BBL officials decide to ban outrageous Andre Russell black bat

A day after the bat of Andre Russell was the talk of the town, the officials of the Big Bash league have decided to ban the bat following the marks discovered on the ball following the conclusion of the game. Andre Russell plays for the Sydney Thunder and unleashed a black colored bat, something that caught the eye of one and all.

The stuffed shirts behind the desks of the Cricket Australia titles had earlier given permission to Chris Gayle to use a black bat in the BBL. The rule which currently stands, that a player must use the Club’s primary color or black, was brought in after last summer.

“A player can use a colored bat subject to CA approval,” a CA spokesperson said on Tuesday. “The bat may be the same color as the Club’s primary color, or black. CA retains the right to withdraw approval in its absolute discretion.

Anthony Everard, the Head of the BBL said that the feedback provided by the Match Officials was enough, to say the least. “The Match Officials provided feedback to Cricket Australia that the bat used by Andre left black marks on the match ball,” said Head of the Big Bash Anthony Everard.

“As a result, we have decided to withdraw our approval for Andre to use the bat that was used last night as the color solution used by the manufacturer was discoloring the ball.

“Should Andre, or any other BBL or WBBL player for that matter, wish to use a bat with a different coloring solution to the one used last night that doesn’t result in the discolouration of the match ball, they will be permitted to do so subject to Cricket Australia being satisfied that the bat won’t compromise the integrity of the game, which we believe discolouring the match ball does.”

“It was a bit of a surprise, we didn’t see it coming,” Wilson told Optus Sport’s Umpires Verdict when asked about his first impression of Russell’s bat. (Russell’s) had permission from Cricket Australia to use that bat, whether he gets to use it going forward will depend on whether Cricket Australia is happy with what it saw tonight.” Ward added, “After Andre was dismissed there were two black marks on the ball. If he stayed in for a long time it might pose a problem I’d say.”