How to use the captaincy and emergency loophole in SuperCoach BBL

It’s tough to take as a SuperCoach when your vice-captain fires and your captain bombs. But there’s a simple enough way to give yourself two cracks at maximum points. Here’s how the captaincy loophole works.

How does the SuperCoach BBL captaincy loophole work?

There’s been no question asked of our experts more than this since the start of BBL09.

There are several ways you can double your chances of nailing your captaincy and earning maximum points each round.

The theory is simple.

Choose someone playing early in the round as your vice-captain. If they score well (especially in game one of a double) put your captaincy on a player who won’t feature in that round.

This can be via a player such as Peter Nevill, who was initially listed in the Sydney Sixers squad but was later replaced by Steve Smith.

You can also achieve the loophole by using a player who has a bye, although there are rounds where every team plays once.

Here’s how to make the captaincy loophole work for you.

Peter Nevill was a popular starting pick as a SuperCoach BBL bench keeper.

VIA NON-PLAYING WICKETKEEPER

Thousands of coaches picked Peter Nevill from the start for this reason, even though he’s not in a squad for BBL09.

In SuperCoach BBL, you choose two wicketkeepers and a non-scoring player is replaced by the lowest scoring auto emergency (see the below example).

This has meant for the early rounds, including two where Sydney Sixers have played twice, coaches have been able to field Nevill and still benefit from Josh Philippe’s score.

The Sixers play in the first game of the round in Round 6, 7, 10 and 13 when you’ll need to consider other options.

Hobart’s Jake Doran is another to consider for this role, although he has been in the matchday squad in BBL09.

If your loophole plays and you’re not on the ball, you have to take their score as captain, which can be disastrous.

STEPS

1. Choose a vice-captain playing early in the round.

2. Put your non-playing wicketkeeper on field.

3. If you want to take your vice-captain’s score, choose your non-playing wicketkeeper as captain.

4. If you aren’t happy with your vice-captain’s score, choose a different player as captain.

5. Regardless of whether you use step two or three, your non-playing keeper will be replaced by your bench keeper as auto emergency.

How to execute a captaincy loophole.

How your bench would look.

VIA A BATSMAN/BOWLER

This can get complicated quickly and is only advisable if you have two wicketkeepers playing and a vice-captain whose score you can’t turn down.

As you are required to choose two bench batsmen and bowlers, you risk sacrificing points unless you manage this loophole correctly.

You need two non-playing batsmen or bowlers to make this work.

One of those who doesn’t feature is placed on field as captain, while the other acts as a non-scoring bench player.

Your captaincy loophole is replaced by the one scoring player on your bench, as DNP is not factored into the lowest-scoring emergency rule.

If you have two players on your bench who score, you get the lowest of both totals.

This can counter the affect of your captaincy loophole by preventing you from securing maximum points from the bench.

In the above example, Wes Agar would be replaced by a Brisbane Heat player to gain Nathan Ellis’ score and double the vice-captain score through the bowlers.

STEPS

1. Hold onto at least one trade (this is important as you can use it to bring in a non-scoring player and execute the loophole via rolling lockout).

2. Trade for a non-scoring player (ideally with a future DGW) to give yourself two non-scoring players in the batsmen or bowlers.

3. Put the captaincy on one of those two non-scoring players.

4. Your lowest-scoring bench player will replace the captaincy loophole on field. Try to make this a player featuring early in the round it should be factored into your loophole plan. It’s often not worth copping a low score from your bench just to double your vice-captain’s total.

Alex Carey can be used as a loophole in two of the next four rounds.

HOW IT COULD LOOK:

Round 4

Melbourne Renegades host Adelaide Strikers in game one, while Hobart takes on Melbourne Stars game two. The Strikers have a double.

Vice-captaincy candidates: Alex Carey, Rashid Khan, Jake Weatherald, Aaron Finch, Kane Richardson, D’Arcy Short, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell.

Captaincy loophole: Any Sixers (bye) — preferably Peter Nevill/Josh Philippe as wicketkeeper. Can be placed on field from first game with Alex Carey on bench.

Round 5

Melbourne Stars and Melbourne Renegades play twice.

Vice-captaincy candidates: Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Dale Steyn, Sandeep Lamichhane, Kane Richardson, Aaron Finch, Shaun Marsh.

Captaincy loophole: Any Strikers (bye) — preferably Alex Carey as wicketkeeper. If you use Carey, you will need Sam Harper, Ben Dunk or Peter Handscomb on bench.

Round 6

Perth Scorchers feature twice.

Vice-captaincy candidates: Liam Livingstone, Chris Jordan, Jhye Richardson.

Captaincy loophole: Any Stars — preferably Ben Dunk/Peter Handscomb as wicketkeeper.

Round 7

Melbourne Stars play twice again, although Steyn will have been replaced by Pat Brown.

Vice-captaincy candidates: Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Sandeep Lamichhane

Captaincy loophole: Any Strikers (bye) — preferably Alex Carey as wicketkeeper.