It’s the Melbourne Derby and the BBL08 final rematch on Saturday night when the Stars play their first BBL09 game at the MCG against the Renegades.

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 $5,000 contest for a $15 entry as well as a $500 guarantee on their $2 contest.

Based on BBL08 results, the MCG was usually a tough place to post high batting totals. In the last 5 BBL games, the average total per innings is just 140.8 runs. While in the last 10 BBL games at the MCG, it’s ranked dead last for total fantasy points of all BBL venues. Batsman have scored just 187 total points and bowlers total just 171 (4th last). 

 

There’s no BBL08 final hangover for the Melbourne Stars as they’ve kicked off BBL09 with 4 wins out of 5. They did make hard work of the Thunder’s 142 total on Thursday in a 3 wicket victory. So they’ll look to work on their death overs batting against the struggling Renegades. In team news, they have dropped Haris Rauf again and the ‘Gades won’t mind at all! Hilton Cartwright and Sandeep Lamichhane return to the squad. We’d expect Lamichhane to slot back in but Cartwright may struggle to play after Larkin’s innings at Spotless. Picking the cheap bat of Larkin paid off with his 45 ball 65 against the Thunder and he’s still very well priced at $11.4k. The fact that Maxwell opened the bowling on Thursday is a great sign for DFS and the added bonus is he loves batting at the MCG. He smashed 82 off 43 last February against the Sixers and has scored 230 total runs in his last 7 outings here. 

Stoinis continues to anchor the Stars innings with another impressive half-century against the Thunder. He’s still risky without bowling a ball this season but much like Maxwell, he enjoys this pitch. In his last 4 BBL innings at the MCG, he hasn’t been dismissed for under 24 runs. In the bowling department, the spin duo of Zampa/Lamichhane should excel on this pitch, especially against the Renegades weak middle order. Lamichhane has 4 wickets in his last 2 games at the MCG and Zampa holds a 5.79 economy rate in his last 19 overs bowled at the venue. Dale Steyn should be pumped up for his first Stars game at the MCG and Coulter-Nile continues to hit a nice floor with his dual position always a handy option for lineups.

 
 

It’s fair to say, the Renegades are not enjoying BBL09 after 5 disappointing defeats which was compounded after a last over loss to the Sixers at Marvel on Thursday night. They’ve made a few squad changes for this matchup as Gurney and Wildermuth return for the out of form Harris and Joe Mennie. Batting wise, it was good to see Sam Harper find some form with an impressive 45 off 24 balls. Finch was out early for the first time this season but Shaun Marsh steadied the ship with a solid 40. Although, his strike-rate has been under 100 in 2 straight games and it won’t get much easier with the Stars bowling. The middle order again struggled for the Renegades with a real lack of boundaries. However, Dan Christian finally showed something with the bat after 32 not out at the death. While in the bowling department, they took 4 wickets solely from spin. Tom Andrews is a very interesting prospect on the MCG deck and the fact he can be selected as a batsman is a bonus for stacking bowlers. Cam Boyce should also continue his good run of form as he’s taken 3 wickets in his last 2 outings at the MCG. Always hard to look past Kane Richardson with a nice floor and the 2nd best average on the slate. 

 

The Stars are expected to avenge their BBL08 final defeat to the Renegades as they’re comfortably favourites for Saturday night. Overall, they’ve won 10 of 13 against their cross-town rivals and with the Renegades coming off 5 straight losses, the Stars will feature heavily in most lineups

 

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 – Glenn Maxwell ($19,400 Draftstars)

Keeping it simple with Maxi to light up the MCG on Saturday night. Starting with the bat, he’s scored 33 runs in 2 straight meetings with the Renegades and has totalled 230 runs in his last 7 BBL innings at the MCG. With the added bonus of wickets / economy rate scores with his tweakers, the Stars skipper is a great pick in either bat or bowl positions. 

 

Don’t Love It? – Will Sutherland ($10,000 Draftstars)

Always a tempting option at just $10k with his dual position but the scores are just not there at the moment. He’s coming off just 3 points against the Sixers and 19 in his first game of BBL09. With Wildermuth and Gurney likely returning, he’ll probably only get 1-2 overs and he hasn’t shown much with the bat either.

 

Who Knows? – Dan Christian ($16,700 Draftstars)

Christian is still in the unknown territory after a solid 50 Draftstars points against the Sixers on Thursday. He’s still not bowling enough overs (6 overs in 5 games) and he’s currently wicketless in BBL09. His late order hitting was on show with 32 off 17 balls on Thursday. So considering he’s scored 144 runs in his last 4 innings against the Stars, if he does manage to take a wicket or get an economy bonus, he could be a good low ownership pick.

 

Bowlers

 

Love it – Sandeep Lamichhane ($16,300 Draftstars)

The 19 year old has been fairly quiet in the wicket taking stakes this season but this seems like a favourable matchup against the struggling Renegades batting lineup. Lamichhane did take 3 for 11 in his last game at the MCG and he’s always in play for the economy bonus, especially on this wicket with long boundaries.

 

Don’t Love it – Harry Gurney ($14,100 Draftstars)

Gurney is back from England but he’s a pretty easy fade for mine. He’s coming off fantasy scores of 0 and -1 in his last 2 games where he went wicketless against the Strikers/Hurricanes. The MCG isn’t an easy place for bowlers to score either. Gurney has been removed from the squad due to a Hamstring injury.

 

Who Knows? – Nathan Coulter-Nile ($16,600 Draftstars)

Considering the general low scoring fantasy games at the MCG, Coulter-Nile’s involvement in the Stars lineup could be worth the risk. He’s batting a bit low at the moment but he’s always a candidate to move up the order if the Stars need quick runs. It also helps that Maddinson and Dunk are coming off ducks. While bowling wise, he’s comfortably receiving 4 overs per game at a decent economy rate. 

 

 

 

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