The 10th edition of BBL has now supplied us with 7 days of cricket and all but the Perth Scorchers have played at least 2 games. There’s been some great displays with bat and ball, some surprises and of course the 3 new rules!
We are going to quickly review each team and then have a short discussion of what we have seen of the new rules; both good and bad.
The Teams:
Melbourne Stars: 1st - 8 Points (2 Boost Points)
The pre-season favourites have started with a bang and are 2 from 2; including winning the Boost point in both fixtures. The star Aussie names of Stoinis, Maxwell and Zampa have all fired in at least one of those games, whilst ‘lesser’ names Cartwright, Coulter-Nile and debutant Hatcher have all made significant contributions.
I think the rest of the league will be thankful that Bairstow dropped out, as the Stars may have ran away with this tournament! However Harris Rauf is rejoining them, and that looks timely with Hussain out for 4-6 weeks with a hamstring injury.
If they can maintain their early consistency then they will surely be a top 2 side.
Hobart Hurricanes: 2nd - 7 Points (1 Boost)
Hobart started fantastically with 2 wins from 2, however they have today comfortably lost to the Strikers and are the only team to have played 3 matches. They are still without Dawid Malan who is in quarantine, although until today their batsman (including D’Arcy Short, Ingram and Handscombe) had performed well, and I’m sure he will be warmly welcomed as the World‘s number 1 T20 batsman. The loss of Archer seemed a big concern for the Hurricanes but Faulkner and Meredith have stood up well; with good support from Boland and Ellis. They will be hoping that they can regain their form from the first two games going, and that today was only a blip.
Sydney Sixers: 3rd - 5 Points (2 Boost)
The Sixers started with a surprise loss to Hobart, where the Hurricanes fought back in both innings. This did mean though that they won the very first Boost point. They then followed up this with a crushing win vs the Renegades; where Josh Phillipe starred with a magnificent 95. Phillipe will be a huge player this year for them, but he is surrounded by other quality batsmen including Silk, Christian, Vince et al. The bowlers also performed brilliantly in the second game with Dwarshuis and O’Keefe helping clear up. Add in Jason Holder and Moises Henriques later in the tournament and the reigning champions will certainly fancy their chances as the tournament progresses!
Adelaide Strikers: 4th - 4 Points (1 Boost)
The Strikers have bizarrely faced the Hurricanes in both of their games and have won 1 and lost 1. In the first game that they lost, their batsman did not fire and Worrall & Briggs saved them from a totally embarrassing loss with a huge last wicket stand. Today was a different story as Peter Siddle tore threw the Hurricanes with a 5fer, and then Weatherald and Carey fired them home. They will be concerned about the early form of Salt, Renshaw and Briggs, who have failed to impact games for them. Rashid Khan has been economical and a threat (as expected of course) and Wes Agar has also impressed; but whether they have enough to challenge for the title is yet to be seen.
Melbourne Renegades: 5th - 4 Points (1 Boost)
The Renegades have had the ultimate mixed bag of a start! In their first match they cruised to victory over Perth Scorchers, with Shaun Marsh impressing with the bat and Lalor & Kane Richardson getting 3 each with the ball. The second match was a horror showing though. The Sixers racked up over 200 against them, before they were skittled for only 60 runs. They will be concerned by the two very contrasting performances; their batting should be their strength but it crumbled against the Sixers, and the bowling attack also looks inconsistent. Hopefully the overseas additions of Tahir and Nabi will strengthen them considerably.
Sydney Thunder: 6th - 3 Points (0 Boost)
The Thunder will have been disappointed with their first game of the Bash. They restricted the impressive Stars for 169-8, with Tanveer Sangha impressing alongside Sams and Green. But with the bat they fell apart after losing Hales and Ferguson, who were going well, and ended up losing quite comfortably. Their second match was a totally different story and saw the most entertaining match so far. They looked down and out vs the Heat chasing 179 to win but then Daniel Sams came to the party with the bat and smashed 65* (supported well by Ross, Holt and Cutting) and carried them to an unbelievable comeback victory; all after missing out on the Boost point.
Bring Milne and Billings in and the Thunder will believed they can start to move up the table and challenge at the right end.
Brisbane Heat: 7th - 1 point (1 Boost)
The Heat are winless, but gained a point from the Boost vs Thunder to ensure they got off the mark after their first two games. Their first match was a poor showing, as they were all out for 125 and then beaten by 6 wickets. Against Thunder they started well, and with Lynn firing and Wildermuth continuing his great form from the Australia A match, they looked like they would cruise to victory. But worryingly it all went wrong; with Laughlin and Kuhnemann particularly expensive with the ball as they lost with 7 balls to spare. The Heat may well be missing Banton, and they will hope that the addition of Joe Denly helps, but it seems many may have been right with predicting them to finish at the bottom of the pile.
Perth Scorchers: 8th - 0 Points
The Scorchers are the only pointless team so far, however they are at a disadvantage having only played the 1 match. That 1 match was not a good showing for Perth as they were battered by the Renegades. They never got going with the bat as their top order crumbled, and other than Turner and Hardie’s resistance, they struggled to 130 all out. Jhye Richardson did well with the ball in reply, but 130 was just nowhere near enough. Fortunately for the Scorchers, their 2 big overseas names are both batsman and still quarantining. We are sure that once Livingstone and Roy are added to their line up they will look a lot stronger and start to move up the table. Tomorrow’s game vs Stars is a very difficult one though, and they may still find themselves bottom of the table this time tomorrow.
The Rules:
Power Surge:
This has been the most successful rule for us so far. It has added an extra tactical dimension to the matches, and has surprisingly not been purely beneficial for the batsman. We’ve seen it used successfully to get struggling teams back into the match, but also seen teams lose momentum after using it and not taking advantage and losing wickets.
Bash Boost:
We were sceptical about the Boost point but so far it has added an extra dimension to some matches, with some teams having chased that extra point early on. Our only concern is that it does appear to punish the teams who fight back and manage a superb victory, like the Thunder managed yesterday. They would miss out on the knockout stages currently despite their amazing win and better run rate due to the Boost. The jury is still out for us on this one, and we don’t think we’ll be able to make a decision on it until the very end of the group stage.
The X Factor:
It took a whole week for this rule to even be used, and then when it was used today, both teams chose to use it! And to be honest neither teams substitution made an effect on the rest of the match. It seems that substitutions in cricket just don’t really make sense, because you’re always going to start with your best XI from the available players; and unlike football it is hard to make a tactical change that will positively effect the game when you can only use it at one point and with all the other stipulations.
We’re sure we will see more teams using it to get an extra batsman or bowler in, or to adjust their bowling options, throughout the tournament. But whether it happens very often or is successful at any point is another question.
We really can’t see this rule catching on, although subs for injured players (and not just concussed) would be an idea we’d like to see used in the future.
Overall, the Big Bash has had a good start, and will be strengthened by the arrival of more (and stronger overseas) players over the coming weeks. We just hope it is not totally overshadowed by the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and holds its own until the Aussie test players return to the tournament.
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Go Well!
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