daily fantasy sports articles

The BBL is back at the Gabba on Thursday night with the 5-6 Brisbane Heat facing the 7-4 Sydney Sixers. The Heat will be desperate to regroup from their embarrassing loss to the Renegades at this venue on Sunday night. Meanwhile, Sydney have now added Steve Smith as they push for a top 2 finish in BBL09.

First of all, along with our famous  FREE Cheat Sheets and Data Tools in our Data Tools section, new for the BBL09 season, Daily Fantasy Rankings presents the Draftstars Lineup Builder! Using our Data Tools and Projections you will be able to quickly build and import BBL teams into Draftstars by using the CSV upload. Access the Builder including tutorials on how the builder works by clicking the banner below.

Draftstars have posted a $15,000 contest for a $15 entry, as well as a $1,500 Mini and even a $200 Single Entry contest for a $10 buy-in. Moneyball are offering a $4,000 contest for a $15 entry as well as a $500 guarantee on their $2 contest.

The Gabba currently ranks 1st among all BBL venues for overall fantasy points scored as it offers a good balance between bat and ball. Interestingly, the Gabba is mainly known as a batsman’s paradise but that hasn’t really been the case in BBL09. The average total innings is just 135 and a side has been bowled out in 3 of 4 games at the venue this season. So it could be a good strategy to use a few of the dual-position bowlers (Curran & Cutting) in some of the batting spots. It’s also looking like a favourable Sixers stack considering the Heat have given up the 3rd most fantasy points in BBL09 and also rank 1st in bowling points allowed (batting collapses). On the flip side, the Sixers are stingy in terms of bowling points allowed (7th) and also ranked 7th in the league for overall fantasy points against them.

Starting with the Heat, their constant batting collapses makes them a highly volatile team and it’s pretty hard to be confident in most of their middle order at times. But their opening partnership of Heazlett and Lynn does look good. The pair batted well on Sunday night before the massive collapse. Heazlett is great value considering his batting position and Lynn does have form against the Sixers, especially after his 94 at the SCG earlier this season. The Heat middle order is where it gets tough. You’d figure the talent of AB de Villiers should see him bounce back from a couple of poor outings and the inclusion of Labuschagne presents an interesting re-shuffle. He’ll be popular at around $14k but it does hurt the fantasy value of Renshaw/Burns in the middle order. Ben Cutting is always a handy player in lineups with his dual position ability and his sheer involvement in the game, which shouldn’t really change on Thursday. Bowling wise, it’s basically a case of predicting who’s going to take wickets, especially between Lalor and Pattinson. But we do like the look of the experienced Laughlin considering he usually bowls in the death overs, which means cheap wickets. Mujeeb looks a bit expensive after not taking a wicket this season and the Sixers have a good batting lineup against spin.

The Sixers will be heading to the Gabba with renewed confidence after beating the Stars and they’ve enjoyed playing the Heat in Queensland with 6 wins on the trot. In the batting department, Philippe and Hughes have been quiet lately but Phillippe in particular is due for a big knock. But with the addition of Steve Smith, their top 6 looks one of the best in the Big Bash. Henriques is coming off an impressive 72 against the Stars, Vince scored 41 not out off just 22 balls and Smith found form in the last 2 ODI’s against India (98 & 131). However, Smith will be an interesting pick at $17,600 considering the number of good batting options on this slate and how he shifts into the T20 form of the game. Another interesting player is Avendano, who continues to get dual position status and does offer salary relief with the potential to score runs in the late overs. Bowling wise, the Sixers have the potential to bowl the Heat out cheaply with a number of wicket-takers. Curran has been their most consistent bowler in terms of wickets and should be a challenging proposition for the Heat. Dwarshuis rarely lets you down with a good floor over his last 6 games and can hit a ceiling of 100 when he takes 2+ wickets. The spin department is where the Sixers are tough to predict. Steve O’Keefe has struggled since returning from injury and Nathan Lyon can be expensive, especially if Chris Lynn gets going.

Despite their last few performances, the Heat go into this matchup as favourites with the bookies. However, the Sixers have won all of the last 6 meetings when they travel to QLD and won’t be backing down with an eye on 2nd spot.

Access our FREE Data Tools for Thursday's BBL Matchup here

Batsmen

Love it – Sam Heazlett ($11,400 Draftstars)

Offers fantastic value with his opening ability in the Heat’s stacked batting lineup and comes at a very cheap price tag. He comes off a nice half-century against the Renegades at this venue and should enjoy more runs in the powerplay against the likes of Bird, Curran and Dwarshuis.

Don’t Love It? – Matt Renshaw ($16,400 Draftstars)

His position continues to become murky with another batting addition to this lineup in Labuschagne on Thursday night. So he could potentially bat at number 6 and a 16.4k price tag is definitely not worth taking on, especially when you can downgrade to a number of better options.

Who Knows? – Marnus Labuschagne ($14,400 Draftstars)

The golden bat of the summer returns to the Big Bash and should bat around number 4 for the Heat. He’s likely going to be highly owned at this price tag, especially considering he does offer some a handy leg-spin option now. However, he doesn’t have much batting history in the BBL, such as 2 ducks in his last 2 innings.

Bowlers

Love it – Tom Curran ($18,500 Draftstars)

We’re looking for wicket-takers against this Heat batting lineup and Curran fits the bill nicely. He’s the Sixers leading wicket-taker this season and sits 3rd in the standings with 17 on the season. Comes off 2 wickets against the Stars and with the Heat’s ability to lose quick wickets, Curran should be a nice play. Especially with a small discount in price now and he offers dual positioning. 

Don’t Love it – Mujeeb Ur Rahman ($15,800 Draftstars)

Tough matchup for Mujeeb as he faces an experienced Sixers middle order of Smith, Vince and Henriques. He’s also yet to take a wicket in his 11.5 overs this season.

Who Knows? – James Pattinson ($16,800 Draftstars)

Patto’s 5 wicket haul and 129 point total against the Strikers has been sandwiched by a couple of disappointing performances (20 and 18.5 pts). He obviously relies heavily on taking wickets and the Sixers should be a tough challenge, especially with Smith in the lineup. His batting has also seemingly taken a turn for the worse lately so he likely won’t offer much bonus runs if the Heat collapse again.