The 2024 Caribbean Premier League ended on Monday with Renegades recruit Tim Seifert’s St Lucia Kings triumphing in the final over Shai Hope’s Guyana Amazon Warriors.
This is relevant as this comp always offers plenty of BBL insight given the number of BBL-contracted players in action.
Among the list in CPL 2024 were Seifert and Hurricanes recruit Hope, plus imports Sherfane Rutherford (Thunder), Sam Billings (Thunder), Fabian Allen (Strikers), Chris Jordan (Hurricanes) and Akeal Hosein (Sixers), along with Aussies Chris Green (Thunder) and Tim David (Hurricanes).
The most relevant players
Off the top, given the SuperCoach BBL fixture where the Renegades, Scorchers, Stars and Strikers will have early doubles, Seifert and Allen are the most relevant, so let’s analyse their seasons firstly.
Seifert seems to have been recruited by the Gades as an explosive top-order batsman/wicketkeeper, yet he mostly batted middle-order (4 or 5) for Jamaica. In 10 of 12 knocks, he reached double figures, although in only 5 knocks did he achieve a strike rate bonus. In terms of SC points, he averaged 34.75 across 12 games, with 372 points from batting and 45 from fielding.
Strikers draftee Allen will be a new face in the BBL, but he’s a bowling all-rounder who is set to offer late-order power hitting at 8 or 9 and the option to bowl 4 overs with his left-arm orthodox spin. For St Lucia, he batted anywhere from 4 to 10 across 10 games, but mostly 7 or 8, without huge success, making 81 runs at 120 strike rate. The majority of his points came with the ball, taking 9 wickets and grabbing points via dots and economy bonus. He averaged 42.1 SC points, with 260 coming from the ball and 121 with the bat.
Who impressed?
Thunder skipper Chris Green loves the CPL and has done well in the comp for years, so it’s no surprise he topped the SC averages among the BBL contingent with a 57.4 average, helped by regularly batting at 7 to boost his points.
Hurricanes recruit Shai Hope was next best, averaging 53.54 SC points based around finishing in the top 6 CPL run scorers. His role for Barbados was mostly batting at 3, but also taking the gloves. Given Hobart’s line-up and keeping options (Matthew Wade and Ben McDermott), we’re not expecting the same role, so he becomes less attractive.
Chris Jordan and Akeal Hosein both did well in their cameos for Trinbago, averaging 48.8 SC points. They’re known commodities and quality T20 players.
Who didn’t impress?
Sherfane Rutherford has been recruited by the Thunder to bolster their flailing middle order, although he had a difficult tournament and actually withdrew prematurely for personal reasons. He only played 4 games, batting at 4 or 6, and only managed 35 runs of which 34 came in one knock.
Hurricanes blaster Tim David also struggled, only averaged 17.7 SC points but his role is super tough for SuperCoach. For Trinbago, David batted anywhere from 4-7 but was rarely afforded any time to settle in, only facing 73 balls in 6 knocks. He bowled his tweakers in 2 games.
