Seeing Double: SC prospects with double lives, Stars, Strikers

So onto round 12, and the second last round of the season.

Despite all doing our best to plan ahead, there’s been a tweak to the schedule but thankfully the teams on the DGW remain the same in the Stars and Strikers.

The change effects the Hurricanes and Renegades who now have a bye, while four teams – the Sixers, Heat ‘Canes and ‘Gades – all have the double in round 13.

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Fixtures:

• The Adelaide Strikers play the Scorchers and Stars in games 1 and 2 of the round. Both games are at Adelaide Oval. It is likely your VC comes from the Adelaide Strikers for the round.
• The Melbourne Stars play the Strikers and Brisbane Heat in games 2 and 4 of the round. It is likely your C will come from the Stars. Their first game is on Adelaide Oval before a home game on the MCG.
• Adelaide Oval has been a high-scoring ground for SC purposes this season, with 14.5 wickets falling per match. As expected, there has been some high scores with the bat with the Thunder scoring 187/3 in their first innings recently and the Heat passing 200.
• The MCG has been lower scoring than AO, and only averages 10.6 wickets per game. This usually equates to lower scoring SC matches.
• After the Boxing Day test, the average first innings score is just 135. It can be a high-scoring ground for batsman, but it hasn’t appeared to be recently with spinners helping to control scoring rates well.

For your viewing pleasure, all six of @rashidkhan_19's historic wickets in his 300th T20 match!

He leaves #BBL11 in the lead of the BKT Golden Arm standings! 👑 pic.twitter.com/Zct68mOoxl

— KFC Big Bash League (@BBL) January 12, 2022

Teams Insights to note:

Melbourne Stars:

• Tuesday’s performance against Perth was horrible, and the team looked tired and disengaged. I can only imagine what it’s like in that workplace right now given the drama they’ve been through and it appears to be taking a toll on their performances.
• It gets worse for the Stars with Haris Rauf to leave them following round 11. He has been a rare shining light since arriving, and while he hasn’t completely lit it up, he’s taking 2fa regularly and repaying those who bought him in.
• Rauf’s departure should help the job security of Brodie Couch who was X-Factored out against the Perth Scorchers. Couch should be the primary death bowling option for the Stars, especially with Nathan Coulter-Nile injured.
• Clint Hinchliffe has featured in the last two matches for the Stars and is available as a DPP. His bowling is decent, recording 1/21 from his four overs on the MCG against the Strikers for 46 SC points.
• The Perth Scorchers DOUBLED their total SC score in the first game of round 11. At this rate, could you be better off selecting players who face the Stars?
• Perth concede the least amount of SC points per game. The Strikers concede the fourth most amount of SuperCoach points per game, and lose their best bowler in Rashid Khan which may make them susceptible to conceding more points.
• As referenced in my previous article, even when removing the games with the weakened squad, the Stars are averaging extremely poorly for SuperCoach this season. Despite the presence of many big names, collectively they’re not delivering.
• Given the high volume of back-to-back matches, could the Stars rest players?

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Adelaide Strikers:

• The Strikers lose Rashid Khan this round, their leading point scorer in SuperCoach. He could be replaced in the line-up by Wes Agar, Henry Thornton, Daniel Worrall or Liam O’Connor.
• The Strikers have regularly rotated their quick bowlers, with only Peter Siddle having featured in every match.
• The Strikers score the third least amount of points per game, and concede the fourth most.
• Matt Short’s role has improved since their last DGW, with the opener now having bowled four overs in his sides last three matches. The Scorchers open with two left-handers (Hobson, Patterson) which is a good match-up for Short, but the Stars top order is all right-handers which is not likely to be as favourable.

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Players:

• Marcus Stoinis – Marcus Stoinis doesn’t have a timeframe on his return from a back injury so keep your eyes on the team sheet.
• Glenn Maxwell – Did not bowl against the Scorchers or Renegades and reasons for this remain unclear. Regardless, he’d been in horrible form, before bouncing back last game. If you take away his strong return in their round 3 DGW, he was averaging just 26 prior the the Gades clash. That is including the 28 total points from the round 8 DGW. But can you afford not to own him?
• Brody Couch – Stock is on the up with the absence of Haris Rauf for the round. He’s cheap and has only gone wicketless twice, where he didn’t complete his four overs. 
• Ahmed Daniyal – After a cheap replacement for Rauf? Pakistani Daniyal is available for the whole tournament after not attracting interest in the PSL. 1/24 from three overs in his only match to date. A potential loop option?

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• Peter Siddle – The Strikers best bowler. Will cost probably $190k but is on a hot streak and bowls the right overs. Can you afford not to have him? A clear VC option alongside:
• Matt Short: He was hot, he was not, then he was hot again. The opener showed his poise with a classy 70* the last time he was on Adelaide Oval. Appears to be a much more composed player in a chase where he understands the task at hand. Now he’s bowling his overs, he’s a great shout for the VC.
• Jono Wells – Always under the radar, Wells is the First Aid kit for a batting unit on life support way too often. Does it help them win games? No. does it help him score SC points? Yes. Wells already has five scores over 67 this season. A sneaky option and a man you could loop.
• Henry Hunt – Has the role, and has shown glimpses in his handful of games opening the batting to date. At his price, he could be a great target to downgrade, bank cash and loop in ahead of game 3 of the round.