BBL Supercoach squad preview | Hobart Hurricanes


<p>For the first time in six years of previewing the Hobart Hurricanes for SC Playbook, I can finally say they’ve broken their Big Bash title drought!</p>



<p>The men from down south claimed the BBL14 title at their third opportunity contesting the final game of the tournament.</p>



<p>With an extremely stable roster, key recruits, and no major Test team impact likely outside of Beau Webster, there’s no reason why they can’t go back-to-back with the monkey now off their back.</p>



<p>Jake Weatherald has rejuvenated his career and adds tonnes of firepower to the top order – provided he misses the Australian team – while Rishad Hossain and Rehan Ahmed join Chris Jordan as the international flavour of the team.</p>



<p>A stacked bowling line-up makes the bowling contingent a little harder to attack, but nonetheless, there are options to consider.</p>



<p>With the best draw in Supercoach, they’ll be the hottest of property to begin the season, and perhaps longer…</p>



<p>Let’s take a look at their Supercoach BBL prospects to begin the tournament.</p>



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<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Fixture analysis</strong></h3>



<p>The Hurricanes have the best fixture in the competition to start BBL15.</p>



<p>They have the dream draw, boasting a double game week in rounds 1 and 3.</p>



<p>The week one double fixtures are in Hobart and the MCG, which are ripe for run-scoring.</p>



<p>It gets better, there’s also a world where you hold one or two assets pending output and cash generation longer term, as they have a bye in round 6, which is vital for looping purposes, followed by another double game week in round 7.</p>



<p>They then wrap the season up with another bye in week 9, another opportunity for looping.</p>



<p>I could see myself keeping a Hurricane for the entire season, such as Mitch Owen if firing, or a cheaper asset to save cash elsewhere.</p>



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<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Guns</strong></h3>



<p><strong>Mitch Owen // BAT-BWL // SC BBL14 Ave: 73.1 // $192,800</strong></p>



<p>Owen blew BBL14 apart as the top run-scorer with an average of 45.20 at a strike-rate of 203.60, simply mental…</p>



<p>He also began to roll the arm over later in the competition, taking three wickets across nine overs.</p>



<p>If he features regularly with the ball this season as he has in Australian colours he’ll be a near season hold.</p>



<p>He’s a must for round 1 and 3 where he’ll likely be the most captained player in both rounds.</p>



<p><strong>Verdict: </strong>Buy</p>



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<p><strong>Nathan Ellis // BWL // SC BBL14 Ave: 58.4 // $153,900</strong></p>



<p>Ellis has always been one of my favourite Supercoach assets to own for double game rounds over the years, he’s a reliable wicket-taker that can take a bag, is a death bowling specialist, is guaranteed his overs and can chime in with some big late order hitting for a quick-fire 20 and strike-rate bonus.</p>



<p>He took 13 wickets last season with an economy of 7.86.</p>



<p>While he’s a bit more expensive than his fast-bowling counterparts, he’s the safest option and is worth the cash in my mind.</p>



<p>Ellis has been a staple of the Australian white-bowl set-up in recent months and will be hard to pass up with the favourable early draw.</p>



<p><strong>Verdict: </strong>Buy</p>



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<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Mid-rangers</strong></h3>



<p><strong>Nikhil Chaudhary // BAT-BWL // SC BBL14 Ave: 48.1 // $126,900</strong></p>



<p>Chaudhary can be a hard one to catch as he can float between the five or six batting spot pending how Tim David is integrated each game, while his bowling capacity is also largely sporadic.</p>



<p>Jag a fixture where he’s into the batting action early and bowling three overs, and you have a Supercoach dream on your hands.</p>



<p>He’s a great stabiliser of an innings that can explode in a hurry.</p>



<p>He scored 232 runs at an average of 23.2 with a strike-rate of 128.88 last season.</p>



<p>He bowled 21 overs in the tournament, taking just four wickets with an economy of 8.04.</p>



<p>The bowling strike-rate doesn’t overly bother me, as it suggests there’ll hopefully be more to come this season, leading to an uptick in scoring with the ball.</p>



<p><strong>Verdict: </strong>Monitor final team, likely buy</p>



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<p><strong>Tim David // BAT // SC BBL14 Ave: 46.9 // $123,600</strong></p>



<p>David is particularly hard to catch as there are weeks where he’ll face three balls in an unbeaten innings (for 18*), or he could face four overs and hit a half-century.</p>



<p>He bowled a few overs last season, but they should be considered a bonus rather than an expectation.</p>



<p>He scored 254 runs at an average of 42.33 with a strike-rate of 177.62 last season.</p>



<p>Despite the strong numbers, he still only averaged 46.9 Supercoach points.</p>



<p>Certainly tempting with his upside and class, but there are probably better options at better prices in my view.</p>



<p><strong>Verdict: </strong>Avoid</p>



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<p><strong>Rishad Hossain // BAT-BWL // SC BBL14 Ave: &#8211; // $117,500</strong></p>



<p>The 23-year-old Bangladeshi is an exciting prospect for this year’s tournament.</p>



<p>In 52 career T20 internationals, he’s taken 64 wickets at an exceptional strike-rate of 16 and an economy of 8.11.</p>



<p>In two recent T20Is against West Indies, he took three wickets, and in a three-game ODI series, he took 12 wickets, including a 6/35!</p>



<p>To cap it off, he had scores of 39* and 26.</p>



<p><strong>Verdict: </strong>Monitor tournament lead in and final team list. Possible buy.</p>



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<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Cheapies</strong></h3>



<p><strong>Wade $94k / Weatherald $85k / McDermott $79k</strong></p>



<p>Here’s what could separate the early stages of Supercoach.</p>



<p>I suspect most Supercoaches will start with one of Wade, McDermott, or Weatherald for the first three rounds, who all have the potential to explode or not crack double figures.</p>



<p>The wicket-keeping duties make Wade the safest option and probably the most sensible pick.</p>



<p>With just nine rounds to make moves, getting cheapies right early on and getting that combination of cash generation and points combined is vital to success.</p>



<p>One of these three is likely to explode, but who?</p>



<p>All have been studs of the past with poor performances in recent years, namely Weatherald and McDermott.</p>



<p>Realistically, it’s a bit of a coin toss, with the white ball forming the best indicator of who to start.</p>



<p><strong>Verdict: </strong>Buy one, avoid two. Is it simply picking the most in-form player leading into week one?</p>



<p><strong>Hobart Hurricanes Predicted XI – Analysis via Maxy Bryden</strong></p>



<figure class="wp-block-table"><table><tbody><tr><td></td><td><strong>Starting</strong>&nbsp;<strong>XI</strong></td></tr><tr><td><strong>1</strong></td><td>Mitch Owen // BAT-BWL // SC BBL14 Ave: 73.1 // $192,800</td></tr><tr><td><strong>2</strong></td><td>Matt Wade // WKP-BAT // SC BBL14 Ave: 36.0 // $94,900</td></tr><tr><td><strong>3</strong></td><td>Jake Weatherald // BAT // SC BBL14 Ave: 22.0 // $85,000</td></tr><tr><td><strong>4</strong></td><td>Ben McDermott // WKP-BAT // SC BBL14 Ave: 30.1 // $79,500</td></tr><tr><td><strong>5</strong></td><td>Tim David // BAT // SC BBL14 Ave: 46.9 // $123,600</td></tr><tr><td><strong>6</strong></td><td>Nikhil Chaudhary // BAT-BWL // SC BBL14 Ave: 48.1 // $126,900</td></tr><tr><td><strong>7</strong></td><td>Chris Jordan // BWL // SC BBL14 Ave: 40.0 // $105,500</td></tr><tr><td><strong>8</strong></td><td>Nathan Ellis // BWL // SC BBL14 Ave: 58.4 // $153,900</td></tr><tr><td><strong>9</strong></td><td>Rishad Hossain // BAT-BWL // SC BBL14 Ave: &#8211; // $117,500</td></tr><tr><td><strong>10</strong></td><td>Billy Stanlake // BWL // SC BBL14 Ave: 32.0 // $84,400</td></tr><tr><td><strong>11</strong></td><td>Riley Meredith // BWL // SC BBL14 Ave: 49.4 // $130,200</td></tr><tr><td></td><td><strong>Reserves</strong></td></tr><tr><td><strong>12</strong></td><td>Jackson Bird</td></tr><tr><td><strong>13</strong></td><td>Iain Carlisle</td></tr><tr><td><strong>14</strong></td><td>Rehan Ahmed</td></tr><tr><td><strong>15</strong></td><td>Mac Wright</td></tr><tr><td><strong>16</strong></td><td>Beau Webster</td></tr><tr><td><strong>17</strong></td><td>TBC</td></tr><tr><td><strong>18</strong></td><td>TBC</td></tr></tbody></table></figure>



<p>If you could create the perfect T20 side on paper, most of the ingredients would be present in this Hurricanes side. And somehow, through recruitment, they’ve gotten even scarier.</p>



<p>Perhaps the most impressive last season was their ability to finish games with the bat.</p>



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<p>So much has been made in T20 cricket of ‘death bowlers’, but between <strong>David</strong>, <strong>Wade</strong>, <strong>McDermott</strong>, <strong>Chaudhary,</strong> and <strong>Jordan,</strong> they’ve got some of the scariest middle to late order batters in the world, let alone the competition.</p>



<p>Not a lot has changed from a Supercoach perspective, but knowing they’re a great team with a fortress for a home ground means owning them at the right time is good for business.</p>



<p>Starting with the obvious,&nbsp;<strong>Mitch Owen</strong>&nbsp;is going to be frightening not to own.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Since his emergence from cheapie to comp winner last year, he’s debuted for Australia in T20 and ODI cricket and performed well.</p>



<p>Interestingly, he’s bowled a lot more consistently for Australia than he did for Hobart last season.</p>



<p>Should he add that string to his bow this Big Bash season, he could become the best player in Supercoach.</p>



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<p><strong>Jake Weatherald</strong>&nbsp;– if not selected for the Test side – is a new face who could slot straight into the Top 3.&nbsp;</p>



<p>When playing well, he can absolutely take the game away like few can, so even though we don’t advocate for batsmen in this format of Supercoach, he could be an exception.</p>



<p>The two new Internationals are both incredibly intriguing;&nbsp;<strong>Rehan Ahmed</strong>&nbsp;could be one of the biggest talking points all pre-season. But it’s not a sure thing that they both fit into the best XI.</p>



<p><strong>Rishad Hossain</strong>&nbsp;is the new toy that was actively praised last summer by Ricky Ponting for his bowling in the T20 World Cup.&nbsp;</p>



<p>He was signed for BBL14 but withdrew, and starts a bit above cheapie pricing at $117,500.</p>



<p>The Bangladeshi has a T20I strike-rate of 16, which underlines his profile as a wicket-taker.</p>



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<p><strong>Rehan Ahmed</strong>&nbsp;is an intriguing one based on the pedigree – he’s transformed this summer into a genuine allrounder and has batted at 6 for England in T20 Internationals, but is first and foremost another leggie.</p>



<p>He’s even batted at number 3 domestically during the recent Hundred tournament.&nbsp;</p>



<p>His skillset doesn’t naturally fit as well into the Hurricanes XI as what&nbsp;<strong>Hossain’s</strong>&nbsp;does – and Hossain may be a superior spin bowler – which is why I’ve left him out for now, but he could be a premium allrounder if he does get named.</p>



<p>Last year,&nbsp;<strong>Riley Meredith</strong>&nbsp;was the cheaper fast bowler who scored well for Supercoach. And this year, there’s likely a spot to fill between&nbsp;<strong>Billy Stanlake</strong>&nbsp;and likely new recruit&nbsp;<strong>Jackson Bird</strong>.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Neither are a guarantee to play every game or even fulfil their overs allotment given the presence of bowling options in the Top 6, so steer clear.</p>


BBL Supercoach squad preview | Hobart Hurricanes

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