Final word: Captains, weather forecast, POD watch Rd 3

Christmas is over, Boxing Day is in full flight, Sam Konstas is a freak, and life is all round great.

Supercoach Big Bash moves so fast, with the new round starting tonight with a double header after day one of the Boxing Day Test.

The Cooma Stallions have been in full-flight today, shaking off a hectic Christmas Day to get this article up, the subscriber questions podcast all while trying to navigate my own trades. Which has been manic…

We managed a solid 1,051 points last round to move up to 1,392^nd overall after the opening two rounds.

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I’m going hard on the double game week players, so I currently have nine for this week and should have a similar number in round 4.

I’m also looking to use my second boost in two weeks to take advantage of all those double game rounds, while maximising cash generation.

There’s just two teams on the double after round 4, so I’ve gone hard early in what is a very short nine round season.

Good luck to all this week, here’s the final word.

Weather Watch

All weather is courtesy of the Bureau of Meteorology as of Thursday, 12PM. All times are in AEDT. Forecasts are subject to change.

Looking ahead

This week, the Melbourne Stars, Sydney Sixers and Brisbane Heat are on the double game round.

Prioritise those players, with an emphasis on the Sixers and Heat as most squads are already pre-loaded with Stars from their round 1 double game week.

The Melbourne Renegades are on the bye.

The Renegades and Adelaide Strikers have the double game next week in round 4, so ideally do your best to hold those players.

You may need to sell someone like Matt Short or Will Sutherland to fund other trades this week though.

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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)

Mitch Owen -78

Riley Meredith -34

Sam Konstas -24 (out)

Tom Rogers -23 (bye)

Will Sutherland -19 (bye)

Nathan Ellis -17

Nathan McSweeney -16

Fergus O’Neill -14 (bye)

Ashton Turner -12

Lloyd Pope -7

Matt Renshaw -5

Liam Scott -2

Highest breakeven (Likely price drop)

Note that the substantially high Heat, Sixers and Stars breakevens are the scores across both games of their double.

Glenn Maxwell 201

Xavier Bartlett 161

Matt Short 145

Akeal Hosein 136

Chris Lynn 135

Ben Duckett 135

Tom Curran 120

Paul Walter 119

Colin Munro 117

Jimmy Peirson 115

James Vince 115

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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.

Akeal Hosein $195,900 – 4.5% ownership

The fact that the world No.1 ranked T20 bowler is at such low-ownership is remarkable, but it’s due to good reason that people are trying to afford Glenn Maxwell while holding onto Matt Short.

Hosein took 2/23 off his four overs in his first game of the tournament for the Sixers.

One hit on his credentials is that the absurdly deep batting order of the Sixers has him batting as low as number 10, so his role isn’t as good as it’s been in the past.

Regardless, he’s a huge option and also a genuine captaincy play.

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Captains

The Stars and the Sixers play in game one, so putting a vice-captaincy on a player from either of those teams is the play.

If they score well, use the VC loophole to double their score.

The two obvious options are Glenn Maxwell and Jack Edwards.

Their vice-captaincy rates are near identical at 19.0 and 20.9% respectively, and captaincy at 8.7% and 11.8% respectively.

I have a very narrow lean to Jack Edwards, which I can’t believe I’m writing, as he’s batting at number three and bowling death overs for the Sixers.

He’s doing both these roles with great form.

Watch for final team lists as he could potentially drop down the batting order a touch which would push Maxwell ahead.

Maxwell has the pedigree, and the class, and the upside…

He bowled two overs on return from injury and should bowl, but is never guaranteed.

It’s a near coin toss, while Tom Curran is the POD captaincy option.

If these players fail, I think Paul Walter is the standout option for the Brisbane Heat who begin their double in game two of the round.

He’s batting at number six and bowling death overs which is a brilliant role.

He’s started this season slowly, but he averaged 63 Supercoach points last season in a show of what he can do.

If you’re a non-owner of Walter, I prefer a bowler such as Xavier Bartlett or Spencer Johnson (if cleared to play).