POSITIONAL ANALYSIS: Deep dive into batting options, strategies
BARGAIN BUYS: Updated, cheapies to target in BBL11

For the sake of Supercoach, I’m classifying allrounders as anyone with BAT/BWL status.

Allrounders are guys we should be looking at strongly when picking our teams as they tend to have good roles in their sides and are more consistent scorers for Supercoach.

Also the fact they are dual position in Supercoach makes them more flexible, especially when trading or looping.

I don’t mind as much paying top dollar for the gun allrounders as they are the most likely to reward that investment.

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Josh Kann ($42k) at basement price will be a popular loophole option and isn’t likely to play any games this season.

Should he play well then he becomes a bonus cheapie to make some extra cash, but he looks a long way down the pecking order at Hurricanes.

Something to keep in mind however is look at who you are looping with Kann if he’s your only non-playing loop option each round.

For example, if Kann is on your bowler bench and Finch on your batsman bench goes big, and the only dual position player (DPP) guy you have to switch down to the bowler bench is a premium like Curran, then the loophole becomes a lot less effective.

Check fixtures as well and make sure they line up with the guys you are looping, especially if looking to use the captaincy loophole with him.

Having multiple ways to score in Supercoach is always good, especially if they fail with the bat they can save their score with the ball and vice versa.

That consistency is why a lot of Supercoaches tend to fill the batsman position with allrounders, especially bowling allrounders like Daniel Sams as opposed to pure batsman who can be more hit or miss.

The two types of allrounders I look at most are one, guys who bowl their three to four overs regularly, even better if they bowl at important times like the powerplay and death overs, as well as batting in the middle order preferably with a good career strike-rate and the possibility of getting elevated in the batting order.

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The other is a good top order batsman who chips in with some overs and can hopefully jag a wicket if batsman look to attack their bowling, which is often the case with part-time bowlers.

Of those who played 10 or more rounds last season, three allrounders finished in the top five for Supercoach averages, with Sams at number one with 65.2 (3rd highest average overall), Glenn Maxwell 62.6 and Dan Christian 59.1. Not far behind them too was D’Arcy Short ($179.6k).

Those guys are popular again, currently ranging from 27% owned to 55% to start this season.

Daniel Sams ($203.7k) is a standout option with arguably the best role of any player.

He regularly bowls four overs at important times like the death overs and bats at six, but he can get elevated at any stage in the second half of the innings in a pinch-hitting role.

But we face a dilemma with him as the Thunder don’t have a DGW until Round 10 and with there being a few $170k+ options with doubles in the opening rounds, do we try and fit in Sams somehow or opt to leave him out at the price in order to target the DGW premium options?

Sams may seem slightly overpriced to start with, but I don’t think we can rely on him dropping much in price.

In the 27 rounds he’s played over the last two seasons, he has been $190k or higher in 20 of those and hasn’t been under $180k since Round 3 in BBL09 when $169.1k after Round 1 being his lowest in that time.

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He has started to reach his potential the last two years, which has translated well in Supercoach with averages of 65.2, 68.5 and 59.1 in his last three seasons and there’s no reason he can’t do that again this year.

Trying to fit him in my starting team is something I’ve struggled with but can we afford to leave him out knowing how well he can score on any given round?

Tom Curran ($201k) and Dan Christian ($184.7k) will be two guys people strongly consider starting with given their Round 1 double and both could be potential captaincy options.

Both are guns in their own right with Curran averaging over 70 in both his seasons so far.

Christian averaged 59.1, 68.7 and 57.0 in three of his past four seasons with a rare poor season in BBL09 averaging 32.6, which probably also was a reflection of the Renegades poor season that year winning only three games.

Christian has played for four different BBL teams but has had a Supercoach friendly role each time.

He was a like-for-like replacement for Curran last season, but Curran and Christian have never played together at the Sixers.

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Being similar style allrounders, will they impact each other’s roles which has seen them as Supercoach guns in the past?

Curran will likely bat lower than Christian meaning less opportunities for late innings runs, and Curran could take overs away from Christian.

Given their price and these unknowns, they come with some risk. Curran should be the least impacted of the two and will still bowl his four overs, including death overs, and I’m happy to pick him.

We’ve seen in the past he can still score well even with no batting points, for example, his 113 against the Renegades in his previous season here.

A full strength Sixers team might mean a lesser role for Christian, but with Abbott missing the opening rounds with Australia ‘A’ duties and Dwarshius under an injury cloud, Christian could provide a solid Round 1 option and can be traded to someone like Glenn Maxwell ($195.5k) afterwards.

Also Christian is 38-years-old and is coming towards the end of his career, so there will be obvious injury risk and rotation risk based on his age, and his performances might start heading on a downward spiral, but that is more speculation than anything.

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Usually at around that age we see a decrease in performances, but Christian still manages to find a way to get it done with both bat and ball, showing just how good of a player he is and has been for a long time.

Glenn Maxwell is simply a must-have for his Round 3 double, it’s just a matter of if you start with him or look to trade him, both viable options.

Currently the third most owned player at 55%, it would seem many don’t want to risk missing a huge score with Maxwell having more 140+ scores in the past two seasons than anyone.

His consistency in Supercoach is elite with averages in his past four seasons of 62.6, 64.6, 60.8 and 67.3. You really can’t go wrong owning him and he also provides a captaincy option on rounds with no team having a double.

Maxwell is currently the 4th ranked allrounder in the world for T20I’s, so the class and ability is certainly there.

As captain he loves to bowl himself which is great for Supercoach as he chips in the occasional wicket and economy rate bonus, but it’s his batting that can rack up the points fast, especially with his career strike rate of 151.

Another that is tough to fit in with other expensive options from Round 1 and I’ve gone against the crowd on this one and am not starting him, but instead I’ll be looking to trade a Sixers player to him in Round 2. That way he also doesn’t clash with my Sixers bowlers for Round 1.

Hopefully against a strong Sixers team, Maxwell can have a quiet first game but that might be more wishful thinking as he averages 61.7 at the SCG.

He averages 64.2 on his home ground of the MCG where he plays the most games, so that just adds to his consistency.

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Marcus Stoinis ($163.2k) is an interesting one and looks fairly under-priced based on what we’ve seen in the past.

What his role exactly is will be intriguing, particularly for SuperCoaches purposes, namely whether or not he bowls.

He hasn’t been bowling in recent seasons due to injury concerns and the Stars not risking him, but he looks to be getting over that now and could be back bowling this BBL tournament.

Whilst he still is a solid Supercoach option, mainly as an opening batsman averaging 52.2 and 64.9 the past two seasons, it’s his unbelievable average in BBL08 of 96.9 when he was regularly bowling and opening the batting that shows just how under-priced he might be and the scoring potential he has.

He had a peak price of $276k in BBL09 and $346k in BBL08 which is obviously significantly higher than his starting price this season.

Whilst it might be tough to reach those heights, there’s definitely potential to rise in price and score well this season.

How many bowling opportunities he might get in a strong Stars team remains to be seen, but hopefully we get some confirmation before Round 1 that he will be bowling.

Combine that with his price and early DGW, there’s a strong chance I’ll be starting him in my team purely based on the scoring potential he has. His highest ever score of 244 in BBL09 along with three scores over 190 in BBL08 shows the amazing ceiling he has.

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The other gun allrounder people are considering is D’Arcy short ($179.6k), he is another that looks under-priced based on past scoring.

Prior to last season he averaged 85.7 and 91.3 showing just how good he is in Supercoach and the potential he has.

He struggled last year, in particular with the bat and yet still averaged a respectable 57.5 thanks to his bowling at times saving his score and thus showing why allrounders are great Supercoach options.

He bowled in every game last season, although varying between one to four overs. His bowling has improved in recent years but just how many overs he gets this season remains to be seen.

The Canes look to have plenty of bowling depth this season and in particular the recent signing of Englishman Jordan Thompson who is an allrounder.

We’ll have to monitor each man’s role in the opening rounds ahead of his Round 6 double, as Thompson gives Hobart six potential bowling options ahead of Short, especially once full strength.

One thing in Short’s favour is he is likely the second spinner behind Sandeep Lamichhane, so there’s a good chance Short still bowls.

Tim David has been working on his bowling too of late but I’d be surprised to see him bowl ahead of Short.

With Scott Boland missing the opening rounds with Aus ‘A’ duties and injury clouds over Joel Paris and Riley Meredith, Short may get a few overs early which could be a mirage of his actual role once full strength. Keep an eye on their round 1 line-up to see how many bowling options they prefer to start with.

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However, bowling isn’t everything with Short. He is a very accomplished T20 batsman especially in Australian conditions.

In his BBL career so far he has a batting average of 40.5 which is elite, although he had a rough time with the bat last season, I do think he can bounce back.

At his home ground of Blundstone Arena he averages an impressive 71.2, often taking advantage of the shorter square boundaries there.

Jack Wildermuth ($155.2k) currently in 11% of teams is a guy I think people should be considering for Round 1 in particular on the double.

Given how many Heat players will be missing, he could have a nice role early especially with the ball.

He might get limited batting opportunities at seven, although with a weak looking predicted Round 1 line-up he might get more of a bat than he usually would, but he should bowl his four overs.

Especially with Mark Steketee and Michael Neser not there, the Heat need a death overs bowler and Wildermuth could fill that role.

He started with a bang last season in his first game scoring a quick-fire 31 runs off 11 balls and taking 3/23 with the ball equating to 151 Supercoach points, so the potential is there with him.

While his batting opportunities dried up after that, his bowling remained steady picking up a wicket every three overs on average at an economy of 7.5 in his remaining games.

With the Heat missing a few players, James Bazley ($96.5k) could be a smokey cheap option to look at if given an elevated role in Round 1 which seems likely, but naturally it comes with some risk as we just don’t know his exact role.

He could sneak up the batting order late in the innings given his hitting ability. He burst onto the BBL scene last season, albeit batting at 7 and 8, he scored 31 not out off 19 balls and 49 not out off 31 balls in his first two games equating to 66 and 73 points in Supercoach.

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He didn’t get much opportunity with bat or ball after that in his remaining games although a 2/17 against the Sixers shows his ability with the ball.

Make sure you have a plan to trade him out too once a few Heat players start returning.

Englishman George Garton ($125k) is an interesting option to start with. He’s more of a bowling allrounder, but he’s certainly handy with the bat if required. With the Strikers depleted batting stocks for the opening rounds, he might get some batting opportunities.

He could bowl some death overs but the likes of Peter Siddle and Wes Agar could be preferred for those to start with, but he should still bowl his four overs.

International bowlers/allrounders in their first BBL carry a bit less risk than their batsman counterpart and if anything the unknown factor could help their bowling early on as batsman here could play cautiously to them or be unsure on how best to play them if they’ve never seen them before.

The potential is there for Garton to score well, but maybe it’s best to see his role first and how he looks in Round 1 before trading him for his Round 2 double.

At only 4% ownership though he’s a big POD and you could get the jump on everyone if he starts well.

He has been playing well in England which earnt him an IPL contract, although his five games in the IPL was his first time playing T20s outside of English conditions and he did struggle which could be slight cause for concern coming to the BBL.

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He took only three wickets at an economy of 9.5 and didn’t get much opportunity with the bat.

Two more worth mentioning and monitoring in Round 1 line-ups are Ben Cutting ($132.2k) and Aaron Hardie ($103.1k).

With no Callum Ferguson and Ollie Davies now injured at Thunder, there’s some possibility Cutting gets elevated to the top order. Albeit unlikely, should this happen he provides some value and could see some early price rises.

He was very handy last year for the Thunder in the middle to lower order, scoring 20 or more runs on nine occasions, usually at a high strike-rate which means strike-rate points too.

A career strike-rate of 149 means if he’s getting to 20+ runs, they come at a fast rate. He has opened the batting on five occasions in the past for the Heat, most notably scoring 81 not out off 30 balls in BBL08.

He was usually the Thunder’s sixth bowling option last season, so he chips in with overs varying between one to four, but he’s not a big wicket-taker, only getting four wickets from his 29 overs last season.

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Two others worth keeping in mind especially when planning future trades are Mitch Marsh ($132.7k) and Ashton Agar ($89.7k).

Both will miss at least the opening two rounds with Aus ‘A’ duties, but that game finishes on the 12^th, with the Scorchers playing on the 14^th, so hopefully they should be back prior to their Round 4 double, possibly even before.

Mitch Marsh in particular will be a great option for Round 4, potentially a captaincy option. He’s under-priced giving his scoring potential.

He has said he wants to bat higher and there’s a good chance he bats at three, a position he has been dominating in recently for Australia in T20s.

He should bowl some overs too provided he stays injury free. He looks to have a great role and is valued at a great price.

Ashton Agar is one of the better T20 bowlers in the world and is still ranked inside the top 20, that hasn’t always translated to scoring well in BBL Supercoach however.

He missed all of BBL10 and only averaged 35.9 from nine games the season prior, hence why he is so cheap this season.

I’m not as sold on him as some people, but at his price he certainly offers a value option with upside for the Round 4 double.

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Given the Scorchers’ lack of batting depth currently, he might also bat higher than he has in the past which would help, but wait and see who they fill their remaining roster spots with.

He’s usually an economical bowler with the ability to jag wickets and is handy with the bat when required, there’s certainly enough upside at his price to consider him from Round 3 onwards.

He could be a handy downgrade option from a Strikers player too in Round 3.

There’s also a possibility of starting him on your bench as an early loophole option with DPP flexibility since the Scorchers play the last game in Round 1 and Round 2.

Positional analysis: Deep dive into allrounders, strategies

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