Game 19 of the BBL09 is the earlier game of Thursday’s Double Header between the Sydney Thunder and the Melbourne Stars at Spotless Stadium in Sydney. This is the first game at the Thunder’s home ground of the tournament whilst the tour of Australia for the Stars team continues (Moe, Gold Coast, Launceston and now Western Sydney).

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 $10,000 up for grabs in their main contest for a $15 entry, and $1,000 guaranteed for their popular $2 Mini. The Double Header contest is also avaiable at $5 per entry with 3 max entries. Moneyball have put up $5,000 for their $15 contest and $500 for their $2 buy in contest.

The Stars are now overall tournament favourites with the bookmakers, where they found themselves to be in front of the game when thunderstorms and rain shortened the match in Launceston. We can not read into too much from that particular match apart from the number 3 batting position is starting to become an issue for future matches. Nick Larkin was the latest casualty when he was trapped in front for a 1st ball golden against the Hurricanes. From a fantasy point of view, the rain shortened match has put the Stars as the least amount of Fantasy points scored against for the current tournament.

The salaries on Draftstars are becoming tougher to navigate and this is no exception at the Stars. Popular plays in Marcus Stoinis & Glenn Maxwell are north of $19,000 where as their three key bowlers (Dale Steyn, Nathan Coulter-Nile and Haris Rauf) are now over $16,000. The majority of fantasy production comes from these 5 players and picking two from this pool is proving to be a nightmare.

 

We can however look at the trends at Spotless stadium were the Thunder are based. The “Showgrounds” has been a slower deck that has suited the “slower” bowlers. Our Data Tools indicated that Spotless is one of more fantasy friendly venues with the bowlers scoring more points than batters. Only 1 team in BBL08 scored more than 170 runs in total (Brisbane Heat made 186 against the Thunder). A more of a deeper dive into the game logs show that Daniel Sams scored exceptionally well fantasy wise with multiple three wicket hauls. Which completely ruins the narrative I was trying to set!

 
The Thunder were exceptional against the Strikers in Adelaide holding their nerve in the face of a late fury from Rashid Khan. The Thunder were 1/104 in the 14th over before Siddle’s back-handed Panther stopped a very strong partnership between Usman Khawaja and Callum Ferguson. It was interesting that Alex Ross was promoted to 4 instead of Matthew Gilkes. Gilkes did not get a bat in the end against the Strikers and is now becoming very fantasy irrelevant. As for Ross it is quite the opposite. The use of three spinners will continue for the Thunder, thus picking a ceiling game out of Jono Cook, Arjun Nair and Chris Green is a difficult task.
 

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

Batsman

 

Love it - Marcus Stoinis ($20,500 Draftstars)

Of course Stoinis is ridiculously priced for an all-rounder who is no longer bowling. Glenn Maxwell is cheaper (well just) and is more involved in the fantasy game but Stoinis has the ability to go really big. All four innings this tournament he has made starts and really cashed in Moe against the Hurricanes.  Does he have the patience against the Thunder’s spinners? I am backing him in but it does come with a fair bit of risk. 

 

Don’t Love It - Matthew Gilkes ($9,500 Draftstars)

I am putting a line through Gilkes in future contests until we see him make runs or at least get an opportunity to bat. Only stumpings and catches could bring any fantasy production at the moment. He is a pass for now. 

 

Who Knows? - Nick Larkin ($10,700 Draftstars)

First question we have to ask is that is Nick Larkin is going to get another shot at batting 3? If the answer is yes then who knows how Larkin is going to go against a probable three-pronged spin attack from the Thunder. Sure owners from last game will probably be wary of picking Larkin again but with the lack of value on the slate we might just have to pray that Larkin at least gets off the mark.  

 

Bowlers

 

Love It - Adam Zampa ($14,800 Draftstars)

With the “injury” to Sandeep Lamichhane, Zampa has become an appealing play as the main spinner for the Stars. 6 wickets so far and each game Zampa has hit the economy bonuses on each match. With the inclusion of Haris Rauf as another expensive bowling option, Zampa is going to find himself as a highly owned play.    

 

Don’t Love It - Daniel Worrall ($11,600 Draftstars)

Tough to avoid a cheap opening/late innings bowlers but if I am going to stick to my strategy of targeting the spinners then I cannot afford having fast bowlers in my team. If Glenn Maxwell brings himself to bowl overs then this kills Worrall’s ceiling to score fantasy points let alone bowl the maximum 4 overs.  

 

Who Knows? - Jonathan Cook ($14,800 Draftstars)

Cook has bowled first up or is first change for the Thunder and the results have been mixed. 1 for 18 from 4 overs on a spinning deck (SCG) is much better than 2 overs for 26 runs on a road (Adelaide Oval). So we need to factor the conditions on each contest for Cook. But with Marcus Stoinis and Nic Maddinson opening up then we may see Cook become a target for these two.

 

 

 

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