Seeing Double: Thunder round 6 focus

We’re now over the halfway point of the season and into the home stretch. 

The first single game week of the year through up plenty of curve balls, especially on the injury front. At least most Coaches were in the same boat re: Dan Sams – our thoughts are with him and Cameron Bancroft.

The Doubles are back this week but once again this is a different part of the game now. With only one team on the double, keeping single-game guns in your side remains crucial to still building a successful side.

And so it’s as much about who you trade out as it is about who you bring in this week. As the single game week showed, the all-rounders who both bat and bowl are crucial in this game.

If your VC doesn’t fire tonight the big question will be do you choose a new skipper or not. This becomes an even bigger question when you factor in the potential impact of rain on the Thunder’s second game against Hobart.

With it all to play out, let’s look ahead at this round’s double.

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Round 4 double team: Sydney Thunder

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Remaining Teams with doubles: Hobart Hurricanes, round 8

Overview: The Sydney Thunder will have plenty of moving parts for their two matches in Round 6.

Not only do they need to contend with losing two fundamental core pieces in Dan Sams and Cameron Bancroft, but there’s also Sam Konstas’ impending return for their second game.

And that is before you look at the forecast for Wednesday night. Which looks ok for now, but could be a factor.

The good news? The Thunder play both of their games before the Sixers and Stars play. Which means if you’re planning to loop with a Strikers player, you get to see the whole round play out before deciding if you want to take the bench or captain score.

To give you an example, if I VC Chris Green and bench loop Tom Andrews, I can wait until they’ve played two games to decide if I take the scores. I could then skipper someone like Glenn Maxwell or Marcus Stoinis if I wanted to.

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Predicted lineup for Game 1:

1. Warner, 2. Gilkes, 3. Davies, 4. Billings (wk), 5. Sherfane, 6. Dan Christian, 7. Chris Green, 8. Tom Andrews, 9. Liam Hatcher, 10. Lockie Ferguson, 11. Wes Agar

Predicted lineup for Game 2:

1. Warner, 2. Sam Konstas, 3. Gilkes, 4. Ollie Davies, 5. Sam Billings (wk), 6. Sherfane, 7. Green, 8. Andrews 9. Hatcher, 10. Ferguson, 11. Wes

Some things to note about the lineup:

1. Konstas will come into the side for the second game – that much we know. And obviously the consideration then needs to be who will drop out for him.
2. Lockie Ferguson leaves after this round. If you bring him in, you probably need to sell in Round 7. Do they pick Liam Hatcher to get game time into him to prepare for his departure?
3. Dan Christian has been signed. If he is named to play Game 1, be aware he could make way when Konstas comes back in for Game 2.
4. If Dan Christian is named at 7 or lower (in a bowlers spot), this would mean he’s a great chance of a good bowling workload. Thunder would need to find four overs between Christian/Rutherford/Davies.
5. If Dan Christian is named at 6, this might mean less overs for cheapie Tom Andrews.
6. Sherfane Rutherford departs after this double game round, meaning Dan Christian likely becomes the number 6 for the remainder of the tournament.
7. Gilkes could be the unlucky player to drop in Game 2 if the Thunder wanted to have Dan Christian as the all-rounder at number 6 in both matches.

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Sydney Thunder vs Brisbane Heat (Gabba, Game 1), vs Hobart Hurricanes (Engie Stadium, Game 3).

Overview: The Thunder have been better than you realise in actual cricket, but have had mixed returns in SuperCoach.

On paper, they’ve gone from a very settled side to one that has a lot of question marks around them. Injuries will do that.

We loved that they only played five bowlers. But that is up in the air now with the need to replace Dan Sams.

They also play on two grounds which have been pretty good for the pace bowlers. We have seen the Heat bowl exceptionally well at the Gabba, and the Thunder and Gades took a healthy 12 wickets in the last match at Engie (Showgrounds).

In that sense, the fact you can bench loop a double player this week is a blessing and allows us to be aggressive in picking a Thunder player. 

The concern of course is that they’re a poorer bowling unit without Sams and now need to rely on youth with the bat now Bancroft is out.

Who has the best roles at the Thunder:

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• Chris Green: can run hot and cold with his wicket-taking, but he has taken a couple of 3-wicket hauls this season already to pass the SuperCoach ton twice. Throw in his batting at number 7 and he is close to a ‘must’ this round.
• Lockie Ferguson: World-class and cheaper than his starting price. Will bowl the big overs which we love.
• Wes Agar: a noted wicket-taker who a lot already own, Wes will again need to step up with Sams out and probably has to bowl some surge overs.

Who else is worth watching:

• David Warner: after a few meagre years of returns, Warner has finally found some Big Bash form. His last two SuperCoach scores are 116 and 74 and he looks dialled in. For $151.9k, you could do worse than to take a gamble on him.
• Sam Billings: we love keepers and Billings is also a very handy bat. Coming in to bat in the middle order doesn’t always lend itself to great scoring potential but he has shown his class already once in this tournament with a score of 147 against the Stars. Not for me but I can see people taking the gamble.
• Matt Gilkes: a top 3 bat with wicket-keeper eligibility is interesting. For those who have Sam Harper, he looms as a fantastic hopping off point.

Who’s the big time gambles:

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• Ollie Davies: a player with all the talent in the world whose out of form. Davies is just $62k and boasts a 3RA of 4.3. Pending the lineup, he’s actually a 6th bowling option for the Thunder. And we all kbow his potential, so if he breaks out I wouldn’t be shocked.
• Liam Hatcher: one for team sheets, but he’s no mug. A noted wicket taker whose ownership will be low.
• Sherfane Rutherford: awful role as a middle order finisher, but we saw what Tim David did last night. He’s had a poor tournament but it could be his time to shine before he departs next week.

Verdict and strategy:

I think Warner and Gilkes are good options. Especially if you can run a batting loop. But for the setup of my side (and having Finn Allen as my batting loop), I will lean towards the bowlers.

Conditions at the Gabba and Showgrounds have been difficult at times for the batsman so I will bank on the bowlers being the picks this week.

As someone who brought in Sams this week, unfortunately he has to go and Chris Green is the first name I will bring in and VC. I like his form, his BE anf the fact he’s batting higher and fielding in the hot spots.

My next two trades are still up in the air. I do think there’s a chance to free up funds with one of the Thunder’s cheaper players, especially due to the loop option.

The choice comes down to Tom Andrews, Dan Christian and Liam Hatcher. So it’ll come down to the toss and team news as to what way I go.

From my perspective, whichever cheaper player I go towards I need to be comfortable having in my side for next round too. And with a look ahead seeing potential for Dan Christian to become the number 6 and all-round bowler for their remaining three games of the season I am looking towards him.

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For my final trade, I have room for a batsman in the squad. Warner is the obvious candidate, however to give myself some security I have actually drafted in Glenn Maxwell for two reasons.

The first is that by doing so, I can give myself a get-out-of-jail card if my VC has a poor game by skippering Maxwell in the fourth match of the round. The second is I can see Maxwell moving up the order to accommodate the return of Beau Webster.

Both Maxwell and Beau are good targets for next round anyway due to their all-round games. And the risk of Warner being a bat-only player is ever present in my mind, especially with a view towards some future trade plans I have.

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