Final Word: Round 12 skippers, tactics, weather

We’re down to the final two rounds of the SuperCoach BBL season, with the hunt for overall and head-to-head glory to soon be decided.

It’s an intriguing phase of the competition as SuperCoaches decide whether to stay conservative and bank on consistent guns to continue churning out big scores, or whether they look outside the pack for point of difference plays to climb the ranks.

While there’s still two games to play in Round 11 at the time of writing, it’s fair to say it belonged to Rashid Khan in his final game for the Adelaide Strikers before leaving for Afghanistan international duty.

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Thank you, @rashidkhan_19 🥰#BlueCrew #BBL11 pic.twitter.com/ycygfFU7LI

— Adelaide Strikers (@StrikersBBL) January 12, 2022

Entering the round the Cooma Stallions had a round ranking off 86^th to sit in 88^th place overall, although as a non-Rashid owner I anticipate a drop in rankings and hopes of finishing in the money disappearing.

Following lockout, we drop down to 101st overall, not as big a drop as I’d anticipated!

Be aware the new round begins extremely early at 10:40AM Friday morning, so be prepared as it’ll catch plenty of coaches out.

With the current round still in play, I’ll update the article tomorrow with breakevens once available.

There’s been a huge update to the SuperCoach draw as noted lower down.

Let’s take a look at Round 12 of SuperCoach BBL.

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WEATHER WATCH

All weather is courtesy of the Bureau of Meteorology as of Thursday, 4.30PM. All times are in AEDT. Forecasts are subject to change.

FRIDAY

10:40AM: Strikers v Scorchers, Adelaide Oval

Forecast: Partly cloudy, 25 degrees, 5% chance of any rain.

Verdict: All clear

SATURDAY

10:40AM: Strikers v Stars, Adelaide Oval

Forecast: Partly cloudy, 27 degrees, 5% chance of any rain.

Verdict: All clear

6:40PM: Sixers v Thunder, SCG, Sydney

Forecast: Shower or two, possible storm, 30 degrees, 60% chance of 0-6mm of rain.

Verdict: Rain and storms around, monitor with caution. Auto-emergency loop your relevant players if possible.

SUNDAY

7:15PM: Stars v Heat, MCG, Melbourne

Forecast: Partly cloudy, 25 degrees, 20% chance of any rain.

Verdict: Looking fairly clear, monitor any changes to forecast over the weekend.

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LOOKING AHEAD

The Strikers and Stars are on the double this week, while the Hurricanes and Renegades are on the bye.

Being on their second straight double, most people will already own a handful of Stars, so the Strikers will be hot property.

Note that Rashid Khan has played his last game of the tournament, while Matt Renshaw tested positive to COVID and is unlikely to feature next round (monitor news for updates).

With the draw rescheduled, Round 13 will now see the Heat, Sixers, Hurricanes and Renegades all on the double game week, what a way to finish the season that’ll be!

SUPER PODS

Each week one of our contributors will provide a full analysis on the point of difference (POD) players to consider.

In the Final Word, we’ll look at the super POD options, the players at under 5% ownership (or around about) that could send you soaring (or falling) up the overall ranks.

They come with big risk, but the reward is immense if it comes off.

Last week, Shaun Marsh and Shadab Khan had a pair of stinkers! Let’s see if we can bounce back in Round 12.

Laurie Evans – 1.2% and Aaron Hardie 4.8%

Sometimes it pays to just chase the class, and the Scorchers are littered with it.

This is speculative based on Josh Inglis and Mitch Marsh not being released for international duty for Round 12.

It’s unlikely they’ll play any part in the round, making Evans and Hardie fairly appealing.

It tooks Evans a bit of time to find his feet in the BBL, but he’s done so recently, in his last outing batting at three, wicketkeeping and blasting 69 off 46 balls.

At 1.2% ownership that’s a terrific role in a red-hot outfit.

Hardie has bowled in his last two games and is batting at five, while the role isn’t in the class of genuine all-rounders such as Dan Sams, it’s pretty appealing for a bloke that’s also just found some form with the willow.

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BREAKEVENS

Each week we’ll list the top 10 players with both the highest and lowest breakevens, plus a few additional players worth noting, to help track your cash movement.

LOWEST BREAKEVEN (Money-makers)

Ashton Turner (-76)

Will Prestwidge (-55)

Reece Topley (-53)

Lachlan Pfeffer (-50)

Alex Hales (-45)

Laurie Evans (-42)

David Grant (-35)

Nick Hobson (-23)

Matt Wade (-17)

Caleb Jewell (-17)

Jordan Thompson (-9)

Ben Dwarshuis (-8)

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HIGHEST BREAKEVEN

Joe Clarke (205)

Peter Siddle (153)

Andrew Tye (152)

Hilton Cartwright (143)

Sean Abbott (134)

Dan Christian (131)

Qais Ahmad (117)

Nathan Coulter-Nile (113)

Matt Renshaw (109)

Hayden Kerr (108)

Tom Rogers (108)

Mujeeb Ur Rahman (107)

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SKIPPERS

The Strikers play the first game in the double, so your VC should come from there.

The Stars play the second game, making them the obvious captaincy choice.

For the Strikers, there’s only really two players worth considering for me, Matt Short on Peter Siddle.

Short is extremely hard to ignore, having bowled four overs in his past two games, and is finding some serious form with the willow this tournament.

He scored 130 in Round 11 in a single game in a show of his immense ceiling. He’ll be highly skippered, so for those looking for more of a POD move, Siddle is another with a big ceiling.

He’s found his target late in the innings when bowling death and is picking up a stack of wickets as a result.

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Skipper options at the Stars are hard to assess due to the inconsistency of the team and fitness levels of the squad on return from COVID.

Glenn Maxwell has been in horrible form of late and didn’t bowl himself on return from isolation. He bounced back with a strong knock of 68* to end round 12 against the Renegades, but still didn’t bowl.

Regardless of any questions, SuperCoaches are a little too scared too try anti-POD him and will likely back him in.

I don’t disagree with that move at all, but I do see opportunity elsewhere.

Provided he’s fit, Marcus Stoinis really excites me as not many will select him due to form and lack of recent cricket/time at the crease.

His form will return, and he has one of the biggest ceilings in SuperCoach even if he isn’t bowling.

With two games in two days he may be given a rest, so let’s monitor days leading into the Stars clash and see if we get more word on his fitness.