The 2015–16 Big Bash League season (BBL|05) was the fifth season of the Big Bash League (BBL), the top-class Twenty20 cricket competition in Australia. The tournament ran from 17 December 2015 to 24 January 2016.
Matches
Sydney Thunder won the toss and elected to bat.
Melbourne Stars won the toss and elected to field.
Brisbane Heat won the toss and elected to bat. , Guy Walker (Renegades) made his T20 debut.
Sydney Sixers won the toss and elected to bat. , Sam Rainbird (Hurricanes) made his T20 debut. , Phillip Gillespie made his T20 debut as an umpire.
Melbourne Stars won the toss and elected to field.
Perth Scorchers won the toss and elected to bat.
Hobart Hurricanes won the toss and elected to bat. , The crowd of 14,848 was the highest in Tasmanian domestic cricket history, beating the previous record of 14,744 set in the previous season between the same teams.
Sydney Sixers won the toss and elected to field. , Cameron Stevenson (Renegades) made his T20 debut.
Brisbane Heat won the toss and elected to bat.
Sydney Sixers won the toss and elected to bat. , The crowd of 29,104 is the highest crowd at the SCG for a non-derby BBL match.
Adelaide Strikers won the toss and elected to bat. , The crowd of 21,500 is the highest attendance for a cricket match at Spotless Stadium and the second highest attendance for any sport at the stadium. , Billy Stanlake (Strikers) made his T20 debut.
Hobart Hurricanes won the toss and elected to bat. , Sam Heazlett (Heat) made his T20 debut.
Perth Scorchers won the toss and elected to field. , This was the first ever 10-wicket win in a BBL match. , The crowd of 26,787 is the highest crowd at Etihad Stadium for a non-derby BBL match. , Michael Klinger and Shaun Marsh's unbeaten 171-run partnership is the highest partnership for the Scorchers in their history and the second highest overall.
Adelaide Strikers won the toss and elected to field. , Hamish Kingston (Strikers) made his T20 debut.
Sydney Thunder won the toss and elected to field. , The crowd of 17,151 was the highest crowd at Blundstone Arena for a cricket match and the second highest crowd for any sport at the stadium.
Melbourne Stars won the toss and elected to field. , The crowd of 80,883 is the highest ever recorded attendance for a domestic cricket match.
Sydney Sixers won the toss and elected to bat. , William Somerville (Sixers) made his T20 debut.
Brisbane Heat won the toss and elected to field.
Melbourne Renegades won the toss and elected to field.
Adelaide Strikers won the toss and elected to bat. , Jake Lehmann (Strikers) made his T20 debut.
Melbourne Stars won the toss and elected to field.
Sydney Thunder won the toss and elected to field.
Adelaide Strikers won the toss and elected to field. , The crowd of 33,783 is the highest crowd at the Gabba for a BBL match.
Melbourne Stars won the toss and elected to field. , Aaron Ayre (Renegades) made his T20 debut. , The crowd of 43,176 is the highest at Etihad Stadium for a cricket match.
Perth Scorchers won the toss and elected to bat. , The crowd of 18,149 is the highest ever crowd for any sport at Blundstone Arena.
Brisbane Heat won the toss and elected to bat. , Nick Larkin (Sixers) and Mitchell Swepson (Heat) both made their T20 debuts.
Sydney Thunder won the toss and elected to bat.
Hobart Hurricanes won the toss and elected to bat. , Greg West (Strikers) made his T20 debut. , The crowd of 49,115 is the highest at Adelaide Oval for a non-finals BBL match.
Melbourne Stars won the toss and elected to field.
Sydney Sixers won the toss and elected to field. , Nathan McAndrew (Thunder) made his T20 debut. , The crowd of 38,456 is the highest crowd for a domestic cricket game in New South Wales.
Perth Scorchers won the toss and elected to field. , Jhye Richardson (Scorchers) made his T20 debut. , The crowd of 20,870 is the highest crowd for a BBL match at this ground.
Melbourne Renegades won the toss and elected to field. , Chris Gayle (Renegades) equaled the world record for the fastest fifty in a T20 match (12 balls, set by Yuvraj Singh during India vs. England in the 2007 World Twenty20)
Final
Sydney Thunder won the toss and elected to field. , The crowd of 47,672 was the highest crowd for a non-derby BBL match at the MCG, and remained the highest crowd for a Big Bash League final until the 2022–23 BBL final.
TV audience
Matches were broadcast in Australia by the free-to-air Network Ten. Network Ten's BBL coverage has become a regular feature of Australian summers and attracted an average audience of 1.13 million for each match in Australia this season, an 18% increase on the previous season. A cumulative audience of 9.65 million watched the BBL matches in Australia, out of which 39% were females.
The opening Sydney Derby match attracted more a peak audience of 1.53 million. A peak audience of 1.05 million watched the second innings of the match in the five major capital cities, making it then the highest-rating non-finals match in BBL history. This record was broken in the last match between Renegades and Strikers when Session 2 was watched by an average audience of 1.36 million, which peaked at 1.67 million.
The BBL Final was watched by an average audience of 1.79 million, which peaked at 2.24 million viewers. This was the first time that the ratings for a BBL match crossed the 2 million mark.
Following are the television ratings for 2015–16 BBL season in Australia.
