Final word: Captains, weather forecast, POD watch Rd 4

Supercoach Big Bash round 4 has arrived, the final week where we have multiple teams on the double game week.

As always, maximise those double game week players from the Adelaide Strikers and Melbourne Renegades because the game is about to change dramatically as we enter a host of single game weeks.

The Cooma Stallions are sitting nicely in 472^nd overall, with nine players on the double this week.

As a result of the decent start cash generation has been strong, so hopefully we are well placed to continue the charge up the leaderboard.

Let’s take a look at Supercoach BBL Round 4 that starts tonight in Sydney.

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Weather Watch

All weather is courtesy of the Bureau of Meteorology as of Monday, 4PM. All times are in AEDT. Forecasts are subject to change.

Looking ahead

This week, the Strikers and Renegades are on the double making them the priority trade options.

After this week, three of the final five rounds have no teams on the double.

The remaining teams on the double are the Sydney Thunder in round 6 and the Hobart Hurricanes in round 8, so look to hold any of their players if you currently own.

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 -61

Todd Murphy -50

Ben Duckett -48

Sam Billings -47

Josh Philippe -46

James Vince -41

Wes Agar -23

Spencer Johnson -20

Kurtis Patterson -17

Cameron Bancroft -16

Ashton Turner -14

Tim David -9

Tom Andrews -5

Jason Sangha -4

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Highest breakeven (Likely price drop)

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

Tim Seifert 133

Matt Short 132

Glenn Maxwell 132

Will Sutherland 131

Xavier Bartlett 125

Lloyd Pope 125

Akeal Hosein 117

Jamie Overton 114

Chris Green 113

Chris Lynn 112

Henry Thornton 111

Jake Weatherald 109

Jake Fraser-McGurk 94

Finn Allen 93

Josh Brown 92

Aaron Hardie 90

Daniel Sams 90

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Super PODs

In the Final Word, we’ll look at the super POD options, the players at under 5% ownership (among the top 10% ranked coaches) 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, Akeal Hosein was underwhelming at 4.5% ownership, scoring just 63 points on the double for the Sixers.

Ben McDermott – 1.5% ownership

The wicket-keeper slot is about to get interesting as the bulk double game rounds wrap up.

There’s no real standout in the position so it’ll be pivotal for the run home to get it right, especially with looping options.

McDermott is a Supercoach gun of the past and will be a key buy for the Hurricanes double in round 8.

He can go very big on his day, so it may be worth a little gamble to go early on him.

He has a breakeven of 6 so there’s also likely to be some good cash incoming at $123,000.

Do note that the Hurricanes play late most rounds, so he’s not ideal for looping purposes.

Perhaps though if a WKP scores well early in the round you can sit him outside your starting team.

He also plays his next two games at home in Hobart which is ripe for run-scoring with the short square boundaries.

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Captains

The Renegades play in the opening game so they’re the obvious vice-captain play, with the captain on a Strikers player should your VC fail.

Averaging a monstrous 93.3 Supercoach points this season, Will Sutherland is probably the obvious pick.

He’s bowled at the death and is batting generally at number 7.

He’s currently at 50.6% VC which is enormous, there’s genuine opportunity to opt for a POD skipper such as Tom Rogers.

Rogers is bowling death and is guaranteed to bowl his four overs, unlike Sutherland.

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I’m genuinely tempted to go the POD route with Rogers. If Sutherland goes decent it’ll mean people bypass Overton or Short which is even more exciting.

The Strikers have arguably the two best Supercoach players in the game in Matt Short and Jamie Overton, so you’d probably wanted your vice-captain to score 75+ to loop.

Particularly considering Short and Overton scored 120 and 131 respectively last round.

So who to skipper of the two?

It looms as one of the biggest captaincy decisions of the season.

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Overton is the in-form player with the perfect role bowling death and batting at number six.

He’s averaging a monstrous 99 Supercoach points this season.

Short has the pedigree and the enormous ceiling, currently averaging 69 Supercoach points this season.

It’s tough, very tough…

Adelaide Oval is a road for Short, however Marvel in game two isn’t as bat friendly.

I’m narrowly leaning towards Overton who has been exceptional with both bat and ball this season.