Final Word: Captains, weather, super PODs, Rd 4

Supercoach Round 3 was headlined by a pair of Brisbane Heat quicks in Michael Neser and Mark Steketee who stole the show with a bag full of wickets between them.

Fortunately, the Cooma Stallions had the vice-captaincy on Neser, and with 4-6 after 1.2 overs I thought we were on track for a record score.

It may not have eventuated, but he delivered nonetheless, taking the Stallions into 37th ranked overall.

This week, there’s no teams on the double which blows captaincy and trade plans wide open which I find very exciting.

Let’s take a look at Supercoach BBL Round 4.

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Weather Watch

All weather is courtesy of the Bureau of Meteorology as of Saturday, 9AM. All times are in AEDT. Forecasts are subject to change.

Saturday

3:30PM: Hurricanes v Renegades, Blundstone Arena, Hobart

Forecast: Partly cloudy, 23 degrees, 5% chance of rain.

Verdict: Looking all clear.

Monday

6:05PM: Sixers v Stars, SCG, Sydney

Forecast: Partly cloudy, 27 degrees, 10% chance of rain.

Verdict: Looking all clear.

9:15PM: Scorchers v Strikers, Optus Stadium, Perth

Forecast: Sunny, 27 degrees, 0% chance of rain.

Verdict: All clear.

Tuesday

7:15PM: Thunder v Heat, Sydney Showground

Forecast: Mostly sunny, 26 degrees, 20% chance of rain.

Verdict: Looking all clear.

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Looking Ahead

It’s exciting that this round we have no teams on the double game week or on the bye, meaning we can start to target a few of those single game week Supercoach stars without feeling guilty on not chasing DGW players.

Take the opportunity to target a few of the game’s fallen stars who may have had below par starts resulting in price drops.

Alternatively, chase a few cheapies set for substantial price rises to bolster your team value.

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That being said, if we look ahead to Round 5 we have the Sydney Sixers and Melbourne Renegades playing on the double, so it may be wise to target those sorts of players from their teams in preparation.

On that same round, both the Strikers and Hurricanes have the bye, so keep that in mind.

We then have two consecutive weeks with no byes or double game weeks, exciting!

Following that, the draw goes bonkers with five teams on the double in the space of two weeks. I advise saving at least one booster to use prior to this period.

Super PODs

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.

As ownerships of double game week players will likely soar above 10% for most of those options closer to game time once trades are made, I’ll look towards single game week players.

Last week, Kane Richardson missed the mark with just 20 points. He bowled extremely well though, and as a win for Supercoaches he’ll be dirt cheap for the double game week, a big score is coming. However, he will miss round 4 as he’s being rested.

The prior round’s pick of Akeal Hosein fired again with a mammoth 139 points! I wish I followed my own advice there and was among the 6.7% who own.

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This week, I like the look of Gurinder Sandhu at just 2.8% ownership.

He’s started the season with a bang, averaging 66 points across four games which is outstanding.

He’s taken seven wickets in those games, being extremely economical in all bar one.

He’s very capable with the bat, and should get a decent amount of opportunities in a flakey Thunder batting line-up.

His price tag as a result doesn’t miss at $175,300, but it’s warranted based on his form.

With no double anytime soon, and the fact he’s not a well known Supercoach star, means his ownership should stay low.

With Farooqi now gone from the tournament, it sures up any doubt around his job security and may better with death overs.

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Breakevens

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

The breakeven number is the score required in the upcoming round for a player to make or lose money.

Lowest breakeven (Money-makers)

Michael Neser -61

Josh Inglis -59

Paddy Dooley -46

Ollie Davies -42

Beau Webster -41

Luke Wood -35

Izharulhaq Naveed -30

Jackson Bird -30

Hayden Kerr -19

Aaron Hardie -16

Alex Hales -8

Akeal Hosein 0

Aaron Finch 0

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Highest breakeven (Likely price drop)

Note that the substantially high breakevens of certain players are likely due to playing on the double game week, where the number takes in scores across both games of that round.

Henry Thornton 163

Xavier Bartlett 134

Nic Maddinson 129

Sean Abbott 128

Jason Sangha 127

Ben McDermott 126

James Bazley 116

Moises Henriques 111

Colin Munro 107

Trent Boult 96

Matt Renshaw 96

Rashid Khan 92

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Skippers

Last week, Mark Steketee went well for those who followed along with 173 points.

Fortunately I ended up going against Big Stek in favour of Michael Neser who bagged a hat-trick, and 208 points across the double game week.

This week is very exciting as there’s no teams on the double, so the options are wide open.

It means we get a completely free crack at getting two skippers right, so make sure your vice-captain plays early in the round and BEFORE your captain.

The choices are unlimited essentially and I could be here all day going through the options.

The Hurricanes play the Renegades in game one, and the Sixers play the Stars in game two, so realistically your VC will need to come from these two games.

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I find it hard to go past Shadab Khan who has a wonderful role batting at four for the Hurricanes and getting his full allotment of overs.

Sadly I’m a non-owner, but he looks as safe as they come and he has an enormous ceiling that I hope (despite the personal demise) we see him hit before he departs the BBL.

My next pick would be Sean Abbott for anyone that jumps on him this week, although with his 128 breakeven it should probably wait a round, followed by Akeal Hosein.

The following two games are the Scorchers v Strikers and Thunder v Heat, and boy do we have some options as captains in those games.

It’s a bit boring, but Daniel Sams looks like the obvious pick once again. Great role, enormous ceiling, proven.

Outside of him, options galore, with Jhye Richardson and Rashid Khan my next top picks.

Good luck to everyone in Round 4 and I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!