Seeing Double: SC prospects with double lives, Canes, Thunder

Things continue to get weirder and weirder, but thankfully the changes for SuperCoaches are now almost done.

Round 9 saw two postponed matches meaning that after all was said and done, no team had the DGW.

Thankfully for those who planned ahead, popular Strikers targets like Peter Siddle and Matt Short delivered in spades helping deliver green arrows to those who loaded up on the boys from Adelaide.

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This week ahead looks decent for those chasing the doubles, especially with each coach now ensured five trades per round for the remainder of the regular season.

Two teams on the DGW also means a brilliant chance to utilise the VC loophole, albeit the games featuring the DGW sides overlap on Saturday night which will force us to potentially have to pull the trigger before our VC option has completed their performance.

To complicate things further, both sides on the DGW face off against each other in the final match of the round meaning it’s likely your players will be competing against each other with bat and ball.

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Fixtures

• The Sydney Thunder play the Melbourne Renegades at Marvel Stadium, and Hobart Hurricanes in Launceston. They play games 1 and 5 on the 8th and 10th of January.
• Marvel Stadium has been surprisingly high scoring this season, with both the Scorchers and Hurricanes scoring over 200 runs. McDermott scored a century on the ground, while Mitch Marsh won MoTM for an 83. We are seeing an average of 13 wickets per match.
• The Hobart Hurricanes play the Brisbane Heat at the Gabba and the Sydney Thunder in Launceston. They play games 2 and 5 on the 8th and 10th of January.
• There’s only been one match to-date in Launceston, with the Sixers edging the Hurricanes in a low-scoring affair where 17 wickets fell.
• The two previous games at the Gabba this season have been extremely high-scoring for SuperCoach, with bulk runs and wickets occurring. The round 6 match between the Heat and Melbourne Stars is the highest scoring SuperCoach match for the year with 18 wickets falling and nearly 400 runs.

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Team Factors to consider

Hobart Hurricanes:

• No Nathan Ellis, and with Harry Brook and Jordan Thompson as COVID close-contacts, the Hurricanes were disappointing against the Strikers last round and got towelled up. Brook and Thompson have been anonymous this season, but Ellis is a lynch-pin and does change the roles that other bowlers are required to play.
• Riley Meredith bowled just one over in that loss and may have reaggravated an injury to his side which saw him miss the start of the tournament. Regardless, he’s not a renowned death bowler and with Ellis out, his role is less favourable.
• Matthew Wade is out, meaning a new opening partnership beckons again for the ‘Canes. Either McDermott or Handscomb will now take the gloves.
• Ben McDermott has scored a duck and 11 in his last two innings and has a breakeven of 268. Last Hurricanes DGW he scored almost 350 SC points.
• The Hurricanes first match up is against a Heat side which struggled against the lowly Renegades in their last start, conceding 462 SC points. The Heat bowling attack looks particularly thin, so this could be the chance for the Hurricanes batters to turn their fortunes around.

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Sydney Thunder:

• The Thunder showed off their credentials with their second victory of the season against the Perth Scorchers, taking them to equal second on points with the Sixers.
• The Thunder have farewelled two internationals in Sam Billings and Saqib Mahmood. They get Mohammed Hasnain back after his 117 SC points on debut who will be popular. It’s expected Matt Gilkes will take over wicketkeeping duties, however the Thunder could opt to bring in Baxter Holt who was preferred with the gloves for the NSW Blues when in the line-up with Gilkes. Other alternatives to the line-up could be Alex Ross returning, provided he is fit after contracting COVID.
• Alex Hales returned post-COVID for the Thunder in round 9, but Tanveer Sangha and Alex Ross weren’t even part of the squad. It’s unclear if this is due to resting or they’ve yet to recover, but both players were considered in the Thunders best XI prior to contracting the virus.
• Gurinder Sandhu was PoTM for his 4fa, including a hattrick, against the Scorchers. Should the Thunder opt to include and extra spinner for their games however he may lose his place in the team.
• The Thunder are on a four match winning streak and would be considered favourites for these two games.

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The Players

Sydney Thunder

• Dan Sams: A major VC option for this round given he has just about the best role in SuperCoach. He hasn’t quite lived up to his lofty standards with a season average of 56, but he has three scores over 94 already this season and is reliable given he will always bowl his four overs.
• Muhammed Hasnain: 117 SuperCoach points on debut, and likely to take over the role of Mahmood – opening and death – which is so fruitful. Only $140k and a BE of 30, he can be a set and forget option for you and is likely to be the most traded in player this round.
• Jason Sangha: Started as a cheapie and is now over $200k – only Marnus’ rise last season is comparable. Averaging 87 in the last three matches and has rolled the arm over occasionally too with three wickets this season. Can you afford to miss him if he goes big? Can you afford him at all?
• Chris Green: A decent POD given the presence of bulk left-handers in the Thunders two opposition sides this round. Don’t be fooled by Green’s season average – he scored 22 last match but only bowled himself two overs. Prior to that his lowest score in four games was 49. He might not possess the ceiling that some players do, but he could be a surprisingly good performer in these conditions.
• Alex Hales: Looks in horrible form, constantly backing away from the quick bowlers and trying to swat balls over the fence at cow. Averaging just 23 this season – yet still, we know what he is capable of and the law of averages say he is overdue for a big one. At this price, it could be worth the punt.
• Matt Gilkes: Has quietly averaged 45 for the season and 71 in his last three games, mostly thanks to a score of 93 against the Strikers. He looks in good touch and may take the gloves with Billings.
• Tanveer Sangha: Was averaging 62 this season before back-to-back single-figure scores against the Sixers and Scorchers. He has not yet returned from the COVID-ward aka sick bay and has a monster BE, but he may be flying under the radar.

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Hobart Hurricanes:

• Ben McDermott: He has cooled after the hottest of hot streaks last DGW, but surely up against the kids in Brisbane he’s due a big return? He is worth a lot of cash and has a huge BE but is almost too scary not to own based on those that missed him last time.
• D’Arcy Short: Yes, his batting has looked terrible. But it’s hard to keep D’Arcy out of the game. He is still averaging 47 this season with a 3GA of 67. He seems to always be around for catches and junk wickets.
• Tom Rogers: An unexpected star this season with a 66 average, Rogers is now the unlikely leader of the bowling attack with Ellis injured and question marks over Meredith’s fitness. He bowls the right overs and will bat around 8 too.
• Sandeep Lamichhane: A 3GA of 62 is a brilliant improvement on his poor start to the BBL season, albeit he had multiple drops off his bowling in that time. Sandeep has a low score in him but has found more luck recently. His class should be too much for the Heat in their first game, and with a lowish BE he’s pretty risk-free.
• Tim David: Looks to be finding form with the bat, and is regularly contributing with the ball for the men in purple this season. He has another impressive 3GA of 53 and three scores of over 60 in his last four matches.

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Summary

Both of these doubles look enticing to load up on, and the weather forecast looks good for the round ahead.

The Hurricanes should maul the Heat in their first match, and the Thunder will be keen to usurp the Sixers on the table by defeating the Renegades at Marvel, knowing their crosstown rivals have a hard match-up against the Scorchers.

Five trades also makes this round really interesting. Most people will load up on the DGW players, and that is a fine strategy, but the flexibility of five trades also means you can spare some trades for match-ups or cash generation or just fix a hole that COVID may have caused.

I am planning to trade out Strikers but want to try hold a couple knowing next round they play the Heat who will still be without the bulk of their squad.

The Sixers also have a tough game in Coffs against the Scorchers on a deck we don’t know much about, and we can spare them despite the fact they may get a surprise DGW soon for the rescheduled Heat clash.

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Perth are the only club without anymore DGWs, with the Stars, Heat, Sixers and Strikers expected to earn one between rounds 11-13 due to rescheduled games.

The Renegades and Stars (unconfirmed but expected) have the DGW next round so I’ll try hold.

Given I already went early on the ‘Canes last round and own McDermott, Rogers and Wade, I am leaning my trades towards the Thunder and thinking ahead to the next round as well (but not much further given how quickly things have changed around here).

I like Husnain and think he is a must. I also like Green, both Sangha’s and Gilkes. Sandeep could also get a run as I think his class could shine through against the Heat in game 1.

Looking ahead, Zahir Khan and Shaun Marsh from the Renegades also interest me.