Leg Buys: Retired BBL star keen on comeback, Cricket Vic on the hunt for inaugural team

It’s understood the former Australian white-ball all-rounder is open to the idea and that preliminary discussions have been held about him appearing for a BBL club this summer.

Complicating the situation is that Christian is on the coaching staff of the Sydney Thunder.

The idea has gained traction after the well-travelled Christian starred for Australia at the Hong Kong Sixes event in recent days, clobbering 19 sixes from the 43 balls he faced across the tournament.

A stalwart of the Twenty20 circuit, Christian won T20 domestic competitions with nine different teams across four continents between 2010 and 2021, helping the Brisbane Heat, Melbourne Renegades and Sydney Sixers to BBL titles in recent seasons.

Called up to Australia’s Test squad in 2011 but uncapped in the format, Christian played 20 one-day internationals and 23 T20s for Australia including a run of games as 38-year-old when he formed a part of Australia’s depleted squads for tours of the West Indies and Bangladesh at a time of Covid-19 bubbles.

Christian joined the Thunder as an assistant coach last year, having finished playing with the Sixers early in 2023.

He has dabbled in so-called legends league cricket, joining the likes of Shaun Marsh, Tim Paine, Brett Lee, Aaron Finch and Peter Siddle in representing the Australia Champions at an event earlier this year in England.

Even at his age, Christian would still be half a decade off becoming the oldest player in BBL history given Brad Hogg appeared for the Renegades in 2018, little more than a fortnight shy of his 47th birthday.

PICK A VIC, SORT OF

As flagged by this column, Victoria is set to field a team in the inaugural Global Super League event in Guyana. The five-team competition also featuring the Carribbean Premier League’s Guyana Amazon Warriors and English county Hampshire, Bangladesh’s Rangpur Rider and Pakistan’s Lahore Qalanders runs from November 26 to December 7.

Herein lies an issue: that is right in the heart of the Australian domestic season, meaning most of Victoria’s squad will be occupied.

It even overlaps with the Abu Dhabi T10 competition where Josh Brown - on contract with Victoria - has been signed by the Chennai Brave Jaguars.

So just who will actually play for this Victorian outfit at an event where the prize pool is $US1million?

Sources have indicated that several leading Victorian Premier cricketers are likely to form part of the squad, with Footscray quick Max Birthisel one leading contender.

Veteran BBL batter Jon Wells, on the books of the Melbourne Renegades but without a state contract, has emerged as another prime candidate, while CV is also likely to lean into its partnership with Major League Cricket’s San Francisco Unicorns to find a full squad.

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Lahore recently appointed former England quick Darren Gough as its coach for the tournament.

“It’s an absolute honour to have been asked by the Lahore Qalandars to be the head coach for the upcoming Global Super League in Guyana. I’m really excited about this opportunity because I’ve been fortunate to work with the Qalandars in Lahore on several occasions,” Gough said

“We know that Lahore Qalandars are all about giving young players opportunities they’ve never had before -developing their skills and shaping them into players who can go on to represent the Qalandars, and hopefully make Pakistan cricket proud.”