Big Bash in Canberra could be curtailed by smoke haze

The Sydney Thunder are slated to play the Adelaide Strikers in a Twenty20 clash at Manuka Oval on Saturday from 6.10pm.

But the poor visibility and air quality caused by the raging NSW bushfires could see the match scrapped unless the haze clears with enough time for a full game to go ahead.

Cricket Australia officials were in constant contact on Friday to build contingency plans if the conditions do not improve in time for the game to go ahead.

Officials were reluctant to reveal the air quality index figure which could force play to be stopped given it is not the sole metric deciding the fate of the game.

A discussion and assessment about air quality will be added to the pre-match medical briefing at Manuka Oval an hour before the scheduled start of play.

Should conditions be deemed good enough to proceed, the issue will then effectively be treated like a rain delay with officials continuing to monitor the situation.

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The conditions could have a massive impact on the crowd figure given the Thunder were originally anticipating close to 10,000 for their return to the capital.

It would be a cruel blow for all parties with the ACT government investing in cricket while the Thunder are desperate to establish a foothold in the region.

Thunder spinner Chris Green was hoping Canberra fans would turn out for the contest as Sydney set out to end their BBL finals exile.

"It is our first home game and I mean that in the best way possible. We see Canberra as one of our home venues," Green said.

"Over the past couple of years we have gone down and got a great amount of support from the Canberra people.

"We have some travelling fans go down there to watch as well. Manuka is a great place to play cricket.

"It's a beautiful place to play at night, the outfield is obviously great, and the wicket always promotes good cricket."

Cricket ACT wasted little time in cancelling all premier cricket competitions scheduled for Saturday.

However the BBL is more likely to push ahead given the stakes are far higher and fans have paid money to see the match.

First grade teams across Canberra were slated to play a round of Twenty20 Cup double-headers, the first of which had already been moved to an earlier 9am timeslot to beat the heat.

Cricket ACT chief executive James Allsopp made the call before midday on Friday having felt the health risk was not worth it.

"The air quality rating is off the scale at the moment," Allsopp said.

"We consulted with the club presidents and also ACT Health, we thought it was the right decision to not compromise the health of anyone in our cricket community.

"The forecast isn't looking much better. The option was to wait until 7am [on Saturday] or make the decision now to allow groundsmen to stop preparing wickets.

"There are also players that come from the far south coast, Goulburn and Crookwell who play in the third grade competition. To wait so late would have been difficult for them.

"The advice we've been given is it's not going to get a lot better, and we don't want to compromise the health of people if it's going to be such awful conditions given the heat as well.

"The plan is still to reschedule games. We're not that far ahead yet, but the plan is to try to reschedule the games in the new year.

"Given they're Twenty20 games, we're hopeful we will be able to do that. It'll be a bit of an inconvenience but we've still got a bit of time before the finals are scheduled to get them in."

The next round is on January 16, while finals are on February 9.