The Big Bash League is outdrawing other formats in Australia, but it hasn't supplanted Tests or the Sheffield Shield as the most prestigious forms of cricket in the eyes of leading players.
More than one million people attended across all games in BBL05, which concluded on Sunday night when Sydney Thunder beat Melbourne Stars in the final at the MCG.
The continued growth of the wildly popular brand was reflected in a 22 per cent rise in regular season average attendances to 28,248,
Such attendances would have been unthinkable for domestic games before the emergence of the BBL.
Now it's almost expected when some BBL games outdraw international fixtures at the same venue.
Seven of the eight BBL venues broke domestic attendance records during the season.
With the BBL done and dusted for another summer, the focus of the domestic game will return to the Shield, the oldest of all the first-class competitions.
Weekday crowds for those games will struggle to pull more than a few hundred diehards and even weekends will battle to draw four-figure attendances.
Despite all the buzz and hype surrounding the BBL, players still regard the Shield as the biggest deal and most coveted trophy in domestic cricket.
"I'm a bit of traditionalist," Australian Test wicketkeeper Peter Nevill told AAP.
"It's going to vary for every player that you ask, but for me Sheffield Shield cricket still is the pinnacle of domestic cricket in Australia."
Irrespective of how big the BBL becomes, Australian representative John Hastings couldn't envisage people preferring to play in the competition ahead of a form of international cricket.
He missed out on playing in the finals for the Stars because of his Australian commitments.
Hastings thought it would be hard to find a stand alone weekend for the BBL finals which would allow international to be available.
"I'm not sure whether they can find a window to try and have that in the international summer," Hastings said.
"Obviously I'd love to be playing for the Melbourne Stars, but I think any chance you get to represent your country, it's the pinnacle," Hastings said.
For someone like Nevill, who has played Tests and a few BBL games this summer, the last few days have represented a return to the sparse crowds that attend the lower levels of the domestic game.
Needing match time to stay in shape for next month's Test tour of New Zealand, Nevill scored 12 in a Sydney Grade game on Saturday.
He is playing for NSW on Monday and Tuesday in the first two days of a Futures League match against Victoria in Lincoln, a week before the first Test in Wellington.
Nevill who has yet to play in New Zealand, will get a chance to experience the conditions, when NSW play WA in a Shield game in Lincoln the week before the Test.
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