The BBL09 cranks up this week with plenty of matches coming up the schedule. Game 37 features the Sydney Thunder (4-4-1) taking on the Melbourne Renegades (0-9) at Manuka Oval in Canberra. This is the first match of a Double Header with the Scorchers and the Stars doing battle in Perth later that evening.

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 $4,000 contest for a $15 entry as well as a $500 guarantee on their $2 contest.

 

Manuka Oval in Canberra has hosted BBL action this season but unfortunately the game between the Thunder and the Strikers was abandoned due to the smoke haze that engulfed the ground before Christmas. The Strikers however did make 161 in their 20 overs. Looking at the scorecard, the Thunder spinners went for 82 runs from just 9 overs (9.11 econ rate), whereas 4 out of the 5 wickets were taken by pace. With little data from previous seasons (BBL09 and BBL08) we cannot find a lean on whether the ground suits a particular strength. The conditions in Canberra look to be OK but a slight chance of Thunderstorms are on the forecast for the evening.

 

The Thunder have brought in three players into the 13 man squad. Jay Lenton, Gurinda Sandhu and Nathan McAndrew are the lucky players that come in for Matthew Gilkes, Liam Hatcher and Chris Tremain make way. Gilkes being omitted is a little bit of a surprise but  Lenton will now take the gloves and will take his chance in the middle order. Either Sandhu (likely) or McAndrew (unlikely) will take the place of Tremain.  

 

The Renegades have made just one change with Andrew Fekete brought back into the squad for Nathan McSweeney. Fekete is an outside chance to make the team but mostly likely the Renegades will go unchanged. 

 

 

The Thunder with a win in this game will leapfrog into 3rd position on the table and will go in as favourites against the winless Renegades. A strong favourite on the markets, the Thunder will rely on their top 4 Batsman with the experience of death bowling from Chris Morris and Daniel Sams. The Renegades do have a good chance to get the W against the Thunder but they need their underperforming batsman to get going. Sam Harper, Marcus Harris and Dan Christian have been terrible with the bat and if any of these Batsman get going then they can put the Thunder under pressure.

 

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

Batsman

 

Love It - Beau Webster ($13,200 Draftstars)

Webster gets the salary bump from last match where he hit 49 runs off 33 balls in Adelaide. His run making ability has actually put him 5th in the BBL with 310 runs. His 85 fantasy point effort along with his average of 79 fantasy points makes him a great play at his salary. Unfortunately, everyone else will also pick Webster in their teams for salary relief. 

 

Don’t Love It - Tom Cooper ($12,400 Draftstars)

Cooper is having a tournament he rather forget as Beau Webster has gone past him in the pecking order. Only playing due to Aaron Finch being in India. His 31 fantasy points last game came from 2 catches and a runout and these stats are not sustainable. Buried down the order, I would rather pay that extra $800 for Webster than having shares in Cooper. GPP dart only. 

 

Who Knows - Callum Ferguson ($17,100 Draftstars)

“Fergy” has lost his way in the last in the previous 4 games by averaging on 17 fantasy points per game. Perfect spot for him to bounce back against the winless Renegades but paying a high price on the risk. He did miss out in Geelong when these two sides met earlier in the tournament. Expect to be much lower owned than the 36% on him last game. 

 

Bowlers

 

Love It - Samit Patel ($13,900 Draftstars)

Ok here me out here, the fantasy production from either side in the last three games have been woeful. Apart from Chris Morris and Cameron Boyce who both scored 50+ fantasy points last game no other bowler has come close to over 30 fantasy points. Patel on the other hand has scored 52 and 68 points in his previous two matches on Draftstars. Morris and Boyce are on the pricey side so we can get  Patel at a discount. If Patel can keep it tight and take wickets he will be handy play. 

 

Don’t Love It - Arjun Nair ($14,300 Draftstars)

Nair has only picked up 1 wicket in his previous 4 matches whilst only picking up the economy bonus only once. Just seems to be struggling in the middle overs of the innings to provide any pressure to batsman. Liam Bowe bowled pretty well 1st up and should get another go against this winless side. This will probably mean a smaller spell of bowling, with Nair failing to bowl 4 overs since the 19th of December. 

 

Who Knows - Gurinder Sandhu ($11,700 Draftstars)

Called up into the Thunder squad for the 2nd time, Sandhu is in line to play his 1st game of the tournament. The Thunder have been struggling to find a 3rd pacer outside of Morris and Sams and Sandhu is 50/50 to get a game here. In BBL08, Sandhu only took 8 wickets at an economy of 8.2 so who knows what Sandhu brings first up.

 

 

 

Always remember to gamble responsibly. When the fun stops, stop. If gambling is having a negative impact on your life, seek support at Gambling Help Online.  18+ only.