern, this is ABC Sport Daily.

The debate raged, the deadlines came and went, and in the end,

cricket Australia haven't convinced the states to privatise the BBL.

Pete Lawler has been covering it extensively for cricket at all,

including breaking the news yesterday that Queensland,

who was undecided, eventually settled in the no-cam.

Pete was Queensland's decision the point at which CA knew at Hat to Concede

they just couldn't push on.

Yeah, that's it.

Queensland was for swing state in this one, to some degree.

We came to understand yesterday in talking with Todd Greenberg,

that New South Wales were hard against this proposal.

Queensland, after asking for more time, decided that they were against the proposal.

And South Australia had said essentially that they were against the proposal too,

but we're happy for some teams to privatise if they wanted under certain conditions.

So essentially, you've ended up with a situation where Australian cricket is split

right down the middle.

It's like Solomon sought to the baby that was argued over in the Old Testament.

We've got political, we've got biblical.

It was a big discussion.

Can you sum up what do you think the biggest sticking point was, though,

for those three states and effectively four big bash teams that voted against?

Yeah, look, this has been said by people on both sides of the debate,

that this is the biggest decision that Australian cricket has ever had to make.

This will be, in my view, the biggest strategic decision Australian cricket makes in a generation.

And so we have to understand the impacts if we do it, but we equally have to understand

the impacts if we don't do it.

That's a pretty solid claim, because essentially you're selling part of the family jules.

You are giving up for the first time in history, part of Australian cricket,

to private enterprise, so that money will be going out the door.

I mean, all the focuses on the money that will be coming in the door.

And fair enough, too, because with private investment and private capital,

and they're willing to pay a lot of money for sports teams at this time.

But inherent in that is the unknown.

Who's coming in?

I mean, there are only, essentially, they're selling 49% of six of the franchises

and 100% of the other two, or that's the proposal.

If you have the sort of carpet baggers of private capital coming in and start throwing their

weight around, and we see what happened in England, when with this year's the 100,

they put that on the market.

A lot of Indian capital came in, and they changed the names of the teams,

the uniforms of the teams, that's the superficial side of it.

But the biggest side of it is, are you then

conceding some control of your cricket to outside commercial interests?

And while CA will tell you that no, that they will retain control,

inevitably there comes pressures, and the great concerns around this are

that will lead to a situation where you say the only way to make the BBL

really good, and us to get return on our capital, us business people,

is for all the Australian players to be available for every game in the BBL.

That's what's happened in the 100.

That's what happened in South Africa when they sold their leg.

The only way that can happen here, if the BBL sticks to its current sort of time slot,

is to move the Sydney test.

I mean, your new years test will move back to November.

These are concerns that, you know, it's the great unknown, what will happen.

But at the moment, you own the farm yourself, you run the farm yourself,

and some people are proposing there are other ways to raise the money

that CA argue is necessary to keep the game in good shape.

There will be impacts on both those occasions, and some of that is a crystal ball

of what we think the future might look like.

But the main decision is, if we do it, it has to benefit the entire game,

the entire sport, not just players, it has to benefit everybody.

It is the great unknown, but you're pretty plugged in.

I want you to take a look up at the flags and tell me which way the wind is blowing,

because cricket Australia, yes, they said they hadn't reached consensus,

but there was the word yet in there.

Greenberg's reiterated, he believes it's when, not if, with private investment in the big bash.

So, where do you think it goes from here?

How much needs to change for the likes of New South Wales Queensland and South Australia?

Perhaps not a lot needs to change them.

The CA have told that go and explore other options,

so they will go and explore, you know, maybe selling two franchises or three franchises or six

franchises. It'll move away from the model that they've proposed.

I think that they were happy when Queensland said no to say,

all right, let's pause this and let's revisit it down the track.

But those who had voted in favour of privatisation are insisting that they keep exploring

these options and try and find a way to bring some private capital into the big bash.

So, it's not over yet, but I doubt very much that it will be anywhere near the model that

CA had hoped when they had hoped to take the whole thing to market.

Now they'll be taking little bits of it to market.

The whole thing, especially recently, felt a bit like a tilt at political party leadership,

you know, canvassing numbers, promising things to certain people, lots of conversations behind

closed doors. And generally, no matter how those things play out, there's scars.

Pete, what wounds in Australian cricket can you see that need some medical attention?

Yeah, it's a good point. Look, I believe that all parties had the absolute best interest

of Australian cricket at heart when they made their decisions and ended up in opposite camps here.

But if you're cricket Victoria, the stick that got them over the line to be in favour of

privatisation, where they initially weren't, was that they cannot afford the six million

dollars in savings that they've been told they'll have to find if there's no privatisation.

So they're facing six million dollars in cuts from their annual budget.

They're going to look up at New South Wales. They're a sworn enemy. And say, this is all your fault.

That was my initial fear. It's kind of played out a bit differently, I think. A lot of heat is now

focussed back towards the people who've been running this. And in particular, Mike Baird, the chair

of Cricket Australia, New South Wales has nominated him to be on Cricket Australia's board.

And they now then find themselves in a diametrically opposed positions. And I don't think there's

much love loss between New South Wales and Mike Baird at the moment. But also now, add to that Cricket

Victoria, you know, one of the biggest states in Australian cricket, is probably annoyed at the

way that this has played out as well. That will put more pressure on Mike Baird, whose term comes

up later in this year. I think Todd Greenberg, who is ECO and has run the process for him, is a little

bit more Teflon in this environment. If we've got an ability to bring significant amounts of capital

into the game, how do we make sure Cricket Prosper's for that? Not just immediately, but for the next

generation. But there's a lot of pressure on Mike Baird at the moment. So you mentioned Mike Baird

in Greenberg. Give me the overarching feeling you think today in those corner offices.

The ones with the good views at Cricket Australia, how are they feeling?

They looked pretty sombre yesterday when we did a phone hook up. Well, it was only with Todd

really. And it was pretty sombre. I mean, they were waiting on Queensland. I think they believe

that Queensland were going to come down with a yes. And basically, they were going to say,

beauty, we're having a wedding, but the green got cold feet and they had to put away their wedding

plans and announce that it was all off. So it's back to the drawing board. They failed in their

first attempt to get this done. I don't think that they really saw themselves having a second attempt

at it. So yeah, pretty sombre mood, I'd say. All right, it's taken 12 months to get to this

snow. I wonder what lies ahead, Pete. We appreciate you shedding light on this BBL privatisation

debate that has raged and we'll continue to. It's the nerdiest bit of cricket this stuff, honestly.

New South Wales have come from behind to try up 11 six in game one of the Women's

Origin series in Newcastle last night with a Jesse Southwell feel goal and Jess Sir just try

on the bell to set up a huge next two games, both in Queensland. Emma Lawrence led the channel

nine coverage and Emma. The players were all commenting post match that it was one of, if not the

fastest game they'd been a part of, what did you make of the opener? Well, thank you for having

me. It was so great to be there. I think it was such an incredible game, particularly given,

I think there was a little bit of noise beforehand around the fact that this origin match comes

before the NRW season. So the girls hadn't even played trial matches. So many were worried about

the quality and the standard and maybe early on a little bit more drop ball than they both would

have liked, but that was a typical origin match. It was so physical, they were belching each other

out there. It was a proper grind, went down to the wire, which no one can complain about.

I don't think anyone wants a blowout in an origin match. Fix all the score. A long ball at Southwell

from 20 minutes out. Stirrikes and likes it. Fixed a feel goal and was seven minutes to go

for the first time denied that we were in front. A perfect way to start and I mean for New South

Wales as well. They hadn't actually won an origin match at Newcastle yet despite it's a home game

for them. So there were over 20,000 fans there, which was awesome. And I think they'll only get

better. The quality will get better in another couple of weeks. Yeah, look really looking forwards

to game two. And we had Millie Elliott on this week. What a performance from her coming back seven

a half months after having a baby to play at the highest level. Were you astounded at just how much

she showed up or really not surprised at all? Look on one hand, I was kind of in my sort of

interviews and crosses all week. I was saying, oh, it's unbelievable. But then I kind of had to stop

and think, well, it's not because Millie Elliott, anyone that knows her knows that she's genuinely a

machine. She is so determined, so committed. She's so physically fit. It shouldn't actually come as

a surprise to anyone that she got back to this level. I mean, it's wild for us, me and mortals,

you know, I think for me, I mean, I often, the birth of my daughter, I came back to work after three

and a half months, right, to sit on a couch in front of a camera, talk some foodie. I didn't have to

get my body physically ready. Like, that is a whole nother level to get your body physically fit and

then to go out there and get smashed. You know what, an outside back, she's playing in the middle of

the field. We honestly should be bowing down before Millie. It's such an incredible achievement.

And she played so well. She copped a knock and she kept going like, she's as tough as they come

and the best person you'll ever meet. Well played. They work into the right side. Millie Elliott up

the middle sets up a huge series. As I said, Queensland have two home games. They'll have a little bit

to tweak, but a ripping first match. The other big news in the rugby league world that dropped last night

about now before origin kickoff surrounded the health of Melbourne storm coach Craig Bellamy.

The club released a statement saying Bellamy has been diagnosed with a form of

neurodegenerative disorder, which is really scary given that they are generally incurable. It's

that gradual decline and damage to your brain and nervous system. How did you react, Emma, when

you heard that news? Honestly, I was just really sad to hear it and everybody in the game loves

Craig Bellamy and without knowing too many details around the condition and how severe it is.

I guess all that I or anyone in the game could say is that we wish Craig Bellamy all the very best.

I think foot is one thing, but your health and your life, but we know how much more important

that is. So I genuinely hope that he's doing okay. We all send our best wishes. And in terms of

the rest of his coaching in footy career, I mean, time will only tell it's really too early to

speculate on any of that, but there's certain coaches in the game that have relationships with players

that can go beyond professional like they genuinely care for each other. And I know that everyone has

that relationship with Craig. So without being part of the inner sanctum, I have no doubt that

there would be the team wanting to, I mean, everyone wants to win obviously out there on the footy

feel, but for wanting to do it for Craig as well, I would imagine it adds another dimension to

tonight's match, not that you need anymore incentive when you've lost six in a row, which is we

haven't seen other storm do for such a long time. I honestly wouldn't write them off just

yeah. I know a lot of people are saying they won't play finals. I think it's too early to say that

for the storm. So you know what? I'm going to go a bit bold and tip it up. So I'm going to tip

them over and storm. There you go. Emma Lawrence. Thank you for wrapping up our agenda looking

ahead to tonight and the rest of the round. Thank you. No worries. Thanks for having me on.

Sound bites. Collingwood and Hawthorne played out the first draw of the AFL season last night.

And with the debate raging about whether the AFL should have extra time,

Collingwood coach Craig McCray. Well, he kept it simple. But fundamentally, I said to the boys,

yeah, we did win tonight, but we definitely definitely didn't lose. That's a draw.

Insurfing. The Margot of a Pro finished over the weekend and 23 year old Aussie George Pida in just

his second year on tour took out his maiden event. He was stoked and wasn't exactly lost for words.

Swear words specifically. I felt like we were just pushing shit up here. It's like

believe it. Like I'm profit. Let's go. Congratulations, GP. Cheers, Moana.

Passion is real and the media training is incoming. Never changed, George.

Continuing with the linguistics team, Yannick Sinner was asked post-match in Spain at the Madrid

Open how he deals with the language barrier. Do you have any apps that help you?

The Duolingo or the other one is also bubble, no? So let's see.

Bumble is a dating app? No, no. No, bubble. No, bubble, bubble, bubble. Anyway, it's not the

dating app. I don't need the dating app. Arkin is winning streak in tennis is better than his

duo Lingo Stake. I'm Daclan Burn. This is ABC Sport Daily. Thanks to WSL and ATP Tennis for

the extra audio used in this episode.