Melbourne Stars stand-in captain Adam Zampa has blasted Cricket Australia's handling of COVID in the Big Bash League.
The Melbourne Stars were one of the first clubs to be hit by the global pandemic, and one of the hardest-hit, with more than ten players missing matches due to being in a mandatory seven-day isolation after contracting COVID.
While Cricket Australia have been forced to postpone a handful of games due to the timing of positive cases and inability to have other players confirmed as negative before the start time, other games have continued.
The Melbourne Stars get a staggering nine players back for their clash with the Adelaide Strikers on Monday evening, although Glenn Maxwell who normally captains the side is missing.
Zampa told the media on Sunday that the players being out is impacting the BBL's brand, and that the derby day against the Renegades had "the piss taken out of it."
“When does the line get crossed there?” Zampa said.
“We’ve worked really, really hard at the brand of BBL and (are) really careful about how we go about BBL and making sure that it stays the same and we have fun playing it, like we have in the past.
“Once that gets questioned and once the integrity of the competition starts to be in doubt that’s when the line gets crossed.
“We’re in a hub now which was promised to us wasn’t going to happen. We’re here now, unfortunately it’s ended up this way.
“The derby day scheduled for January 3 you would think you would want two full-strength squads available.
“Competitions like this are built on rivalries – Renegades-Stars, Scorchers-Sixers and Sixers-Thunder.
“I think the derby day was taken the piss out of a little bit, and that was because it was set in stone on January 3 and that day makes a lot of money for broadcasters and Cricket Australia."
Zampa said it was clear teams would have to continue playing where possible though, with Cricket Australia shifting all the teams into a Melbourne hub in an attempt to be able to make changes to the schedule on the fly where needed.
“I think it’s obvious what’s going to happen – find as many players as you can, field a team and get the game on TV, because that’s obviously what’s most important,” Zampa said.
“The answer’s out there. It’s happened to the Stars, it’s happened to the Brissy Heat, it’s probably going to happen to more teams as well.
“If there’s enough heads flying around with certain coloured shirts on then the competition goes ahead.”
