The second game of the BBL season takes place at the mighty SCG, with the Sixers taking on the Scorchers. While the season this year will be one week shorter, we still see the full home and away roster as well as a revamped five match finals format.

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 $20,000 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 $10,000 contest for a $15 entry as well as a $1,000 guarantee on their $2 contest.

The SCG, unlike the Gabba, always has a bit more in it for the bowlers, as evidenced with a median total of 159 and mean run rate of 7.91 (as opposed to 172 and 8.41 at the Gabba). Interestingly, the mean powerplay runs are almost the same – 47 compared to 48 – which indicates that while the SCG might be tougher to bat as overs progress, it’s generally one of the best new ball wickets in the country. 55.26% of chasing teams have won.  

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

The Sixers come into the season with an air of mystery about them. Their top order is pretty good – with Hughes, Vince and Philippe making up the top three. Henriques and Silk are workman like without being exciting, and the lower order bats down to nine with Curran, Abbott and O’Keefe. They have a great mix of stroke players and accumulators, and seem well equipped to deal with whatever comes their way.

The bowling unit is actually also pretty settled. Abbott isn’t a death bowler but seems to get used as one, and his overs pattern this season will be interesting to see. O’Keefe is a wily customer, but can be attacked if the pitch isn’t holding up. Manenti is an ALDI Chris Green but can be used as a second spinner if they really need one. Curran is one of the better bowlers in the competition and should be bowling the majority of his overs through the middle and back end of the innings. Overall – the whole unit is probably a B+ for BBL standards and should be able to hold their own, especially on sticky wickets.

The Scorchers are slightly different in that they look good on paper, but could crumble like a house of cards if a bit of pressure is applied. The problem with the Scorchers in the last few years has been that their bowling was propping up a sub-par batting unit that had serious firepower issues and an overreliance on Ashton Turner. It’s good to see that they’ve addressed part of that with the recruitment of Livingstone – the best t20 batsman playing in the match. Reports out of the Perth camp also indicated that they were planning on signing hard hitting West Indian batsman Nicholas Pooran, who would’ve made this batting lineup one of the best in the competition. The injuries to Behrendorff and Tye forced Voges’ hand, however, and Jordan was recruited to shore up the bowling stocks.   

Perth’s top five is as good as any out there but will be tested when Turner and Marsh leave for international duties. The lower order is quite weak, however. Agar, Jordan and Green don’t fill me with a terrific amount of confidence and the Orange Men will be hoping they don’t have to rely on them for too many. Kelly is an exceptional death bowler and if Jordan can bring his yorker bowling from the international stage into domestic cricket (something he’s struggled with in the past), Perth will have a handy late-innings combo. Ahmed and Agar will be miserly through the middle and Richardson should be used more up front when he can get a bit of movement.

To sum up – both these teams have handy bowling units and should be more comfortable defending targets than a team like the Heat. The Scorchers have more of an explosive top order though, and the key for the Sixers will be to get wickets up front. If Turner and Livingstone are allowed to unleash late; most teams will be in trouble. I would mark this as a coin-flip at the SCG, and the market reflects that.

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 Wednesday's BBL Matchup here

 

Batsmen

Love it – Liam Livingstone ($16,700, Draftstars)

Livingstone is a bonafide gun in this format and is great value. He should be the most expensive player on the slate but is available at an upper-middle price-point instead. I have him down for around 33-35 runs a game at a very decent strike rate. He also averages 0.75 wickets a game in the Vitality Blast if you’re still unsure about whether he’s worth it.

Don’t Love it – Mitch Marsh ($17,700, Draftstars)

If you haven’t caught up yet – Marsh will not be bowling in this clash source, which makes him an expensive pick based on just his batting. To put it in perspective: Turner is projected to score just under two runs less but costs $3k less. An easy swerve here.

Who Knows? – Ashton Turner ($14,700, Draftstars)

I’m not totally sure about Turner’s position in the order but doubt he’ll be in any higher than four. He’s only projected for about 24 runs a match, but as with any statistics, you have to put it into context. The strapping Freo lad has been a failsafe down the order for the Scorchers for a few years now; being icing on the cake when the top-order fires but basically their only hope when they don’t. This means his scoring will take the form of a yo-yo – high one match when he gets more time to bat, but lower when he’s in later. He should definitely be in some builds that revolve around the Scorchers being skittled up top when chasing but could be left out otherwise. 

Bowlers

Love it – Sean Abbott ($16,100, Draftstars)

No two ways about it – Abbott is a wicket taker. Combine that with some resolute lower-order hitting (a dollar for every time you hear the phrase, ‘hits a long ball’ from the commentators, please) and you have a huge winner.

Don’t Love it – Fawad Ahmed ($15,200, Draftstars)

Fawad is one of those weird players who has an average t20 record but always takes wickets whenever I watch him. Regardless, I’ll back my data in over the eye-test any day and confidently say that he’s not a massive wicket taker. A lot of his value comes from his economy rate and that can be rewarded in Draftstars BUT there are a lot of high-value players in this slate and I’m happy to leave him out of the majority of my teams.

Who Knows? – Steve O’Keefe ($15,600, Draftstars)

As I mentioned in the preview, a large factor in how O’Keefe will go will be down to the pitch. He’s extremely experienced and knows how to bowl well in all conditions and periods but was most successful with the new ball last year and I’d imagine that’s where he’ll figure again. If it’s sliding on under lights, then he’s susceptible to being hit. If it’s gripping and turning, then natural variation will come into play and he’ll be exceptionally dangerous. Whilst I don’t think he’ll repeat his numbers from last year (21 wickets from 15 games), the 48 point economy bonus is a real runner and should be kept in mind. Watching the Scorchers top order deal with him will be one of the more intriguing mini-battles of the match.

 

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