Thommo’s takes: SC BBL14 Round 4 wrap up

Welcome to our review article at SC Playbook where we review the action from the previous round and see what impact it had on our side and what we can learn from it. 

The SC year ended with a bang with the best player from the last 2 years (Matty Short) being a late out on NYE. 

It proved to be a round of PODs where many lowly owned players had absolute days out. A rankings rise was in store for those who like to play SC that way. 

Thunder vs Renegades

Result: Thunder won by 8 runs

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Takes:

• An unchanged line up for the Gades. One change for the Thunder Gilkes in for Jason Sangha. This meant that Sherfane Rutherford moved up to number 3. He could not capitalise on this making 11 off 18 balls. 

• The star for the Thunder with the bat was Warner who mad his highest BBL score in quite some time. He played very well on what is not the world’s easiest wicket, making 86 off just 57 balls. His price will now be increasing before the Thunder double in round 6 so for those interest it might be time to trade him in now.

• None of the Gades bowlers scored amazingly well with most quite even. The best Gades bowler to have was Tom Rogers who scored some runs too on his way to 66 SC points.

• The other big score for the Thunder apart from Warner was Wes Agar who took 3 wickets on his way to 104 SC points. He will probably one of the most traded in people next round as people look to capitalise on breakevens and upcoming schedule.

• The Thunder are a team who were are watching carefully with a looming double, but supercoachers need to be wary as some players will be leaving and some others will possibly be returning to the squad. Two players who have a consistent role and should score well enough for owners are Chris Green and Daniel Sams who both got their 4 overs in, picked up wickets and were economical. They also bat in the lower middle order and could pick up some runs in some matches.

• Lawrie Evans was the only true Renegades batter who shone. 40 off 26 balls to top the SC scores for the team in red. 

Strikers vs Scorchers

Result: Scorchers won by 7 wickets

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Takes:

• Richo was back for the Scorchers in for Kelly. Matt Short out for the Strikers. The big SC news as well as popular cheapie Bazley. Ins were Weatherald (back to the middle order) and Doggett. 

• Doggett and Boyce dominating with the bat on a good AO deck. Surely that was the obvious call…

• Doggett was a great trade in or hold / loop from early in the season for owners. 103 SC points and a game to come. It doesn’t matter that no one could have predicted most would come from batting. Points are points!

• Finn Allen was finally able to stay at the crease for a reasonable amount of time. He activated maximum strike rate bonus on his way to 85 SC points.

• Runs also for Cooper and Turner. It might be worth noting that Hardie returned to number 3 and Cooper took the Inglis role at number 4. 

• Big returns for many Perth bowlers with Richo, Dorf and Wild Thing all posting SC scores over 70. 

• Agar off with back spasms. This meant one over for Turner and two for Cooper, including the last of the innings. No junk wickets for him though.

• Almost all serious SC players were in the Overton boat but 3 SC points is not what we were expecting. Well done for those that took a Rogers (Renegades) VC. There is a game to come but a 63 point advantage is a handy start! 

• Pope (Ollie) and Lynn 1 SC point. Scott and Pope (Lloyd) 0 SC points. Thank goodness there is another game to come for owners. 

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Hurricanes vs Sixers

Result: Hurricanes won by 50 runs

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Takes:

• The Hurricanes at home might be something worth noting as they have now easily defeated the Scorchers and now the Sixers. 

• Wade was back and had the keeping gloves. Hatzoglou played his first game for the season. Outs were Ellis (ill) and Jewell. Jed was back for the Sixers and replaced Shaw in the outfit. 

• No joy for Sixers batter where no-one achieved the strike rate bonus.

• Plenty of joy for Hurricanes bowlers, who did the job even without Nathan Ellis.All bowlers picked up at least a wicket with CJ having the best figures of 3/22.

• The Hurricanes double is not for a few rounds but one player on my radar is popular cheapie from last year Nikhil Chaudhary. Batting at number 5, scoring 42 in this game and he bowled 3 overs (the most so far in this edition of the BBL). He even could be a sneaky option for us SC playbook crew as an allrounder to have in the single game weeks. 100 SC points and his price is rather tasty. 

• Owen again was handy with the bat as was stand in captain Ben McDermott both making 30s.

• Jackson Bird had a day out in familiar Tasmania surroundings. 4/16 including a caught and bowled on his way to 140 SC points which surely would be a career high.

• Jack Edwards batted 6 and bowled 4 overs including the 20^th. Only 37 SC points but those that held will be happy with that role. Only one wicket and it is not as good as him batting at 3 like previously but he looks a safe play in the upcoming single round weeks. 

• Even though he still had a day out with 114 SC points, future owners (likely myself) will be happy he didn’t activate the batting strike rate bonus, coming in at number 7. 

Heat vs Stars

Result: Stars won by 5 wickets

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Takes:

• Multiple changes for the Stars. In for their first games of the season were Steketee and injury replacement Dan Lawrence. Rogers also returned rom injury. The outs were Merlo, Couch and Webster. One change for the Heat Peirson out for Prestwidge which meant everyone shuffled one up the batting order with Munro opening.

• A wet and humid night at the Gabba meant were saw a new ball that swung more than usual. Paris bowled his four overs straight out to start the innings.

• The man who singlehandedly got the Heat to some sort of total was Max Byrant with a brilliant innings of 77 runs off 48 balls. He was slow and controlled early and then attacked during the power surge and late on in the innings, farming the strike and whacking boundaries when he could. 112 SC points in a fine performance. 

• The only other batter who looked okay, especially when taking down a Marcus Stoinis over was Tall Paul. Unfortunately when he looked set to finally get some runs for overs he holed out to deep long on and lost his strike rate bonus. He got some overs (2) when bowling but was easily dispatched to all parts. Role is still there, owners are still waiting to that big 100 SC plus game. I think it will come at some stage though!

• Speaking of Marcus Stonis this game saw him return to the bowling crease with no Curran or Webster in the current line up. No wickets but 4 overs is very promising and he was reasonable with the ball only conceding 7 runs per over. He was also very good with the bat after he came in when the game was in the balance. 62 runs and 96 SC points for the evening. He might (you never know with Stars allrounders!) be a good player for single game weeks if this continues.

• The other batter in the match winning partnership was new recruit Dan Lawrence who played just as well as big Stoin with the stick and made 64 not out off just 38 deliveries. Combine this with a catch and one over of spin where he took a wicket (thanks to some handy work from Glenn Maxwell!) and he finished with a huge 130 SC points. He was very handy for the Stars when he came in last tournament so he could be on to keep an eye on.

• Maxy was unbelievable in the field. 4 catches including one of the greatest ever on the boundary rope. No overs and no runs (he batted at 6 due to an injury concern suffered in the field). Another price drop incoming and he is not a true allrounder at the moment like we have seen for many years previously.

• The dynamic pace duo for the Heat were clearly the best two bowlers. Spencer taking 1/28 but Bartlett with incredible figures of 4/10 off his 4 overs. 137 SC points and he scored nowhere near that amount of a double last week when many people traded him in and even captained him! SC works in funny ways. Hopefully a few people were able to hold, potentially with the Matt Short news. 

Renegades vs Strikers

Result: Strikers won by 5 wickets. 

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Takes:

• No changes for the Gades. One change for Strikers with Bazley in for Scott. Still no Matt Short.

• Lynn (opening this match) and Brown were batting on different decks. 123 and 101 SC points respectively. 

• Thornton also cracked the SC century with 3/22 off his 4 overs. 

• Pope and Overton also took multiple wickets and Doggett only took 1 wicket but was highly economical.

• Zampa and Rogers both took two wickets for the Gades.

• Bethell bowled a few overs and took a wicket in a bonus for people who went him as a trade in this round.

• A rare game this season where Sutherland failed to take a wicket and just missed a healthy strike rate bonus. Role is still well and truly there though.

• Some low scores in this game for some Renegades players. Risky picks such as JFM (1 SC point) and some “safer” picks such as Fergus and Kane (6 SC points).