POD Hunter: Round 1, unique players to find an edge

• EPISODE 82: SC Playbook podcast
• BOWLERS: Analysing key BBL11 options

If you’re off to a slow start, or perhaps like to live on the edge with your SuperCoach selections, you’ll be sure to want to hunt point of difference (POD) players for your side.

On the flip side, you might be looking to go against the pack with an anti-POD play, avoiding a highly popular trade option, or going against an obvious skipper pick.

Each week we’ll run through a list of potential candidates that fit the bill, owned by under 10% of SuperCoaches that can help us claw up the rankings at a rapid rate.

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Generally speaking with a POD you want someone with high upside, a player capable of going large and really setting you apart from rivals, rather than a middling sort of player who might punch out a 50 and make a bit of coin.

We’ll steer clear of players from double game weeks (unless it’s an anti-POD play) as these guy’s actual ownership percentages aren’t often accurate on site until after the new round begins, also we’ll have a separate article each round assessing the credentials of the players on the double game week.

Being that the first round still has a few games to play, and new player roles will emerge, we’ll update the article should new options arise over the next day.

Let’s take a look at a few options for SuperCoach BBL Round 2.

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PODS

Matthew Wade – 8% ownership

I’m really surprised Wade is owned by so few coaches.

He’s absolutely dominant at Big Bash level and he’s shown recently that age isn’t yet holding him back.

He’s a class above most of this opposition and should have the added bonus of wicket-keeping duties.

To steal a few stats from the SC Spy’s pre-season player profile, here’s his form in recent SuperCoach Big Bash seasons.

BBL10

Average 35 @ strike-rate of 187.5! Admittedly this was only in three matches due to other commitments, but it’s still good and he actually failed twice.

Looking at the two seasons before this is where we get our elite numbers.

BBL09

350 runs at an average of 50 and strike-rate of 171. Insane numbers and a great combo with D’Arcy Short.

BBL08

592 runs at an average of 42 and a strike-rate of 147.

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AJ Tye – 9.2% ownership

Tye has always been a favourite of mine, however injuries have held him back in recent years.

It’s telling that he continues to linger around the Australian short-form arena when he is fit and firing.

I started last season with him as a POD, unfortunately having missed BBL09 with injury he started a little slow, but he came good and delivered some big SC performances.

With Jhye Richardson out there shouldn’t be too much doubt over his role as a death bowler which we know is vital to scoring.

Matty Broom reiterated during the pre-season of his SuperCoach ability:

Tye took 21 wickets last season with two or more wickets in half of his games, but his average of 42.8 can be slightly misleading as that was lowered thanks to two rain affected games where he only bowled 1 over and 0 overs in those and scored poorly as a result.

Further, you’d be getting in early for the Scorchers Round 4 double where he’ll likely be very popular, so in avoiding a DGW player this week you’d have an extra for that week.

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Kane Richardson – 7.2% ownership

Another player I have plenty of time for, and a SuperCoach star to boot.

Richo’s past SC averages read: 48.5, 56, 74.5 (15 games) and 67 (two games).

You can put last season’s below par average – although still very respectable – down to the horrific form of the Renegades.

With so few runs to defend he either got minimal opportunity, or opposition bats where happy to see him off.

Granted the Renegades aren’t producing an overly convincing team on paper again this season, surely they can’t be as bad?

He has a big ceiling and has often produced hefty 100+ scores over the years, and I think he’s starting under-priced.

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Mohammad Nabi – 10% ownership

I feel like Nabi’s role with the Renegades gets better by the day.

Injuries to key batsmen have him coming in as high as six, and those above him are largely untested or face other question marks.

He could see plenty of opportunity with the bat, along with his overs with the ball. We’ll see his exact role for the side on Wednesday night.

At $139k he’s not too expensive and we’ve seen him go large in the past.

He was in sublime touch with the blade for Afghanistan at the T20 World Cup, producing scores of: 14 (v NZ), 35 (v Ind), 32* (v Nam), 35* (v Pak), 11* (v Scot), 6* (v WI, warm-up) and 34* (v SA, warm-up).

Across those seven games he also took five wickets.

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ANTI-POD PLAY

Avoid captaining Rashid Khan

The Strikers don’t have many standout SuperCoaches players as such, meaning the masses will flock to Rashid Khan as captain for the double game week.

Now there’s no knock on this, but it does present an outstanding anti-POD opportunity. An anti-POD is meant to be controversial, otherwise it wouldn’t be an anti-POD.

Even prior to Round 1 lockout ending he’s owned by over half of all SuperCoaches, that number will increase to 75%+ by the opening of Round 2, and I’d say 100% of all serious SuperCoaches will own him.

Make sure he’s in your team, but finding another skipper from the Strikers could pay off big time.

While Khan is a star, opposition batsmen often treat him with the greatest of respect and are happy to pick off ones and two, avoid the big shots and see him off.

This generally results in an outstanding economy rate, but there are occasions where wickets can be harder to come by as a result.

I won’t nominate any alternatives just yet as the Strikers haven’t yet played at the time of writing, but perhaps a death bowler could be the play for anyone game enough to avoid the Afghan weapon?