Welcome back to another year of SuperCoach BBL, and hasn’t this been the most chaotic off-season in a long time. If I was to give this pre-season a movie title, it would be: “Falling, Drugs and Weak Pullout Games”.
The annual HB season guide magazine is out on Tuesday. Click here to register for a copy
Anyway so let’s talk about the biggest news of the BBL pre-season, Glenn Maxwell has broken his leg and is out of the BBL. What does this mean for SuperCoach? Well this is what the first Devil’s Advocate article for BBL|12 is all about, especially given the Stars have the Round 1 double and there’s a bit of value floating around that side after a dismal BBL|11.
So, Maxwell usually bowls 2-3 overs per game and bats at 3, so that’s a massive amount of game contribution that needs to be filled by others.
First off, this becomes the Marcus Stoinis show. I expect him to bowl crucial death overs as well as open the batting. Basically, Stoin is about to go nuclear.
Secondly, someone is going to replace Maxi at 3 and it’s going to be one of Nick Larkin, Joe Burns or Beau Webster (all $62.5k). One will bat at 3, one will bat at 5 and one will bat at 6.
The exact composition of the Stars middle order is anyone’s guess, but all we know is that Hilton Cartwright ($122k) is going to play a more crucial role than he has in the past. This may not necessarily translate into more SuperCoach points, but he will be a linchpin in that middle order.
Now the bowling, Maxi’s brand of skiddy off-spinners in the power play will be hard to replace, but if the Stars are adamant on this tactic, then Beau Webster ($62.5k) looks to be the guy. This is intriguing as Webster could almost be the identical Maxwell replacement.
If the Stars lineup has Webster in the top 4, I think he’s a must own. What makes things really interesting however, is that Brody Couch ($105k) will replace Maxi in the team. Couch is too good to miss their best XI and so will carve out a role at the death.
So what gives?
Well I think the Stars will favour their new toy Trent Boult ($180k) in the power play, so I can’t see Webster being used in the Maxwell role.
Opening the bowling with two overs of Boult and an over of Couch and Nathan Coulter-Nile makes perfect sense, then allowing Luke Wood and Adam Zampa to tighten it up in the middle overs.
Power surge overs should go to Boult and Wood, their two overseas bowlers who will use change-ups to minimise the damage inflicted.
Then, NCN, Couch and Stoinis could be used to close out the innings. Below is how I see their bowlers being used:
Boult: 4 overs (2 in power play, 1 in surge, 1 in last 5 overs)
Zampa: 4 (middle overs (5-14))
NCN: 3 (1 in power play, 1 in early middle, 1 at death)
Wood: 3-4 (2 in middle, 1 in surge)
Stoinis: 2-3 (1 at death, 1-2 in middle)
Couch: 3 (2 at death, 1 straight after powerplay)
Well, there’s been quite a lot to dissect and understand out of Maxi’s injury, but hopefully this helps you get your head around the situation at the Stars.
Plenty of SuperCoach relevance Round 1 in this team so this is definitely one situation to monitor closely.
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The annual HB season guide magazine is out on Tuesday. Click here to register for a copy
