Thommo’s Takes: Round 1 SuperCoach BBL recap

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 One is done.

Congratulations if you nailed your starting side! It’s time to keep the momentum rolling.

For those that started a tad slow. Don’t panic.

There is plenty of time to rise up the rankings! It was an unconventional round to say the least!

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Heat vs Stars

Result: Heat won by 103 runs

Takes:

• An absolute demolition job by the Heat. This game was very similar to the opening of the BBL two years ago when the Stars again were destroyed by the Sixers to open the tournament.
• Colin Munro was in fine form. A great knock of 99 not out and he absolutely deserved a century.
• Usman and Marnus are off on Test duty. We need to see who replaces them at 1 and 3 in the batting order.
• Billings was busy at number 4. Unfortunately for owners he could not reach the magical 20 run mark.
• Maxy Bryant with the cameo of 15 off 7. People were unhappy because he had the strike in the last overs when he hit 3 fours instead of getting Munro on strike. A bit rough!
• Paul Walter listed to come in at 6. He also bowled only one over when the game was all but over. It didn’t look like the ideal all-rounder role.
• A team effort from the Heat bowling unit. Everyone chipped in with a wicket. The picks were a cheap Swepson with 3/23 (3.1 overs) and a highly economical Bartlett 2/8 (3 overs). Neser 2/30 (3 overs) and Kuhnemann 1/17 (3 overs) were solid for those that selected them.
• Stoinis with a less than ideal role and night at the office. Batting at 5 (scoring 2 runs) and he did not bowl for the Stars, even when they conceded over 200 runs! Will this change with the injuries to Maxy and NCN?
• Only Hilton Cartwight and Maxy offered any meaningful resistance with the bat for the visiting side.
• I feel like I’ve seen that Sam Harper movie before. A streaky boundary and then out. He was opening the batting though in a positive for owners.
• The Stars bowling was just as positive as their batting performance. I though Stone was okayish on debut, however, one would assume he will be replaced by Rauf next match.
• Only 2 overs for Mir. Will this trend continue next match?
• An expensive day for Maxy. 1/44 off just 3 overs.

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Sixers vs Renegades

Result: Sixers won by 8 runs

Takes:

• It’ll be nice one day when I can select Steve Smith in SC. At least I can enjoy watching him play for the side I support.
• An epic performance from Will Sutherland. Batting at number 7, he almost won the game for the Gades with 51 not out off just 30 balls. He delivered some lusty blows towards the end of the innings. He didn’t even really get the opportunity to capitalise during the power surge. He also bowled 4 very tidy overs and finished with 2/21 as he got both Philippe and Vince chopping on. If the Renegades line up stays very similar, he should bowl his 4 overs each match.
• Role was great for Curran, but the points did not translate for this match. However, batting six and bowling surge and overs in the second half of the innings will lead to many SC points in the near future.
• JFM batted at 3 and scored runs in very quick time! 48 runs off 24 balls. A couple of streaky ones early but he found his touch with a couple of massive sixes. He looks like a rocks or diamonds prospect still, but owners will be v ery happy with how this cheapie option delivered in match one. A performance like that surely guarantees he gets at least a few games at number 3 in the near future. Maddo could be the moveable piece when QDK makes his season debut.
• Finchy was in at 5 and very scratchy with his 33 runs.

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• Philippe matched Smith early before he was dismissed for 29.
• Cheapie Jack Edwards was not as good as JFM. Batting at 7 and bowling only one expensive over. Henriques even bowled himself for a cheeky over in necessity and they didn’t want Edwards to bowl a second over. It looked like an all-rounder headache role, rather than a supercoach gold role.
• Dwarshius the pick of the Sixers bowlers. 3/36 in a heroic performance after recent personal tragedy.
• Zampa really turned his night around with a fantastic fourth over. 2/24 for Zampa. There does seem to be lots of commentary of a rest soon which is not ideal as a SC owner. Those fingers though did do a lot of good work at a recent World Cup though, so I guess you can’t have everything.
• Mujeeb, Richardson and Rogers were underwhelming. They do have another game this round, as well as a double game round in round 3. Judge them after the block of 5 games. They all bowled the overs we sort of expected, so there were no surprises there from that persecpitve.
• Man I love watching Jordan Silk. The ultimate team man.

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Strikers vs Heat

Result: Rained Out

Takes:

• Buy a snorkel. Also we are no clearer on the Strikers. Role and/or form. This is a conundrum as they are on the double in round 2 and we are going in blind.

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Scorchers vs Thunder

Result: Abandoned due to the state of the pitch

Takes:

• Changes for the Renegades were Zampa (rested), replaced by Siddle and QDK played his first game for the tournament replacing Cox. As expected he took the gloves too.
• Eskinazi and Connolly opened for the Scorchers. No Whiteman in the line up. More troops like Crawley and Agar will be available soon. Lets see how this changes the playing XI and the batting line up.
• A sort of debut for Hamish McKenzie.
• No overs for Richo. Were they saving him for more bowling later on?
• Wickets for Rogers and Sutherland.

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Hurricanes vs Sixers

Result: Sixers won by 6 wickets

Takes:

• Changes for the Sixers included Steve Smith (test duty) who was replaced by Daniel Hughes. This moved Vince to partner Philippe at the top of the order. Sean Abbott also missed this game and was replaced by Todd Murphy.
• Caleb Jewell continued his hot form from last year and clearly looked the best batter for the Hurricanes. 42 runs off just 24 balls. He opened the batting with Wade and popular cheapie Ben McDermott came in at number 3.
• After a sensational start the Hurricanes just collapsed as the Sixers took control. Their batting line ups does look a bit thin, highlighted by Chris Jordan coming in a number 7.
• Recently arrived Corey Andersen struggled for timing with the bat, 17 (27), but was clearly the Hurricanes best bowler taking 2/10. He obviously had to take on a greater load due to the injury for Riley Meredith. It will be interesting to see whether next game he bowls many overs because if he does, he could have a very friendly SC role, batting at 6 and contributing overs each match.
• Speaking of all-rounders, Jack Edwards again rolled the arm over again. In fact, he bowled in the powerplay when the Hurricanes were motoring and finished with very tidy figures of 2/18 off 4 overs. It was a more promising all rounder role compared to game one, but I am not entirely convinced about its consistency yet.
• Another sneaky over for captain Mo, but, it will never be anything more than that.
• All spinners struggled on this particular deck, with none from either team taking a wicket.
• Ben Dwarshuis again was very good. An incredible first over and he finished with 2/21 off his 4 overs.
• Tom Curran bowled 2 of the last 3 overs of the innings with Abbott out. 3/19 off his 4 overs and 5 not out with the bat. He arguably could have had a caught and bowled as well!
• The Sixers when batting just cruised to a very easily victory. Hughes did his job making 60 off 50.
• Ellis bowled the second over of the innings, which is much earlier than he has previously. Something to monitor going forward if they are going to use him in  a slightly different role now they have CJ to help bowl surge and death overs.

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 Thunder vs Heat

Result: Heat won by 20 runs

Takes:

• Changes for the Heat included bringing in Brown, McSweeney and Renshaw. Out from the line up in game one were Marnus, Usman and Max Bryant. Surprisingly, Billings kept the gloves as Jimmy Pierson wasn’t in the selected XI.
• The Thunder line up included 6 genuine bowling options. This impacted heavily upon Daniel Sams who only bowled 2 overs (0/25 off his overs). McAndrew and surprisingly Hatcher (1/16) only bowled the 3 overs too. The Thunder as they have in previous years, really rotated their bowlers around for the most part. The main exception to this was Zaman Khan who bowled 3 of the last 6 overs. He looked very impressive in his 2/31. It is a shame for us supercoachers his stay is only limited.
• Popular cheapie option Tanveer Sangha was awesome with 3/21 off his 4 overs, including bowling the second last over. People who had him on the bench were happy, he even would’ve been handy to have on field!
• Munro again was the best batter for the Heat with a mature and controlled 46 off 33. A great round one pick and even better for those with the VC on him!
• Billings had a handy cameo (came in at number 5) and reached the magical 20 run mark to activate the strike rate bonus. Unfortunately for owners his strike rate dipped after reaching this mark and his score was not as impressive as it looked like it was going to be.
• The Heat bowling unit was again impressive. Swepson followed up his form from game one, taking 2/26 off his 4 overs. Kuhnemann owners would have been happy too, 2/18 off his 4 overs. Walter and his bowling type really suited the Manuka Oval deck. Whether this is an ongoing trend, I am not so sure, but owners would have been thrilled with 2/22 of his 4 overs. Will he bowl 3 to 4 overs consistently?
• Looking at the Heat pace brigade, Neser only bowled the 2 overs. Luckily his hands were like magnets and he received plenty of fielding points. Bartlett took some tap, but SC owners were very happy as he ended up with 3/35 off his 4 overs. Spencer Johnson was again underwhelming. 0/16 for his 2 overs. He will be a trade out for me this week.
• From a Thunder batting perspective, Bancroft and Davies were perhaps the most impressive. Bancroft opened, Gilkes batted at 3 and Sams came in at number 6.
• A sneaky all-rounder performance from Chris Green. 1/30 and also 30 off 20.

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Stars vs Scorchers

Result: Scorchers won by 7 wickets

Takes:

• Scorchers are still good. The Stars are…well, like the Stars.
• An unchanged line up for the Scorchers after their abandoned game. Plenty of changes for the Stars after their disappointing first game of the round. Webster, Larkin, Merlo and Rauf in for the Stars. Out were Maxy, NCN, Stone and Burns.
• Stars again disappointing with the bat. Who will be of interest for us for their next double?
• Perth bowlers were as we expected. Very good! Richo 2/20 off his 4 overs. Behrendorff 3/28 off his 4 including a maiden. Tye bowled the overs we expected and finished with 1/24 off his 4 overs.
• Tidy and impressive figures for Hamish McKenzie. No boundaries conceded with 2/12 off his 4 overs. However, he doesn’t play the Stars each game and Agar has to come back into the fold. Just be wary!

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• The fifth bowler role really was split between Hardie and Connolly. Connolly bowled overs early and finished with 1/11 off his 2 overs. Hardie didn’t bowl his overs till very late on in the piece. I thought we weren’t going to see him bowl because Cooper had done very well early on and the innings was getting towards the very end. Was this tactical or just the way things panned out? One to monitor as time goes on!
• Everyone chipped in for the Scorchers with the bat. People with Conolly on field were happy with his strike rate!
• Stoinis gave himself the first over as captain. Only 2 overs for Stoinis, but that was 2 more than the first game. Is this sustainable considering Maxy will be back soon and Webster did not roll the arm over? The fact that Webster did not bowl means he is less enticing as a trade in when the Stars next have their double.
• Usama Mir was the best bowler for the Stars. 1/22 off his 4 overs and really should have had 2 wickets as Rauf put down a very gettable chance at short-third man. My round one POD was slightly better than his performance in the first match.