It’s time for a BBL breather after a frantic opening 10 days and the past few slates offer plenty of helpful trends around which players are best to pick and how the winners have got ahead.
The $25,000 Draftstars BBL slates resume when the BBL returns on Sunday as the day-night Ashes Test at Adelaide Oval takes centre stage.
Batsmen vs Bowlers
There were seven 100+ DS scores in the five slates from Friday to Monday, with four coming from batsmen; Alex Ross (BAT $12,500), Josh Philippe (BAT $17,500), Colin Munro (BAT $17,700) and Matthew Wade (BAT $19,500).
In comparison only one came from a bowler in Tanveer Sangha (BOW $14,100), while there were two all-rounders who scored 100+ in D’Arcy Short (BAT|BOW $21,700) and James Bazley (BAT|BOW $12,800).
Given the bulk of Short’s points came via the bat, that tells you batsmen have a massive ceiling in comparison to bowlers. All five players scored big runs with a good strike rate and plenty of sixes.
Munro, who scored a century with the bat, posted the highest DS score with 184.5, followed by Wade (159.5), Bazley (115.0), Ross (114.25), Short (107.25), Philippe (106.0) and Sangha (103).
Sangha reached triple figures taking 2-20 to gain an economy rate bonus but there was also an extremely rare maiden too, providing an additional 15 DS points. That won’t happen often.
Tanveer Sangha reached triple figures with an extremely rare maiden providing an additional 15 DS points. That won’t happen often.
Low Floor
Across the same five slates, 28 batsmen scored 20 or less DS points, in comparison to 20 bowlers. Only five all-rounders (players who batted in the top seven and bowled more two or more overs) scored 20 or less DS points.
That suggests that bowlers are slightly safer in terms of bottoming out. Naturally if a batsman gets out for very few runs, there’s no second chances, whereas a bowler generally gets a few overs to pick up points, even if they’re not going well.
There is the additional risk for both disciplines of points deductions, with batsmen copping a -10 for a duck, while bowlers lose a point for each wide or no ball. However, there was only three ducks across all slates, coming from Stars wicketkeeper-batsman Joe Clarke (BAT $14,700), Strikers all-rounder Rashid Khan (BOW $21,100) and bowler Peter Siddle (BOW $18,300).
If bowlers do bat, they are more likely to get a duck, given their weaker ability with the willow and Rashid and Siddle’s scores of -11 and -12 were the worst across all slates.
But bowlers Gurinder Sandhu, Sean Abbott, Wes Agar and all-rounder Daniel Sams also had negative scores across the slate, while no batsmen did, with Clarke saved by his two catches behind the stumps. Sandhu actually had two negative scores as well, with -3 and -3.
That trend suggests that while more batsmen bottom out, some bowlers can bottom out far lower.
Ownership and Winning Teams
In Monday’s Heat-Renegades’ slate, Brisbane all-rounder Bazley (BAT|BOW $12,800) was the most owned player at 66% and delivered for them with 115.0 points, the bulk coming with the ball. Heat top-order gun Chris Lynn (BAT $19,200) only attracted 31% but was one of the better premium options, scoring 50 DS points.
The $25,000 slate winner Clanger had none of the expensive premiums such as Lynn or Mujeeb Ur Rahman, instead picking a squad with well-spread money led by Bazley. Mackenzie Harvey (BAT $15,800), Sam Heazlett (BAT $15,200), Zahir Khan (BOW $15,300) and Liam Guthrie (BOW $12,600) were good performers with 91, 81, 72 and 67.
With the premiums firing, $20,000 slate winner Stealth82 owned Wade, Short and Philippe while three players only contributed 40 points, showcasing a different successful structure.
In Sunday’s Thunder-Stars’ slate, top-order bat Sam Whiteman (BAT $9,800) was the most popular player but let those coaches down with only 4. Thunder all-rounder Sams (BAT|BOW $17,900) attracted 48% ownership despite his previous negative score but only managed 34.0 DS points. Stars skipper Glenn Maxwell (BAT|BOW $19,100) was the pick of the premiums with a DS score of 80 and was owned by 45%, with no standout premo favourite among Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Alex Hales, Sams, Nathan Coulter-Nile and Adam Zampa.
The $25,000 slate winner Baz23 didn’t own Maxwell but struck gold with mid-pricers Ross (BAT $12,500), Sangha (BOW $14,100) and Qais Ahmad (BOW $10,500) who scored 114.25, 103.0 and 97 DS points respectively. Ross and Sangha were both at 24% ownership. Again, the winner’s money was well spread in the squad.
In Saturday’s Hurricanes-Sixers’ slate, English all-rounder Jordan Thompson (BAT|BOW $8,800) was most owned with 60% but only managed 10 DS points. Philippe (BAT $17,500) was the third most owned (47%) and delivered a DS score of 106. Wade (BAT $19,500) and Short (BAT|BOW) had 29% and 30% ownership for their 100+ DS scores.
With the premiums firing, $20,000 slate winner Stealth82 naturally owned Wade, Short and Philippe. Caleb Jewell (BAT $10,700), owned by 42%, added 65 DS points while Stealth82’s other three players only contributed 40 points, showcasing a different successful structure.
In Saturday’s Scorchers-Strikers’ slate, Perth batsman Kurtis Patterson ($BAT $11,400) had top ownership at 60% but also let down owners with a score of only 20 DS points. Strikers bat Matt Short (BAT $13,800) also lured 60% ownership and delivered 91.75 DS points. Rashid Khan (BOW $21,100) let down the 43% of owners who had him, scoring -11. Top scorer Munro (BAT $17,700) was owned by 34% as he posted 184.5 DS points.
The $15,000 slate winner Stimpy870 owned Munro, along with second top scorer Andrew Tye (BOW $17,200) who attracted 35% ownership. Stimpy870’s point of difference was debutant Thomas Kelly (BAT $8,800) who landed 43.0 DS points at 7% ownership.
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