SuperCoach BBL round 4 trade guide: Which Renegades, Strikers to target
There are three top guns every SuperCoach BBL needs for round 4 — when the Strikers and Renegades play twice. TIM MICHELL names the priority trade targets.
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SuperCoach BBL is all about three men in round 4.
Let’s call them the big three.
Will Sutherland, Jamie Overton and Matt Short are the players every coach should be targeting ahead of a double for the Strikers and Renegades.
Thousands of coaches chose to trade Short in round 3 when he had a break even of 145. Make sure you reverse that this round.
Even when he wasn’t at his best with the bat in round 2, the Strikers captain still scored 115 SuperCoach points.
Sutherland and Overton are two of the premier all-rounders in SuperCoach and worth paying a premium price for.
The time has come to start culling players who have already had their doubles such as Jason Behrendorff, Cooper Connolly and Marcus Stoinis.
With their jobs done, look for a way to turn those players into any of the big three this round and continue your SuperCoach charge in BBL14.
Here are the players you should be targeting ahead of round 4.
MATT SHORT
Short has relied largely on his bowling to maintain a SuperCoach average above 50 so far this season. But, that’s only going to be the case for so long. Ahead of a period where there are several rounds without any team on the double, bringing a premium such as Short into your team is a great move. His batting form is going to turn at some point in BBL14 and you won’t want to miss out on the ride when it does. If you bring Short in for round 4, you can feasibly hold him for the rest of the season due to his huge points ceiling. Even on a single, he’s capable of going very big.
JAMIE OVERTON
I’m biased because he’s been brilliant for my SuperCoach team in the past two seasons. But I genuinely think most cricket fans don’t really just how good Overton is. He makes important middle-order runs at a fast rate, bowls key overs and is a consistent wicket-taker. If you need more reason to consider paying more than $200k to bring him in, Overton also fields in key spots in the outfield and took six catches in nine games last year. The Englishman is one of the top captaincy options for round 4 after scoring 164 in the round 2 double.
WILL SUTHERLAND
Plenty of coaches were guilty of thinking Sutherland’s impact would be limited by a side strain which hampered his preparation for BBL14 – including me. Instead, the Renegades captain started the tournament with scores of 99, 118 and 63, jumping in price by almost 60k to be $191k ahead of round 4. If you started Sutherland – and even held through the Renegades’ round 3 bye – then you’re laughing. He averaged 3.1 overs in the opening three games and already has six wickets (last summer he took seven in nine games in BBL13). Missing out could leave you a long way behind the pack.
TIM SEIFERT
Wicketkeeper has been the trickiest position so far in SuperCoach, unless you started with the Kiwi dasher. Seifert has 120 runs after three innings as a Renegade and is striking at 160. Those stats have led to Seifert scoring at least 53 SuperCoach points in every game so far with a season-high of 92 when he scored 37 not out and took three catches against the Hurricanes. Plenty of teams will be rolling with a wicketkeeper on a single in round 4 and Seifert could be the point-of-difference who gives your team an edge.
TOM ROGERS
The Renegades quick has been one of the best-performed BBL bowlers in the past three seasons – in both SuperCoach and on the wickets tally. After starting BBL14 at less than $120k, Rogers has jumped by more than $30k after scores of 39, 78 and 111 to open BBL14. He boasts seven wickets in three games with an incredible strike rate of 8.5 balls per wicket so far this summer. Don’t sleep on him.
FERGUS O’NEILL
One of the premier domestic red-ball seamers in Australia, O’Neill is still making a name for himself as a T20 bowler. But with games at ENGIE Stadium and Marvel Stadium in round 4, he should get the perfect conditions to exploit. After a poor start to the season in round 1 when he scored 11 points, O’Neill has posted 114 and 80 in the past two matches, taking four wickets. If you can only squeeze one in, target Rogers before O’Neill.
LLOYD POPE
This is one of the great career resurgences. Pope was a replacement player for the Strikers midway through BBL13, taking 13 wickets in six games. This summer he has six scalps in three matches and bar one poor over when Daniel Sams got a hold of him, Pope has been one of the best-performed bowlers in the early rounds of BBL14. He has averaged a wicket every 10 balls since coming into the Strikers side – which averages out at almost five (and 100 points) in a SuperCoach double.
HENRY THORNTON
If you’re in the market for a Strikers quick, look no further than Thornton. He’s more budget-friendly than Rogers and O’Neill, having only jumped in price by $17k heading into round 3. Thornton enjoyed a consistent start to the season, posting scores of 52, 56 and 50 in the first two SuperCoach rounds. Thornton bowls key overs for the Strikers – including the surge – and boasts an amazing career strike rate of an effort 13.4 balls he has bowled in 27 career BBL games.
JACOB BETHELL
The rising star of English cricket has had a mixed start to his BBL career, scoring 30 from 22 balls after against Perth Scorchers after being out cheaply on debut against Hobart. While he’s a handy left-arm spinner, Bethell has yet to be called on by captain Will Sutherland in two games as a Renegade. If you’re trading him in, you’ll need to accept any overs he bowls are a bonus. Bethell is a great price at $100k to allow coaches to chase the big dogs Short, Overton and Sutherland. While his role isn’t ideal, expect him to be a popular round 4 trade-in.
KANE RICHARDSON
The veteran seamer seems to be the paceman Will Sutherland prefers to hold back until later in the innings. Fergus O’Neill does his best work with the new ball and Tom Rogers has shown he can be versatile at either end of an innings. But it has been Richardson, who played 61 times for Australia, that has been often used in the back end of innings so far. Two wickets in three games doesn’t inspire confidence, but a slow start also means he’s still cheap.
Originally published as SuperCoach BBL round 4 trade guide: Which Renegades, Strikers to target
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