The 2015–16 Big Bash League season (BBL|05) was the fifth season of the Big Bash League (BBL), the top-class Twenty20 cricket competition in Australia. The tournament ran from 17 December 2015 to 24 January 2016.

The title was won by Sydney Thunder, who defeated Melbourne Stars by three wickets in the final to claim their first title. Perth Scorchers, who had been seeking a third successive title, lost to the Stars in the semi-final, failing to reach the final for the first time. Chris Lynn of the Brisbane Heat was the tournament's leading run-scorer, scoring 378 runs from eight matches, and was named player of the tournament. The leading wicket-taker was Clint McKay of Sydney Thunder, who took 18 wickets from ten matches. Travis Head of the Adelaide Strikers was named the best player under 25, scoring 299 runs and taking six wickets.Chris Lynn named player of BBL|05 cricket.com.au. Retrieved on 24 January 2016http://www.espncricinfo.com/big-bash-league-2015-16/engine/series/897689.html?view=records | 26Feb2019

Pre-season

Squads

League stage Points table

Match summary

Matches

Play-offs

Semi-final 1

Semi-final 2

Final

Statistics

+Most runs Player Team Runs Chris Lynn Brisbane Heat 378 Usman Khawaja Sydney Thunder 345 Kevin Pietersen Melbourne Stars 323 Michael Hussey Sydney Thunder 306 Travis Head Adelaide Strikers 299 Source: ESPNcricinfo

+Most wicketsPlayer Team Wickets Clint McKay Sydney Thunder 18 Adil Rashid Adelaide Strikers 16 Andre Russell Sydney Thunder 16 Andrew Tye Perth Scorchers 13 Two players 12 Source: ESPNcricinfo

Notable events

The opening Sydney Derby match was played for the "Batting for Change Trophy" at Spotless Stadium. During the match money was raised for the Batting for Change charity after every six which was hit.Tomorrow we'll also be playing for the @batting4change Trophy twitter.com/ThunderBBL. Retrieved on 16 December 2015Big Bash takes summer's top billing espncricinfo.com. Retrieved on 16 December 2015

The January 2 match between Perth Scorchers and Sydney Sixers at the WACA Ground saw the clubs wearing Batman and Superman playing gear as a part of a league partnership with Warner Bros. Pictures.Tickets on sale as BBL, Warner Bros team up cricket.com.au. Retrieved on 2 December 2015

TV audience Matches were broadcast in Australia by the free-to-air Network Ten.Cricket – KFC Big Bash League tenplay.com.au. Retrieved on 9 January 2016 Network Ten's BBL coverage has become a regular feature of Australian summers and attracted an average audience of 1.13 million for each match in Australia this season, an 18% increase on the previous season. A cumulative audience of 9.65 million watched the BBL matches in Australia, out of which 39% were females.Season Wrap – BBL|05 bigbash.com.au. Retrieved on 25 January 2016BBL AND WBBL SOAR TO NEW HIGHS bigbash.com.au. Retrieved on 25 January 2016

The opening Sydney Derby match attracted more a peak audience of 1.53 million. A peak audience of 1.05 million watched the second innings of the match in the five major capital cities, making it then the highest-rating non-finals match in BBL history.#SydneySmash breaks ratings record bigbash.com.au. Retrieved on 19 December 2015 This record was broken in the last match between Renegades and Strikers when Session 2 was watched by an average audience of 1.36 million, which peaked at 1.67 million.Session 2: 1.36 mil Peak 1.67 mil Audience up 41% on 2014–15 Session 2 ave #BBL05 Malcolm Conn – Commercial Manager, Cricket Australia. Retrieved on 25 January 2016

The BBL Final was watched by an average audience of 1.79 million, which peaked at 2.24 million viewers. This was the first time that the ratings for a BBL match crossed the 2 million mark.SBIG ratings for BIG #BBL05 #BBLFinal! 1.79 mil watched @ThunderBBL win their first title. Peak 2.24 mil Audience up 17% 2015 final session 2 Malcolm Conn – Commercial Manager, Cricket Australia. Retrieved on 25 January 2016

Following are the television ratings for 2015–16 BBL season in Australia.Big Bash League TV Ratings Retrieved on 22 December 2015

Match NoTeamsAverage TV RatingsNational5 metro citiesSession 1Session 2Session 1Session 21Sydney Thunder vs Sydney Sixers1,220,0001,250,000856,000917,000 2Adelaide Strikers vs Melbourne Stars999,0001,270,000720,000941,0003Brisbane Heat vs Melbourne Renegades843,0001,100,000642,000853,0004Sydney Sixers vs Hobart Hurricanes693,000827,000488,000590,0005Melbourne Stars vs Sydney Thunder1,170,0001,250,000817,000914,0006Perth Scorchers vs Adelaide Strikers898,0001,200,000664,000919,0007Hobart Hurricanes vs Brisbane Heat843,0001,170,000597,000831,0008Melbourne Renegades vs Sydney Sixers864,0001,160,000603,000847,0009Perth Scorchers vs Brisbane Heat708,000857,000511,000614,00010Sydney Sixers vs Melbourne Stars686,000952,000479,000675,00011Sydney Thunder vs Adelaide Strikers797,0001,030,000575,000758,00012Brisbane Heat vs Hobart Hurricanes855,0001,130,000608,000790,00013Melbourne Renegades vs Perth Scorchers917,0001,170,000677,000864,00014Adelaide Strikers vs Sydney Sixers729,000887,000517,000629,00015Hobart Hurricanes vs Sydney Thunder902,0001,160,000665,000831,00016Melbourne Stars vs Melbourne Renegades852,0001,260,000621,000880,00017Perth Scorchers vs Sydney Sixers753,0001,060,000577,000759,00018Brisbane Heat vs Sydney Thunder968,0001,250,000676,000913,00019Hobart Hurricanes vs Melbourne Renegades1,160,0001,250,000857,000983,00020Adelaide Strikers vs Perth Scorchers1,210,0001,270,000878,000983,00021Melbourne Stars vs Hobart Hurricanes1,120,0001,180,000846,000913,00022Sydney Thunder vs Perth Scorchers1,123,0001,090,000781,000930,00023Brisbane Heat vs Adelaide Strikers1,180,0001,040,000765,000887,00024Melbourne Renegades vs Melbourne Stars841,0001,070,000599,000777,00025Hobart Hurricanes vs Perth Scorchers653,000848,000465,000636,00026Sydney Sixers vs Brisbane Heat1,080,0001,180,000803,000859,00027Sydney Thunder vs Melbourne Renegades1,210,0001,240,000868,000904,00028Adelaide Strikers vs Hobart Hurricanes1,040,0001,190,000788,000897,00029Melbourne Stars vs Brisbane Heat1,200,0001,230,000868,000910,00030Sydney Sixers vs Sydney Thunder777,0001,120,000536,000790,00031Perth Scorchers vs Melbourne Stars1,020,000667,000769,000540,00032Melbourne Renegades vs Adelaide Strikers1,110,0001,360,000820,0001,020,000SF1Adelaide Strikers vs Sydney Thunder1,070,0001,220,000806,000929,000SF2Melbourne Stars vs Perth Scorchers1,050,0001,180,000774,000900,000FinalMelbourne Stars vs Sydney Thunder1,570,0001,790,0001,130,0001,300,000Average1,057,414776,129

References

External links Official fixtures Series home at ESPN Cricinfo