Marnus Labuschagne's mission to return the Big Bash League to its former glory has hit an early snag with Test batting sidekick and great mate Steve Smith hesitant to join him.
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Labuschagne and Travis Head confirmed their returns to the Brisbane Heat and Adelaide Strikers respectively on Thursday, the pair likely to play in the last six regular-season games and finals.
David Warner is tipped to return to the BBL for the first time since 2013 on a groundbreaking deal with the Sydney Thunder.
But Nine newspapers report that Smith has baulked at an offer to suit up for the Thunder's cross-town rivals the Sixers.
Lucrative, Indian-backed Twenty20 tournaments in South Africa and the UAE will clash with the BBL in January.
Record BBL six-hitter Chris Lynn is weighing up a move to the latter, with Cricket Australia instigating a player draft in an attempt to lure back some international star power.
Test opener Usman Khawaja will play for the Heat this season after moving from the Thunder, while star pace bowlers Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins will skip the tournament.
Josh Hazlewood, Scott Boland and Cameron Green are the remaining centrally-contracted players without BBL12 deals.
Cricket tragic Labuschagne, currently No.2 in Test cricket's batting rankings, needs no informing of the packed T20 cricket landscape.
"It's going to be an ongoing challenge, so many competitions have popped up," he told reporters on Thursday.
"There's two comps in our window now ... we just need to value our product and make sure our product is the best to get the best players coming in and playing.
"If we can have that, there should be no issue."
The under-siege BBL has lost pulling power in recent seasons but Labuschagne is dreaming of a packed Gabba again later this year.
"Hopefully this year is a big stepping stone to getting our competition back to its absolute best," he said.
He said he hoped his Test teammates followed him back to the Australian league but that "everyone's different".
"This year I think we're playing something like 16 tests; that's a lot for our bowlers to take," he said.
"And you've got people with young families, some with high workloads playing three formats all the time ... it's hard to expect those guys to always be available."
Australian Associated Press
