A longer season
The second Big Bash League ran from 7 December 2012 to 19 January 2013 and added four matches to the schedule. Each side now played eight league games rather than seven, the extra fixture being a second derby: the two Sydney clubs met twice, as did the two Melbourne clubs, with the remaining sides given a repeat against a designated rival. The top four still went through to semi-finals, and the higher-placed semi-final winner still hosted the final.
Melbourne Renegades were the team of the league stage. They won seven of eight, losing only once, and did it with a settled side around Aaron Finch, Ben Rohrer and Alex Hales. Finch was named player of the tournament. Perth Scorchers, Melbourne Stars, Brisbane Heat, Adelaide Strikers and Hobart Hurricanes were separated by very little behind them, and Brisbane took the fourth place on net run rate.
At the other end, Sydney Thunder lost all eight. They had lost their last four of 2011-12 as well, and the sequence became the defining fact about the club for several years.
Malinga's over-and-a-bit
The season's most extreme piece of bowling came at the WACA Ground on 15 December, when Lasith Malinga took 6 for 7 for Melbourne Stars against Perth Scorchers. The Scorchers were bowled out for 69, and Melbourne Stars knocked the runs off inside three overs. The figures stood as the best in Big Bash League history for some years.
Shaun Marsh finished as the leading run-scorer with 412, ahead of Luke Pomersbach's 397 for Brisbane. Ben Laughlin of Hobart took the most wickets, 14, one ahead of Malinga and Ben Cutting.
The finals
Brisbane Heat went to Docklands Stadium for the first semi-final and made 183 for 3, Pomersbach unbeaten on 112 from 70 balls, the highest individual score of the season. Melbourne Renegades, who had lost once in eight, were held to 168 for 9. In the second semi-final at the WACA, Perth Scorchers chased down Melbourne Stars' 183 with seven overs to spare, Shaun Marsh taking the match award.
The final was played at the WACA on 19 January because Perth had finished higher than Brisbane, giving the Heat a second consecutive away knockout. Brisbane made 167 for 5 and then bowled Perth out for 133 in the last over. Nathan Hauritz was named player of the match. It was Brisbane's first title, won from fourth place on the table, and it established the pattern that a BBL season is decided by three matches rather than eight.
Afterwards
The 2012-13 season was the last played entirely behind a subscription paywall. Cricket Australia sold the free-to-air rights to Network Ten from 2013-14, and attendance and television audiences rose sharply from that point. The competition's structure would stay broadly unchanged for another four summers.