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More Double Header action in the Big Bash League on Saturday with the Hobart Hurricanes (3-4) travelling to Sydney to take on the Thunder (3-4-1) at Spotless Stadium. Both sides are currently in a log jam on the BBL09 standings along with the Strikers and the Scorchers. Essentially whoever loses this game will fall to 7th on the table.

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. A Double Header contest is also available with the "Player Swap" feature enabled. Moneyball are offering a $3,000 contest for a $15 entry as well as a $500 guarantee on their $2 contest.

This is the Thunder’s first clash with the Hurricanes for the season who they remain unaffected by the upcoming Australian One-Day team in India. Liam Bowe and Liam Hatcher are included in the 13 with one of these two likely to be included for Chris Green (not named in the final 13). For the Hurricanes, Jake Doran and recently recalled fast bowler Jake Reed have been included into the 13 for Mac Wright and David Moody.

It is hard to judge the ground characteristics for Spotless this season after the last match was rain affected. You can rely on the match between the Stars and the Thunder back on the 2nd of January where the Stars chased down a low target of 142. If you can recall, the Stars fell in a heap in sight of victory, so the potential for run totals over 150 is real. Digging deeper in the DFR’s Data Tools shows fantasy scoring with the Ball outweighs the Bat. This backs up the theory that the Spotless pitch favours the bowling side but we do not have a grip on the conditions yet. The weather in Sydney on Saturday shows wind and showers around in the morning and afternoon but with an evening time slot, this should not have too much of an effect here.

The Thunder after a hot start to the season have lost their past three matches including a last start against the Stars. After news that Chris Green was not available, the Thunder never looked like they were in the game against the Melbourne outfit. They struggled to create pressure in either innings by not lifting the run rate when batting and not taking key wickets in the defending of a low total. They do however will enjoy being at home against a Hurricanes outfit that also struggled against the Heat on Thursday night. 

The Hurricanes have issues with their batting order where the experiment of Simon Milenko at 2 and 3 failing miserably. They tried to hold back Ben McDermott in the order but found himself batting at 6 and already batting in the 9th over. This would not be an issue if D’Arcy Short is still in the side as this will make the top 6 particularly strong. Without two of the best bowlers in Faulkner and Meredith, Scott Boland was very good against the Heat with his 3 wickets and great economy rate. However the rest of the attack, including overseas import Qais Ahmad have failed to create pressure against batting sides. If we were going to attack this game from a fantasy point of view, I would be avoiding Hurricanes bowling stacks to start with. 

The Thunder are heavily favoured by the books after opening as small dogs, bare this in mind when constructing lineups on Saturday.

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

Batsman 

Love it - Callum Ferguson ($17,600 Draftstars)

The second leading run scorer in the tournament will be looking to feast on the inexperienced bowling attack. Ferguson is one of the most reliant fantasy scoring players on the Thunder squad and is priced well on Draftstars. A likely target if the Thunder choose to Bat first on this surface.

Don’t Love It - David Miller ($15,500 Draftstars)

I think the majority of fantasy players have just about given up on Miller after his failures this season. The only significant fantasy score has been a 52 point effort against the hapless Renegades side in Hobart. We just haven’t seen what he is capable of in this tournament as he keeps getting out cheaply. Once his price comes down we could consider him but he is a no from me. 

Who Knows - Caleb Jewell ($12,300 Draftstars)

The reason why we have this category is to put in players like Jewell here. Sometimes he opens, sometimes he bats at 3. Then when he does bat he hits a couple of nice shots, looking good at the crease. Then he gets out. This year’s fantasy scores for Jewell in order are: 4, 25, 10, 26, 43, 35 and 5. So the potential to go massive is there, just don’t know when this is going to happen. I do like him more at Bellerive than on the road but you just never know with Jewell.

Bowlers

Love It - Daniel Sams ($16,500 Draftstars)

I am certainly not putting Sams here for his batting this year (4 ducks!) but Sams is leading the tournament with 15 wickets so far. In patches, Sams does go for a lot of runs but he does bowl these crucial death overs which have produced plenty of opportunities for wickets. With Green now out of the side, we should see Sams bat at least 6 into the future as well (hopefully for runs!).    

Don’t Love It - Clive Rose ($10,100 Draftstars)

Eyebrows were raised on Thursday when Rose was listed to bat at 7 against the Heat. Whilst he did stride to the wicket at 8 and scored 5 runs. Rose also scored an entertaining 27 off 13 balls against the Heat in Hobart as well. The reason why I am highlighting his batting ability is because he hasn’t got a wicket in the BBL since January 7th 2019. That is a staggering 14 matches without a wicket! 

Who Knows - Qais Ahmad ($16,700 Draftstars)

For Ahmad, this is probably his best surface to bowl on (although he probably wants to bowl in Alice Springs) than the road he gets down in Hobart. On the surface his numbers have been good but hasn’t really put up great fantasy numbers since the opening game in the NT. The Hurricanes really need a match winner in their bowling ranks and Ahmad should be the man to lead.