The seventh game of the BBL season takes place at Optus Stadium on Saturday night when the Perth Scorchers take on the Melbourne Renegades. 

 

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 $3,000 contest for a $15 entry as well as a $500 guarantee on their $2 contest.

 

Cricket returns to Optus Stadium on Saturday night after the 1st Test match between Australia and New Zealand. In the 8 Big Bash games played at this venue, the team batting first has won 4 of 8 and so has the chasing team. In last year’s clash between the two sides at this venue, the Renegades batted first and made 157. Then, the ‘Gades bowling attack dominated by bowling the home side out for 79. So looking at the Scorchers batting in the first game, they could struggle to post a defendable total if they lose quick wickets again.

 

Perth is expecting a high temperature of 34 on Saturday but it will be much more pleasant at night with a temp of around 22 during the game. It’s expected to be cloudy so the ball could swing around in the early overs of both innings. 

 

We have full team previews for BBL09, so you can read up on any of the Perth Scorchers and Melbourne Renegades players you may not be familiar with prior to building your lineups.

 

The headline of this clash will undoubtedly be the return of Shaun Marsh to his former home ground against the Scorchers. So the crowd reception will be very interesting! Marsh kicked off his BBL09 campaign with a solid 42 off 33 against the Thunder and he’ll be a key factor in the Renegades avoiding an 0-2 start. They were just beaten by the Sydney Thunder in Geelong on Thursday, which continued their poor run of form at the Cattery. Behind their top 3 of Harper, Finch and Marsh, the Renegades can really be exploited in the middle order.

Cooper and Christian aren’t getting any younger and struggled with their strike rates on Thursday. While in the bowling department, Cam Boyce had a shocker with 4 overs for 43 runs and interestingly, Gleeson was handed the pressure of bowling the last over in his first BBL game for the side. But Kane Richardson showed his quality once again with 4 overs for just 18 runs and 14 dot balls.

 

Much like last year, the Scorchers started the season at the SCG with another poor performance. Their batting was pretty awful early on, which wasn’t helped by a tough LBW decision for Livingstone. Turner ran himself out as well and Bancroft continued his poor run form. But the positives saw Mitch Marsh score 32 off 33 to stabilise the innings and Cam Green provided a solid 36 off 32. Green is still well priced on Draftstars for this contest and should give you salary relief for elsewhere. The bowling lineup couldn’t do much to defend 131 as Josh Philippe ran riot. Chris Jordan was the Scorchers most impressive bowler with 2 wickets off 3 overs. Agar had a shocker with 3 overs for 35 and 4 runs with the bat. But his sheer volume in the game of T20 cricket with bat or ball still makes him an attractive fantasy play. 

 

The bookies have the Renegades as just favourites at this stage after two straight wins over the Scorchers. Historically, Perth has owned this head to head with 8 wins in the last 10 meetings and they should be very keen to bounce back after a poor performance in Sydney.

 

This season, our famous FREE Data Tools have returned for BBL09. We have also expanded our tools to both Draftstars and Moneyball (New!) fantasy sites for the tournament.

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

 

Batsmen

 

Love it – Shaun Marsh ($17,900, Draftstars)

Marsh was solid in his first outing for the Renegades, scoring 42 off 33 balls with 5 boundaries/1 six. The game narrative on Saturday night is obviously his return to Optus Stadium for a meeting with his former side. So we should expect a big score from Marsh here on this Perth deck.

 

Don’t Love it – Cameron Bancroft ($14,500, Draftstars)

Poor Cam can’t buy runs at the moment. He was easily stumped in the second over at the SCG in another disappointing performance. He also scored just 1 run against the Renegades in his last innings against them. T20 Cricket isn’t a great place to find batting form so not a fan of Bancroft on this slate.

 

Who Knows? – Liam Livingstone ($16,400, Draftstars)

Fair to say Livingstone didn’t enjoy his first BBL innings with a tough umpiring decision, resulting in -10 for the night. But he does have great T20 potential and we believe he can bounce back, especially in his first game in front of the Scorchers faithful. However, there’s also the chance he gets out early again and he also didn’t get a bowl in Sydney either.

 

Bowlers

 

Love it – Chris Jordan ($16,500, Draftstars)

In a well-beaten side on Wednesday night, Chris Jordan held his head high for the Scorchers with 83 points on Draftstars. With the ball, he took 2 wickets in just 3 overs at a fantastic economy rate of 4.33. In fact, he bowled 8 dot balls out of 18. So he should enjoy a favourable matchup against the Renegades under-strength middle order. There’s also a chance he gets runs with the bat if the Scorchers top-order struggles again.

 

Don’t Love it – Jhye Richardson ($16,800, Draftstars)

After just 2 points against the Sixers, it won’t get much easier against the ‘Gades top order on Saturday. With the new ball, he’ll face former Scorcher Shaun Marsh, the talented Sam Harper and Finchy. So it’s hard to see him taking many wickets there and his economy rate is concerning. In his last 2 BBL games, he’s finished with a 10+ economy and the Renegades top 3 will look to take advantage. So his salary is quite risky at the moment. 

 

Who Knows? – Cameron Boyce ($16,900, Draftstars)

A very tough start to BBL09 for Boyce as he went wicketless against the Thunder on Thursday. Which included an economy rate of 10.75 and 5 boundaries allowed (3 fours/2 sixes). So with the 4th highest bowling salary on the slate, he comes with a lot of risk and salary. However, the reward could be low ownership and he will be facing a Scorchers side that lost 3 wickets to the Sixers spin department on Wednesday.

 

 

 

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