Spy Talk: Mid-season musings for Supercoach BBL13

Finding form this tournament, the SC Spy looks back on what he's learned so far from Supercoach BBL13 as we approach mid-season.

BBL

Troops,

Happy New Year!

It’s Saturday morning here at Spy Headquarters and I’m still reveling in another Fraser-McGurk stunner.

Gee that kid is talented, and with that it leads me into the first point of my mid-tournament musings.

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Jake Fraser-McGurk

This kid could be absolutely anything and I can’t wait to see where his career takes him.

Bowlers will employ strategies of course as they try to work him out and identify weaknessess, but will it be enough?

He seems to have the composure to match his talent.

From a Supercoach perspective I think there was a lesson in amongst all of this.

Before we get to it, I have absolutely no issues trading out a guy who has no more doubles, bat only, a high breakeven and is coming off a couple of poor scores, but if we delve deeper into his tournament so far I personally saw value in holding for a few more rounds given his immense upside.

Game 1 – 48 off 24 balls

Game 2 – Abandoned

Game 3 – 55 off 23 balls

Game 4 – Golden Duck (It happens!)

Game 5 – 2 (Runout off bowler’s boot), ignore.

At this stage I broke it down into three genuine innings. Two were stunners and one was a failure.

Given he was not yet worth $100k there appeared to be merit in holding Fraser-McGurk for another run of what I hoped would be two quick fire half centuries that would be great for scoring but also reignite a price boost.

So when assessing when to drop or sell I was only looking at the bold matches above and backed the talent.

Game 6 last night yielded 70 off 37 balls. Will the next two matches pay off for holders or reward the sellers?

As with all batsmen only we have no idea and it’s that volatility that means a trade to a double game week player or allrounder did make sense.

My thoughts though are just be wary of trading someone with this kind of upside at a cheap price where you can’t always get much in return. If possible, trade a lower upside player first.

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Quinton de Kock

Here is a guy that is destined for a quick fire half century at worst and ideally a scintillating ton if all goes well.

He has been dead set unlucky early and I am holding tight until he leaves the tournament because a bloke of this class could win you a round and maybe the SuperCoach title!

After getting caught down leg side last night, please, please do it before you head back home Quinny or my faith may prove unwarranted.

Only time will tell, but strap in if he gets going because it’s going to be a pleasure to watch..

Side note – Trades may dictate that he swaps for Inglis on his double but I’d like to hold if possible for a long as I can.

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Boosting

Before I get to the Melbourne Stars I wanted to run through a scenario that I was faced with yesterday.

At the start of the round I had traded in Big Pauly Walter for his mammoth score of 5, but was able to thankfully have him on my bench as an emergency and avoid it.

That was until Kane Richardson was ruled out and I was stuck with Walter’s score.

As such a decision had to be made about whether or not to use my first boost to remove Kane Richardson and bring in someone who could potentially score well this week.

Given how late it was in the week options were not good. Overton was just out of reach. Bugger!

Cam Boyce I thought ahead of his double? Nah. It was looking like I had to take a 5, but given Kane Richo had no more doubles incoming I had a further look around the grounds.

Jack Edwards…. Single games only. Not ideal I thought. However, on further analysis and some 3-5 minutes before lockout and in the midst of taking the dog for a walk I came up with this.

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Jack Edwards has a brekaven of -13, dual role and batting at 6 as things stand, meaning a higher chance of a decent score, money to make and importantly someone I don’t need to spend much money on that is playable as a single game week player.

I liked it more and more but the clock was down to 1 minute. What to do?!

I didn’t want to lose a boost that could give me an extra double game week player down the line or cover an injury, but then it came down to this thought.

Edwards would get 1 extra game this week and has a dual role which means to be a successful boost it would come down to Edwards score this round + a single game week in the future v one round of a cheaper double game round player in the future.

That’s two games total either way and given Edwards bats and bowls (4 chances to score) and doesn’t cost a lost of money I liked the odds and decided the pull the trigger 30 seconds out.

Yep it was a very hectic five minute period!! Let’s go Jacky my boy…

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Melbourne Stars

A quick thought on the Stars.

I currently own Maxy (elite), Stoinis (surely due 1 decent score please) and I held Steketee over Haris Rauf in the hope of him coming back in for the double round when Rauf leaves.

That doesn’t leave a lot, but I do get the feeling Webster could be worth it despite a 0 this round in rain effected conditions.

He is quite simply a class above most of the Stars batsmen and could well bowl again.

If he doesn’t score however he could lose a bunch of cash because his breakeven will be huge off the back of two lower scores.

It’s a conundrum and may come down to how your cash generation is going. But he is the pick of them with regards to points potential. Others..

  • Tom Rogers doesn’t have a great record in terms of consistency but has shown glimpses that he could punch out a couple of quick 30s.
  • Hilton Cartwright is an option but has limited upside. He does love a catch though which is a boost. I don’t hate him as a one round play.
  • Maybe the new recruit Dan Lawrence, but given he may not bowl he again doesn’t look overly tempting.
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It’s a bit grim isn’t it! Maybe three Stars are plenty? I might push for four with Webster and try and maximise scoring potentially but it may be worth trading ahead for future double game weeks.

All the best with it guys and girls. Remember it’s ups and downs galore in the BBL so just go with it because it will turn soon either way!

Punters Knock (my new team name) are into 1800th and are in the midst of a very good round so hopefully we’ll be top 1,000 heading into the Stars double.

Enjoy the cricket!

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