Free to air
The third season was the first shown live on free-to-air television in Australia, Network Ten having bought the rights from Cricket Australia. The effect was immediate. Average attendance rose to about 18,800, the Melbourne derby at Docklands Stadium drew 42,837, and the final in Perth was watched by a television audience of around 1.5 million. Everything else about the tournament was unchanged: thirty-two league matches from 20 December, eight per side, then two semi-finals and a final hosted by the higher-placed qualifier.
Melbourne Stars, unbeaten and out
Melbourne Stars won all eight of their league matches, the only side to complete a Big Bash League league stage without defeat. They had David Hussey, Luke Wright, Glenn Maxwell and, in Faulkner and Hastings, two of the better death bowlers in the competition. Sydney Sixers finished second with six wins, Perth Scorchers third with five.
The fourth place went to Hobart Hurricanes with three wins, four defeats and a washout. They then went to the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 4 February and chased down 141 with 11 balls to spare, Cameron Boyce taking the match award. The unbeaten league campaign counted for nothing.
Five overs at the SCG
The second semi-final, at the Sydney Cricket Ground the following night, was one of the shortest knockout matches the competition has staged. Perth Scorchers made 193 for 5, Craig Simmons scoring 112 from 58 balls. Rain then reduced Sydney Sixers to a five-over chase, and they finished on 48 for 6, five runs short on the Duckworth-Lewis method. Simmons had already made 102 from 41 balls against Adelaide Strikers earlier in the season.
The final
Perth hosted Hobart at the WACA Ground on 7 February. Shaun Marsh made 63 not out from 43 balls in a total of 191 for 4. Hobart, who had George Bailey's 58 from 32 to keep them in it, were held to 152 for 7. Brad Hogg, then 43 years old, took 2 for 17 and was named player of the match. It was Perth's first title after losing the 2011-12 final on the same ground.
Ben Dunk of Hobart was the leading run-scorer with 395 and was named player of the tournament, and Brisbane's Cameron Gannon took the most wickets with 18. Hobart's second final defeat in three seasons, achieved from fourth place, again showed how little the league table settled.
The pattern so far
Three seasons had produced three different champions, none of them the side that topped the table. Melbourne Stars' record of eight wins from eight remains unmatched, and so does the fact that they did not reach the final.