KFC SuperCoach BBL: Sports journalist Jelisa Apps reveals her team for BBL12

Sports journalist Jelisa Apps admits she is willing to burn friends to beat Mike Hussey in KFC SuperCoach BBL. See her team and a roast for a radio colleague.

It’s a Friday night. A balmy night in Sydney. And how do I spend it? Huddled over my computer in the Channel 10 offices a Pyrmont finishing what I can only hope will be my final KFC SuperCoach BBL team.

I suspect every SuperCoach enthusiast is also at the point where their mind is about to explode because we’ve all changed our teams upwards of 50 times. Yesterday I actually cleared the whole thing, had a breakdown, went outside to listen to some birds, touched the grass – and started again from scratch.

The way you start is vital in this competition where double rounds can put you miles ahead or lagging behind.

My first round team is very heavy on the Strikers, Stars and Thunder all with the double round – the Thunder are worth paying especially close attention to with back-to-back doubles. I didn’t see the value of picking any Heat players given they have the bye next round. Normally it would concern me that I’m limiting what I can do when they have a double in round 3 but with the new Trade Boost feature I’m confident I can compensate by then.

So, here’s my team and unless you are reading this the moment I have written it… I’m sure it’s already changed.

“J’s Fine Legs”

WICKETKEEPERS

Matthew Gilkes (Thunder) $97,400 WKP-BAT

Josh Inglis (Scorchers) $87,000 WKP-BAT

I’ve taken a huge risk here. I might be the only person in the world who isn’t starting the year with Josh Philippe. This was a difficult one, but I did it for two reasons. Firstly, I figure every year you need one risky point of difference, so this is mine. But it doesn’t seem like too big of a risk considering the Sixers don’t have a double round until round 5. I have no doubt I’ll have Josh in by then, but for now I went with Matthew Gilkes. Purely because the Thunder have back-to-back double rounds and I saw him as a fairly valuable cheap option. No risk, no reward. On the bench I’ve put Josh Inglis at $87K which I thought was pretty good value. I would have liked to spend some cash on Sam Billings with the aim to swap him in when the Heat have the double round in round 3 and the Thunder have the bye, but I came up just a bit short in the salary cap. I aim to find a way to get him in by round 3.

I am still at work doing my @SuperCoachBBL. It’s a Friday night what is my life. #SuperCoachBBL#cricketpic.twitter.com/tiR7tggWK5

— Jelisa Apps (@JelisaApps) December 9, 2022

BATTERS

Joe Clarke (Stars) $153,800 WKP-BAT

Alex Hales (Thunder) $130,300 BAT

Matt Short (Striker) $197,500 BAT-BWL

Daniel Sams (Thunder) $179,300 BAT-BWL

Rilee Rossouw (Thunder) $105,000 BAT

Daniel Hughes (Sixers) $84,600 BAT

Campbell Kellaway (Stars) $42,000 BAT

The withdrawal of both Mitch Marsh and Glenn Maxwell threw a real curve ball at me for my initial side so first picked I’ve gone with Joe Clarke with the double round at $153.8K – he’ll pick me up some handy points as a wicketkeeper. Alex Hales was a no-brainer. He scored more runs than any player over the past three BBL seasons and was outstanding for England at the T20 World Cup. With the Thunder’s double rounds he is an absolute must pick in any BBL side and undervalued at $130K. Matt Short was another lock – he has a hefty price tag but he delivered with both the bat and the ball last season for 885 points and is likely to be up the order again. In a similar vein, Daniel Sams is also a solid all-rounder and I was also willing to splash some cash for him at $179K.

Alex Hales is a no-brainer in KFC SuperCoach BBL. Picture: Mark Brake/Getty Images

Riley Rossouw rounds out my batters. He is a top-order batter who should pick up a few points over the first two rounds. On my bench I’ve gone with Sixer Daniel Hughes who struggled last year but has the ability to send his $84.6K price tag well and truly up if he can find his form from previous years. I’ve finished off with Campbell Kellaway and I’m going to be brutally honest – he’s my placeholder in the team as I am quickly running out of cash.

I would have liked Faf Du Plessis but he doesn’t play round 1 so I’ll grab him next round when I trade out Joe Clarke, who has the bye.

BOWLERS

Before I get into this I would just like to make one thing clear – I’m was very keen to pick my SEN co-host and all round cracking bloke Steve O’Keefe, but then I saw his price tag of $167,400! I asked him for mates rates at the Sixers training day on Thursday and apparently he couldn’t pull it off, so I’m sorry Stephen, but unfortunately I’m willing to burn friends and co-hosts to beat Mike Hussey. ‘SOK’ was thrilled at his SuperCoach price – safe to say I think he’s taking it into the bosses at Cricket NSW.

Marcus Stoinis (Stars) $83,400 BAT-BWL

Nathan McAndrew (Thunder) $103,800 BWL

Rashid Khan (Striker) $193,600 BWL

Colin de Grandhomme (Striker) $125,000 BAT-BWL

Sean Abbott (Sixers) $205,400 BWL

Will Sutherland (Renegades) $62,500 BAT-BWL

Todd Murphy (Sixers) $69,600 BWL

If you are not picking Marcus Stoinis as a batter or a bowler I would simply leave SuperCoach now. Remember when I said to take one risk and go against the grain? Well, this ain’t it. As somebody who can stun with both bat and ball (sometimes in the one night) he is an absolute must at $83K. Next picked for me is Nathan McAndrew, who is pretty good value again considering the early fixtures. This may sound counterintuitive, but Rashid Khan was actually a hard one for me. He comes at a hefty price tag of $193K and after a few brilliant years in the Big Bash he struggled to get going last season. Having said that, his form in the World Cup was hard to ignore and I think I’d kick myself if I left him out, so I’ve bit the bullet.

Sean Abbott can post big scores even without a double game round. Picture: AAP Image/Dean Lewins

Colin de Grandhomme gets a starting spot at $125K. This might be a bit of a risk if he doesn’t end up batting higher up the order, but he’s a pretty solid all-rounder. And finally, despite not having a double round, I couldn’t go past Sean Abbott, who is my most expensive player at 205.4K. With only 17 per cent of the competition snapping him up he’s also a bit of a point of difference but not too much of a risk.

My expensive taste means my bench has to suffer, but there are still a few cheapies who could end up going up, so I’ve gone with Will Sutherland – he hit his maiden first-class century for Victoria this season. Todd Murphy is my final pick. He’s had an incredible start to the summer, taking four wickets for Australia A in Sri Lanka and bowling Victoria to victory over New South Wales.

I would have liked Trent Boult in my side mainly out of interest to see how he performs in the Big Bash, but frankly I couldn’t justify paying $180K.

And with that is what I can only hope is my final team. I have a loose plan for the weeks ahead, a healthy surplus of $79.8k in the bank and my Friday nights booked out until the end of January perfecting my team.

Go Thunder!

Why I’ll never miss a SuperCoach summer again

– Jelisa Apps

KFC SuperCoaches, we are back baby!

You know how I know it’s cricket season?

It’s not the glorious weather, it’s not the random ODI series while we all wait for the Big Bash and the Tests – it’s because the one thousand group chats that I became apart of during my first stint in KFC SuperCoach BBL have been going off.

Follow Network Ten sports presenter Jelisa Apps on Twitter

Last year was the first time I dipped my toes into the world of fantasy. Similarly to the way I approach all new ventures in life, I has quite literally no idea what I was doing. It seemed like a lot of math and I don’t like mathing. I would say my style was less mathing and far more intuitive and it ended up putting me in a pretty prime position… until it all went south. But more on that later.

If you want to see how the serious players do it, It’s pretty easy to weasel your way into a group chat. Seriously get a twitter account, put a tweet out there about doing KFC SuperCoach – BAM! Suddenly, you’re in 40 group chats full of people that go off all day and night.

SUPERCOACH INTEL: EVERY BBL TEAM’S PREDICTED XI

Network Ten sports presenter Jelisa Apps is back for more KFC SuperCoach

And I have to say, firstly, it’s pretty interesting to see how the serious players do it and the work and effort they put in. Secondly, it’s kind of nice to suddenly have this whole new group of people chatting together who probably would have never met each other in any other circumstances. It actually is quite a community of people that loves to take on new members and also LOVE to help a newbie.

Now, when I say I killed it in the first few weeks of KFC SuperCoach BBL last year, I mean I really nailed it (if you can’t hype yourself up who will). I didn’t subscribed to the theory of avoiding too many premium players. I didn’t look too far ahead, quite simply because I didn’t know what I was doing, so I just stuck to a few basic principles, picked a team like I was George Bailey (except like… mine won) and rolled with it. I set an absolute cracking pace.

The group chats were going wild with praise. It was Isa Guha and myself neck and neck and I was lapping up my new-found KFC SuperCoach fame. I mean I was humbly brushing it off as “beginners luck” but secretly I was really feeling myself. Thought it was Queen.

BRB just quitting my job and abandoning everybody in my life to work on my team.#cricket#SuperCoach#BBL11https://t.co/b9krjiwLYn

— Jelisa Apps (@JelisaApps) December 9, 2021

Then Covid hit.

Wow, didn’t plan on that.

My team last year was HEAVILY stacked with players from the Sixers and it all came dramatically tumbling down. And it was the one thing nobody in KFC SuperCoach could really plan for no matter how good your strategy was – I went from being Marcus Stoinis to getting a quick single where I could.

It makes this year all the more exciting. Covid, at least in the sporting world, is now a distant memory. That variable is finally behind us. Now it’s all about who’s strategy will come out on top, and despite having learnt a LOT in my first year. For me it’s still just “the vibe”.

Now every time I take on something like this I have to find somebody who I desperately want to beat. Last year, it was my childhood hero Warnie. KFC SuperCoach won’t be the same without him and quite frankly either will summer.

I was thrilled to see Mr Cricket himself finally put his money where his nickname is and join the KFC SuperCoach team, officially, as Mr SuperCoach. For me, Mike Hussey and Big Bash go hand in hand. When the concept of the tournament first began in 2011, I was just loosely a “New South Wales” fan but when Mr Cricket joined the Thunder I did too. I LOVED watching Hussey in his 2006 prime. I think we all wept as he made what felt like a premature retirement in 2012. And it was 2015 when the Lime Green finally lifted their only trophy and front and centre was the man himself.

Jelisa wants to take down Mr SuperCoach himself, Mike Hussey Picture: Corey Wright

Will she pick Sixers captain Moises Henriques again? Picture: Phil Hillyard

Makes it hard to have to destroy him. But I will. This time it might be a little harder because from what I’ve read, we seem to have very similar “vibe” strategies.

If you are on the fence about KFC SuperCoach BBL or have absolutely no idea – DO IT!

I roped a girlfriend of mine into it last year who was on maternity leave who had also never played in a fantasy league before. She became addicted. The baby was asleep like an angel, she was up doing KFC SuperCoach like a maniac. It’s for anybody and everybody.

And if you are a newbie this is a really handy guide.

I won’t be revealing all my secrets now… but stay tuned for a look at the side that will destroy Mike Hussey…

Sign up for free and pick your team today at SuperCoach.com.au

Originally published as KFC SuperCoach BBL: Sports journalist Jelisa Apps reveals her team for BBL12