Gilchrist not keen on BBL

Adam Gilchrist has deemed it "highly unlikely" he will play in the inaugural Big Bash League, all but dashing franchise hopes of using his singular talent as a selling point in the absence of most international stars.

Of Test-playing nations only the West Indies will have players available for the whole of the BBL. This has left team managers searching for the kinds of names that will draw fans to the grounds for the first tournament since state teams were jettisoned in favour of manufactured city-based identities, emulating those of the Indian Premier League.

Having returned home to Australia after a mixed campaign for King's XI Punjab in the IPL, Gilchrist said he had been approached by several BBL teams but was not planning to assume Twenty20 playing commitments in the home summer, a time he now reserved for his family.

"At this stage it would be highly unlikely that I'd be taking part as a player," Gilchrist told ESPNcricinfo. "You never say never but it's not something I'm looking to do, I've had approaches from a few different groups but that time of the year is more of a family time for me now and I'm not looking to tour around the world playing in Twenty20 comps.

"It was a big part of why I retired when I did [in 2008] and I don't really want to give that time up."

The names of Gilchrist and Shane Warne have been mentioned repeatedly by officials from Cricket Australia and the eight BBL franchises as potential recruits, but neither have shown any real interest in taking the bait. Warne made it clear that his final appearance for the Rajasthan Royals drew the curtain on his professional playing career, and not even an appeal by his home state Victoria would be likely to sway that decision.

Stuart Clark, the Sydney Sixers operations manager and former Australian paceman, has mentioned Gilchrist as a target, as has South Australia's coach Darren Berry, while CA's head of marketing Mike McKenna has publicly targeted Gilchrist's signature in his role as project owner of the BBL.

Gilchrist expressed surprise at being mentioned by CA, for while he does have a pre-existing relationship with the board via the Into Cricket grassroots program, no contact has been made with him regarding his potential value as a BBL commodity.

"It's still verymuch unknown a lot of the details of the competition," Gilchrist said. "While I have been contacted by a couple of the franchises or states I've not had any contact from Cricket Australia about it."

As for King's XI, Gilchrist said he was intent on returning in 2012 after the team missed this year's semi-finals.

"I'm scheduled to be back in the IPL next year, but we'll sit down and talk about the team and review the season we've just had," he said.