Final word: Skippers, weather watch, super PODs Rd 2

It was one of the most chaotic opening rounds to Supercoach Big Bash that I can remember.

Five teams were scheduled to play two or more games, we had a washout, an abandoned game, and plenty of internationals getting one fixture, but not the other.

Add into the mix the big watch on the Adelaide Strikers ahead of their round 2 double that we didn’t even get to see their line-up due to the washout!

Madness…

There’s been some frustration among the Supercoach community, personally I quite enjoyed it from the view that it should hopefully see some reasonable variation among teams to start the year.

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When everyone starts with very similar teams it can become a bit dull, but that hopefully won’t be too much of a factor in this shortened season.

The not-so-mighty Cooma Stallions had a stinker to start the year, scoring a measly 734 points.

I’d love to blame the abandoned match and washout for the rough start, but everyone copped the raw end of the stick in some way or another, so I’ll avoid the whinging and get back to the drawing board.

We’ve had a five day break between BBL games to refresh and prepare for Round 2.

Note that the line-up for the Strikers remains highly unknown due to numerous spin and fast bowling options, so checking the team list 40 minutes before their opening game will be vital this round.

Let’s get stuck into the Final Word ahead of Tuesday night’s opening game.

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Weather Watch

All weather is courtesy of the Bureau of Meteorology as of Monday, 11AM. All times are in AEDT. Forecasts are subject to change.

Tuesday

7:15PM: Strikers v Thunder, Adelaide Oval

Forecast: Partly cloudy, 21 degrees, 10% chance of rain

Verdict: All clear

Wednesday

7:15PM: Scorchers v Hurricanes, Optus Stadium, Perth

Forecast: Wind easing, mostly sunny, 36 degrees, 10% chance of rain.

Verdict: All clear

Thursday

7:15PM: Renegades v Heat, Marvel Stadium, Melbourne

Forecast: Partly cloudy, 24 degrees, 5% chance of rain.

Verdict: All clear

Friday

7:15PM: Sixers v Strikers, SCG, Sydney

Forecast: Shower or two, 25 degrees, 70% chance of 0-4mm of rain.

Verdict: Big watch throughout the week with daily rain predicted in Sydney. A big concern for the Strikers second game of the double, but with three days between games and no major rain predicted it’s probably one we’ll have to roll the dice with for double game week players.

Looking ahead

The Adelaide Strikers are on the double game round and become the hottest of property.

Be wary they do have the bye in round 3 though.

Round 3 looms as a tricky one that I can see catching out plenty of Supercoaches and leaving them short on numbers.

The Brisbane Heat are also on the round 3 bye, and many sides will still have a player or two from their opening round triple in their squad.

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Add in the chances of players getting rested, injured, wash outs and the like and it may be tough, so plan accordingly.

The Melbourne Renegades and Stars have the double in round 3, so keep those players in your squad in preparation.

Looking a little further down the track, the Perth Scorchers have the round 4 and 5 bye, so look to move on any players from their squad.

If you’re looking shaky on numbers for round 3, you can perhaps hold them a little longer.

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.

Generally speaking I’ll look to single game week players, with doubles upcoming, as the low-ownership double game round players on that given week tend to sky-rocket out of super POD territory once the round begins and trades are locked in.

Nathan Coulter-Nile and Tom Rogers were last week’s picks, with both getting fairly unlucky.

Coulter-Nile scored just 22 in game one of the double, before getting injured and missing the second game.

The poor bloke is made of paper, something we knew leading into the season and hence his low ownership.

Rogers had a round 1 score of 45 but unfortunately was a part of the Renegades clash that was abandoned after only a few overs.

Rogers remains a genuine super POD option with another double next round and a reduced price.

Let’s see if we can find something more promising this week.

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Ollie Davies – 6.6% ownership

The Thunder batsman looks set for a breakout BBL after some starring domestic moments over the past 12 months.

Davies looked the only real frontline bat to show resistance against the Heat at Manuka as he tried to play the more unnatural role of anchoring the innings.

He’s dangerous to own as he’s bat only, however with the Thunder playing the opening game in round 2 and 3 he’s the perfect risk-free auto-emergency loop option to have on your bench.

If he scores well, loop him in, if he doesn’t, leave him on the bench.

Regardless of performance, he’ll be stowed away for the Thunder’s round 4 double where he’ll be hot property.

Corey Anderson – 3.5% ownership

The explosive Kiwi all-rounder had a strong round 1 performance scoring 96 points.

He scored 17 runs batting at number six and took a stunning 2/10 off 3.3 overs for the Canes’.

The Canes’ play in game two of the next four rounds, so like Davies he can be utilised in that auto-emergency loophole spot on the bench.

Gun role, huge upside, and one worth a sneaky look.

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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)

Mitchell Swepson -70

Tanveer Sangha -35

Daniel Hughes -30

Colin Munro -28

Hamish McKenzie -27

Corey Anderson -26

Jack Edwards -20

Xavier Bartlett -19

Will Sutherland -16

Hilton Cartwright -16

Matt Kuhnemann -13

Cooper Connolly -13

Jake Fraser-McGurk -9

Glenn Maxwell 0

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Highest breakeven (Likely price drop)

Note that the substantially high Strikers breakevens are the scores across both games of their double.

Matt Short 144

Jhye Richardson 130

Steve O’Keefe 108

Andrew Tye 107

Tom Rogers 105

Chris Lynn 99

James Bazley 98

Josh Inglis 97

Henry Thornton 95

Sam Harper 94

Mujeeb ur Rahman 89

Beau Webster 88

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Skippers

All signs point to one man in Round 2 and that’s Adelaide Strikers opener Matt Short.

He top scored last year in Supercoach by a comfortable margin thanks to a terrific all-rounder role and sublime form with the willow.

He starts at $244k as a result, but I think you’d be mad not to find the funds to get him in.

With uncertainty over the Strikers spin rotation there’s some risk he doesn’t bowl, but he’s likely to roll the arm over at some point.

Further, if you don’t own or captain there’s the risk he fires with the bat and bowls fours over pending how they opt to go with their spinners.

It’s viable to put the vice-captain armband on him on the chance he goes very low in game one.

For me to consider going with a single game round player, Short would have to score sub 20 and not bowl in game one.

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Even then with a game up the sleeve it feels risky.

If you don’t want to go with Short, it’s hard to lock down another safe captaincy option for the Strikers.

There’s uncertainty over all the quick bowlers due to the amount of depth they have, so there’s no guarantee they’ll all play both games.

English quick David Payne is probably the safest bet as he should get both games, will likely bowl death and can reportedly hit a big ball late in the innings making him my second pick from the side.

In the event Short does fail in game one and you look to loop, Tom Curran was the player with the standout role in round 1 for me.

He’s batting at six, bowling death at times and looks excellent with the ball.

I’ve seen a few keen on the role of import Jamie Overton, but sight unseen in the BBL I’d be fairly wary of captaining him.

For me I think it’ll just be playing it safe by locking and loading on Matty Short.