Hurricanes in discussions with Broad over BBL deal

Stuart Broad, the England fast bowler, is in talks with Big Bash League franchise Hobart Hurricanes over a possible deal to play in the Twenty20 tournament later this year, Hurricanes general manager Michael Roberts confirmed on Monday (August 15). The franchise is expected to make a decision after confirming the pacer's availability in that period based on his national commitments.

"Stuart Broad is one of a number of international players that we are currently in talks with," Roberts said. "The usual process with contracting internationals is to talk to a number of players and wait and see what their availability is with their national commitments during the Big Bash League period.

"Once it is clearer on a player's availability, we can then progress talks from there."

Kumar Sangakkara will turn out for the Hurricanes once again but they have one more overseas spot to fill after Darren Sammy's contract expired at the end of last season.

England are scheduled to play a limited-overs series in India during the BBL but the selectors are unlikely to pick Broad after ignoring him for the World T20 earlier this year. He was also not selected for the recently-concluded series against Sri Lanka and post the snub, he hinted about playing white-ball cricket overseas.
"I'm going to look at scheduling, whether it's home or abroad, to try to play some white-ball cricket and there might be a decent opportunity after Christmas this year because there's not a lot of Test cricket then until, I think, July," he had said.

The discussions could edge closer after Tuesday when the selectors name the squad to face Pakistan in a five-match One-Day International series and a one-off T20 with Broad not expected to be a part of it.