- Brisbane Heat and Melbourne Stars kicked off the BBL season
- Local pop star Amy Shark opened the competition – but not with her singing
- Fans were less than impressed with the MLB copy-paste
The Big Bash League is known for bringing new forms of entertainment and innovation to cricket every year, but not everyone is happy with the latest addition to the Aussie T20 competition.
The Brisbane Heat opened the 2023/24 season at the Gabba with a crushing 103-point win over the Melbourne Stars on Thursday evening.
But it was the curious addition of a celebrity throwing the first ball that raised the eyebrows of many fans as they decried the BBL for copying American sports.
The ceremonial throwing of the first pitch is a distinctly American tradition, with players such as Kanye, Bill Murray, Snoop Dogg, pop star Taylor Swift and US presidents including George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan throwing out the first pitch during MLB over the years -matches. .
So the BBL decided to try to emulate that tradition and make it part of the Australian cricket summer, bringing in ARIA-winning pop star Amy Shark from the Gold Coast to bowl the first ball between the Heat and the Stars.
Hip-hop legend Snoop Dogg (pictured) is one of many celebrities to have thrown out the first pitch for an MLB baseball game in the United States
It was a promising start when Amy Shark stormed in to bowl the first delivery, but even she found the end result a bit cringe-inducing.
The ‘Adore’ singer appeared in her signature platform shoes and baggy jeans, paired with a Brisbane Heat shirt, as she tried to keep the first ball on the pitch.
However, the delivery showed that Shark would be better off with music.
She could laugh at the situation, but many cricket fans couldn’t.
“Are we going to play baseball now?” one smoked.
“Can we please stop copying America?” asked another
‘America called. They want their cringe back,” wrote another disgruntled supporter.
Others compared the ball to the infamous John Howard delivery that still features on cricket blooper reels.
The former prime minister was in Pakistan in 2005 and visited Australian and Pakistani troops helping locals recover from an earthquake.
He was filmed hilariously rolling his arm over, with the ball hitting the pitch about a foot in front of him.
Some believe Shark’s delivery was of the same caliber.
“Is that John Howard’s daughter?” one fan asked.
“Johnny Howard’s areas” added another.
“I need to work on that line and length, Amy,” another suggested.
While Shark’s efforts weren’t stellar, other fans said they had seen worse at the Gabba, with one recalling Steve Harmison’s infamous first delivery of the 2006-07 Ashes series.
“Outside the stump line, better than Harmison back then,” one follower commented.
“Rory Burns would take that,” another posted in a playful swipe at the England cricket team.
