Thommo’s Takes: SuperCoach BBL Round 8 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. While it poured in Sydney, at least we have some BBL action to enjoy and the batters are starting to make their make in the tournament. Remember to also listen to our latest SC Playbook episode when they drop! Perfect inflight entertainment!

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Strikers vs Hurricanes

Result: Strikers won by 7 wickets

Takes:

• Some calls were made at the selection table for this game. D’Arcy Short was omitted. The SC gun for many, many seasons was 12^th man, replaced by Englishmen Zak Crawley (who batted at number 4). Adelaide made two changes. Gibson (who opened) and Thornton were in for Hunt and Siddle (back injury).
• All bowlers from both sides copped it. Yes, there were some dropped chances that would impact upon wickets and probably indirectly economy rate, but that is T20 cricket. The windmill (Dooley) was the only bowl to shine on the night. 2/25 off 4 overs.
• Captain performance from captain Matt Short who is calling the shots whilst Siddle is out. Bowling 4 overs!
• Adelaide quicks all copped it. Thornton, Conway and Agar going the distance meant 4 overs and 2/45 for Timmy’s boy CDG! Long may it continue! But in all seriousness, with Rashid leaving and Siddle out, there is potential for Adelaide to leak runs, which could mean more overs and opportunities for CDG.
• Rashid was economical, but wicketless. He could be value next year because the wickets juts have not been there for him this year.

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• The Hurricanes batters set an imposing target that should have been defendable. Jewell and McDermott started it off with a bang! 54 off 25 and 57 off 30 respectively.
• Crawley (in his first game) and David finished it off with 54 off 28 and 39 off 20 respectively. Who said English bats struggle early on when they arrive?
• Unfortunately, a popular VC choice, Matty Wade couldn’t join in making only 9 off 11.
• An awesome 100 not out from Short. Most coaches up there in the top 1% have him as we alluded to on the latest SC Playbook podcast, but there are some who do not own. I would imagine all would be trading in for the upcoming DGW.
• Lynny again went big with 64 off 29. He is in some serious form!
• Hose, not for the first time this tournament, with a great middle order cameo. 38 off 22, with a dubious no ball call thrown in!

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Stars vs Sixers

Result: Sixers won by 6 wickets.

Takes:

• Another cracker of a match that came down to the final over. The Stars were unchanged for this match, but the Sixers bowling rotation continued. Spin dup Murphy and Naveed were included for O’Keefe and Dwarshuis.
• One notable change for the Stars batting order. Cartwright promoted up to number 3 (and therefore Webster sliding down to number 5). Hilton got 36 off 31, so one would assume that would continue.
• Tom Rogers with his best knock of 48 off 33. But the star for  the Stars was Marcus Stoinis. He capitalised again during the power surge to score 52 off 28. However……
• The 5^th bowler chaos continued for the Stars. This is the second game Stoinis did not bowl in. Does 2 games equate to a pattern? 3 overs for the liquorice all sorts from Webster to finish with figures of 1/29. A cheeky over for Campbell Kellaway too.
• Abbott back into a bit form with the ball. He bowled the first and the last overs which was noteworthy. 3/31 off his 4 overs.

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• Only 3 expensive overs for Kerr.
• 1 over and the winning runs for DC
• Chris Jordan bowled the overs we expected. A mix of middle, surge and death overs. He was a bit wayward and bowled a few wides to finish with  0/44 off his 4 overs.
• Vince with an awesome innings to guide the Sixers home. 91 off 59 to continue his mini purple patch with the bat.
• NCN was the pick of the bowlers for the Stars. 1/20 off his 4 overs. He played both games of their double earlier in the year, but has had injuries and restings since then.
• Zampa with 4 overs but was wicketless.
• 3^rd out of 4 games the Sixers all-rounders like Kerr and Abbott have had not a bat. Is this trend likely to continue?

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Renegades vs Hurricanes

Result: Renegades won by 6 wickets.

Takes:

• Harris returned from the test squad in place of Marsh. The Hurricanes made two changes, including a very late switch. Parker was included in place of Owen and fan favourite Dooley sustained a finger injury in the warm up and was replaced at the last minute by Joel Paris.  
• Many Hurricanes batters made starts, but none of them could turn it into a big one. Jewell, McDermott, Wade and Ashraf all made starts.
• Consistency again from the Renegades with the same 5 bowlers getting their 4 overs in. Richo was probably the pick of them with 2/20. With Mujeeb and Akeal departing soon, it will be interesting to see who replaces them and if it changes the allocation of their overs.
• A match-winning innings from Sam Harper for the Renegades. 89 off 48 in what was his best BBL in his career!
• Guptil got the Gades off to a hot start with his 36 off 19.
• Hurricanes bowlers again not at their best. 3 wickets from bowlers in this game only means 6 wickets (7 but we will discount the run out) were taken across the DGR. Not great for people who traded them in!
• Ellis probably the pick for the Hurricanes in this game. 1/17 for him.
• Tim David again got overs in this game, like he did in the previous.

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Scorchers vs Heat

Result: Scorchers won by 7 wickets.

Takes:

• Changes galore for the Scorchers. Eskinazi, Connolly, Morris and Hardie in. Faf, Lyth, Richardson and Hatzoglou were out. A little bit easier to monitor the changes for the Heat. Bryant was back in. Bazley was out.
• The Heat openers got off to a hot start, Brown and Murno scoring runs at a quick rate. 45 off 26 for Munro in his last game and 34 off 21 for Brown.
• McSweeney batted at number 3 and Bryant came in at number 6 as the Heat complied a reasonable 9/171 on what looked like a great Optus deck.
• Plenty to unpack with the Perth bowling line up. With Agar and Hatz not playing, Turner bowled 3 overs for 20 runs and SC favourite Connolly in his first game bowled 1 over for 11 runs.
• Matthew Kelly replaced Richo with opening the bowling with Behrendorff. He finished with 2/28 off his 4 overs.
• No wickets again for Swepson. I believe he has just one wicket for the tournament thus far. He will be tremendous value next year and as a BBL fan I hope he can find his mojo again.

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• Tye demonstrating why death overs are highly valued in SC land. 2 wickets in the final over, whilst finishing with 3/37 off his 4 overs.
• Power surge overs were bowled by Behrendorff and Tye. 
• The Wild Thing was released into BBL land. 2 wickets but also was expensive conceding 40 runs off his 4 overs.
• The Bancroft and Hardie show guided Perth home for an easy win.
• Hardie batting at number 3 looked sharp in the middle with 57 runs off just 33 balls. No overs for him last night, but that number 3 role looks like it is his with form like that!
• Bancroft moved up to open and could be a sneaky option for those looking for a POD next round. He made 46 and 2 in his first two digs and last night made 76 off 48 balls with an impressive strike rate of 158. With many big names on the double next round, could you make a cause for a sneaky trade in of Bancroft. He made some starts in their trial matches and has scored first class runs this season too!

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Thunder vs Sixers

Result: SIxers won by 7 wickets.

Takes:

• SC royalty was back for the Thunder. Daniel Sams replaced gun fielder Joel Davies. He wasn’t at his best making 5 runs and bowling 2 overs for 23 runs and no wickets. Whiteman was also included for his first game for the season, replacing Rossouw in the number 3 role. He top scored for the Thunder with 42 off 34, so he has probably consolidated that role for the short term future.
• Changes for the Sixers too. Patterson replaced Hughes, coincidently at that number 3 role. Dwarshuis was in for Naveed as the Sixers preferred pace to spin.
• The Sixers took control of the game early and cruised to an easy victory. The Thunder took a few early Sixers wickets to try and make a game of it early but a match winning partnership of 109 between Silk and Henriques, Silky made 59 off 42 and Moises 53 off 38.
• The Sixers batting was shaky early in the BBL, but they are starting to find their groove. They are not all clicking at once, but different people gave played well, meaning over the last few matches opportunities for DC, Kerr and even Sabba have been very limited.

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• Chris Green was the pick of the bowlers for the Thunder taking 2/29.
• A real team effort from the Sixers bowling cartel, but Sean Abbott was clearly the Star. Economical and dangerous. 3/9 off his overs. He bowled the 20^th over too.
• The form of Todd Murphy means the Sixers can give SOK as long as he needs to rest and recover. 1/20 off his 4 overs including a wicket maiden as he was successfully deployed against the left-handers in the Thunder batting line up.
• Dwarshuis was decent on his return too with 2/28 off his full allotment of overs.
• CJ picked up a wicket but was wayward and inconsistent over the double. He also coped a couple of nasty blows off his bowling.
• With CJ gone off now, will this assist Kerr with his bowling and wicket taking opportunities? 1/34 for Kerr last night.
• Aside from Whiteman, Cutting made a late cameo with 26 off 15 and a nice, “specky” catch at third man.