Thommo’s Takes | BBL Supercoach round 5 wrap

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.

Round 5 has been completed, and surprisingly, the previously undefeated Stars lost both games of their double-game round.

Popular player and VC option Glenn Maxwell was even flexed out of some teams on a double game week!

Bizarre!

16 straight overs of spin for the Strikers and no Jamie Overton overs in Perth, and some top order batters made some huge scores on a single game week.

Plenty to digest!

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Heat vs Stars

Result: Heat won by 4 wickets

Takes:

One change for both sides. Captain McSweeney returned in place of Hearne. Macdonald replaced the injured Joe Clarke.

The flexible Stars batting lineup on show again. Stoinis in at 3 this time and top scoring with 43 runs. Maxy came in at 5 and only lasted 2 balls. Tom Curran at 7.

New player Blake Macdonald at 8 and impressing with 37 not out off just 12 balls.

Stars overs watch. 3 wicketless overs for Maxy. 2 wicketless overs for Stoinis. 2 wickets for Siddle and Swepson but they were a tad expensive.

Middle order stood up for the Heat who continue to get the job done at the Gabba. Runs for McSweeney, Renshaw and Bryant.

Wildermuth’s scoring is a discussion point for many. Still opening but not past 20 again. 2 very, very expensive overs with the emergence of Patterson and Balkin.

2 overs for Renshaw too. Personally, I think I will be keeping him. I can understand the sell, but I have bigger fires to put out, I think.

He also has experience, and as promising and impressive as the two young fellas have been from the Heat, it is tough to keep doing it from match to match.

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Thunder vs Hurricanes

Result: Hurricanes won by 6 wickets

Takes:

Mass Thunder changes as they want to change their current ladder position. Ins were Maddinson (welcome back!), Andrews and Agar. Outs were Bancroft, Sangha and Topley. One change for the Hurricanes. In was Prestwidge. Out was Wright. 

Warner with a sublime 130 not out off just 65 balls. If only he did that when the Thunder were on the double!

A huge negative breakeven, finding form and bats at AO next round with a good looping schedule going forward.

One to ponder for sure, even if not on double game rounds. 

Not great reading regarding the Hurricane bowling card. They will be cheaper before their double. The 5^th bowler overs were shared between Ahmed (1 over), Owen (1 over) and Prestwidge (2 overs including probably the most eventful first over in BBL history!) 

Sams came in at 6 and was able to get hitting early, and the unforced retirement of Maddinson. 3/36 off his 3 overs too. 91 SC points and looking like one to hold for the season.

Ward with a great knock of 90 off 49 balls. A huge negative breakeven, cheap and a bye before an upcoming double. A sneaky trade in for those that want a loop next round and one to strongly consider on the Hurricanes’ actual double.

A return to some sort of form for Owen. 45 off just 18 balls. Will be very reasonably priced for the Hurricanes double.

Ahmed at 3, but he couldn’t pass the magical 20-run mark.

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Stars vs Renegades

Result: Renegades won by 4 wickets

Takes:

Stars unchanged (Siddle played both! Good news for owners!) One change for the Gades. Spinner Stow in for the veteran Tye.

Harper reached the 20-run mark again to activate the maximum strike rate bonus.

A tick for those that traded him in. 127 SC points across round 5 for him. It reminds us of the value of role changes!

Tom Curran is back to Sydney Sixers all-rounder mode. Batted at 8 but made a quick-fire 38 off just 18 balls!

3 wicketless overs, and he dropped some catches to miss out on even more SC points.

A slightly better VC than Stoinis. A lot better VC than Maxy!

Cheap dismissal for Maxy and bowling some overs, but again going wicketless. 22 SC points across two games for Maxy.

The 79th-best averaging player in SC this season. For context, Paddy Dooley, Lachlan Shaw, Nic Maddinson, Hugh Weibgen, amongst others have higher averages.

He has to go to a Sixer with a better role with their upcoming double. In pure SC way, too we know that he will put up that 150 SC score at some stage this season when we trade him out.

The nature of this SC beast!

Wicketless across both games this round was the big Stoin. A respectable 90 but VCers would have wanted more, especially with Maxy going so low. 

2 wickets for both Siddle and Rauf, but they were expensive again, bowling second. Both are trade-outs now, Melbourne doubles have ceased.

Swepson by far the most economical Stars bowler. 1/20 off his 4 overs.

Bat maker Brown is finding form. Probably loving batting away from Marvel.

84 runs off just 48 balls to get the Renegades into a strong winning position (and they almost threw it away!)

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Scorchers vs Strikers

Result: Scorchers won by 33 runs  

Takes:

One change for the visiting side. Character Shamsi in for Hassan Ali. Two forced changes for Perth. Internationals Allen and Evans out injured replaced by Fanning and popular looper Curtis.

16 overs of straight spin for the Strikers as they restricted the Scorchers to what was a gettable total. Pope and debutant Shamsi posting large SC scores of 116 and 90 SC respectively, as they took wickets for fun.

No overs for Overton! No, not a typo. I don’t believe it was injury-related from my research, just simply tactical. It helps to make him cheaper for their upcoming double where I still will be trading him in!

Many starts for Perth batters, but no one could go on with it.

Rinse and repeat for Adelaide. A couple of batters got starts, but they couldn’t capitalise and guide the Strikers to victory.

1 over and 2/1 for Turner. Give yourself another over captain!

Cooper failed with the bat. But in true all-rounder mode saved his score. Catches, 4 overs with a wicket to earn 53 SC points. 

Same news for Hardie. Didn’t fire with the bat, but 2/10 off his overs equated to 56 SC points. Very stiff to not activate the economy bonus for 2.1 overs!

Paris, like Bartlett, haunts people who trade them out after their double has finished 130 SC points.

In fact, only 1 player from the top scoring 7 players was on a double this week!

Who will be the Stars player who haunts people with a trade-out this week?

Short 77 is only a single game. No wickets but runs and a run out.