How to use the auto-emergency, vice-captain loophole

What on earth is the loophole/auto-emergency (AE) that everyone is talking about in relation to SuperCoach Big Bash?

If you are not sure then don’t worry, you are not alone. But it is a vital tactic especially during a round where we have unlimited trades throughout.

Let me dive into it to try and explain it as simply as possible!

Essentially the idea is that you put two or three of your players who appear early in the round onto your bench and make them your auto-emergency for the round (Little E next to Sub & Trade).

You get one option in the batting line-up, one in the bowler unit and one in the wicketkeeper position. This week, it’s relevant for anyone wanting to go early on Josh Inglis from Perth, but more on the examples later.

One of two things will then happen.

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If the bench auto-emergency scores well:

You can then slot someone in your starting line-up who has the bye/doesn’t play. In this case you could pick a Perth player (who have the round 1 bye) or someone who simply won’t get a game in round 1 (make sure of this).

The player who doesn’t play will then be replaced by your auto-emergency who has guaranteed points.

Not only this, but you can trade in a Perth player if you like for someone who you may not need anymore.

For example, if my bench player goes mad and scores well I will need to drop one of my starting five bowlers to get his points.

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In my instance I would likely trade Henry Thornton out (as he isn’t needed anymore because I will take my bench player’s points) and bring in Faf du Plessis from the Scorchers.

Essentially, I will be locking in good points and get an extra trade ahead of round 2!

But why bother you say? Why not just start them?

Outside of the potential bonus trade by bringing in an extra Scorcher early ahead of their double game round, the key reason is below.

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If the bench player fails:

If the bloke you have the reserve on fails then you won’t be stuck with a dud score in your starting line-up, because instead of taking the auto-emergency you can play someone of quality in their place.

Now this is even more beneficial in later rounds when you will have to the ability to get a ‘free loop’ with a batsmen who plays only once in the round but plays early on. Bench them, and if they fail you won’t be stuck with a terrible score.

Round 1 is a little trickier because the bench loop option will likely have another game in hand given the fact there are three teams on double game weeks to begin the campaign.

So you will need to decide if you roll the dice and use them knowing they have a second match, or cut your losses and start someone like Shadab Khan who has a single game but perhaps larger upside than a Chris Lynn who may have scored 4 points in game 1.

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Example

To help illustrate, I will outline exactly what I intend to do.

In my batting line up I have Rilee Rossouw on my bench with the emergency on him. If he scores well I will ensure I have Cameron Green in my starting line-up as he won’t play and I will be guaranteed Rossouw’s points.

If however Rossouw gets a duck or minimal points I can then opt to play Shadab Khan instead to maximise my round 1 score and not be stuck with a possible ordinary score

Caveat – Rilee plays again so I would have a decision to make, but if it was a single game round the decision is a simple one and you basically get two bites at the cherry!

I will do the same with the bowling department. This time I will make Farooqi (if named) my auto-emergency.

If he scores well I am going to get in early on Faf du Plessis by trading him in and starting him. That way I would get Farooqi’s score AND have Faf ready to go, plus my three trades ahead of round 2.

Of course if Farooqi doesn’t score well in game 1 I can leave Thornton in my side for his double round.

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Vice-captaincy loophole

This is easy and a MUST. Put your vice-captain (VC) on someone from game 1. If they go well, make a non-player your captain! If they don’t go well, you can pick an Adelaide Striker as your skipper who also have two games in the opening round.

Conclusion

The above strategy is a free crack at two or three players. I am also doing the same thing with Gilkes who is my emergency wicketkeeper.

If he fails, I will flick Matty Wade up to wicket-keeper from my batting line-up and put Inglis on my bench as a batsmen.

I know that this stuff can be difficult to understand, especially if you are new to Supercoach and given all codes are slightly different, but give it a crack and see how you go!

Below is my current bench to show you how I have set it up. From there after game 1 you can adjust your starting side accordingly or similar leave it as is!

Good to be back. Any questions I will be on the WhatsApp SC Playbook chat (voice chat included) or Twitter!

Cheers