Five all-rounders every team should consider in SuperCoach BBL

Stack your SuperCoach BBL team with players who can score with the bat and ball and watch the points roll in. Here are the double threats you need to know.

All-rounders form the backbone of any great SuperCoach BBL team.

Miss out with the bat? You can still score with the ball.

Have a horror bowling day? There’s a chance for redemption with the bat.

Eight of the top nine points-scorers last season (Matt Short, Glenn Maxwell, Jamie Overton, Aaron Hardie, Paul Walter, Beau Webster, Chris Jordan and Daniel Sams) were classed as all-rounders.

Brisbane Heat seamer Xavier Bartlett was the only outlier.

That highlights why stacking your batters with all-rounders has become one of the popular tactics for SuperCoach BBL success.

Here are five all-rounders to put on your radar ahead of BBL14.

Big Englishman Paul Walter achieved cult hero status last summer. Picture: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

1. PAUL WALTER (HEAT) $187,200 BAT-BWL

Tall Paul and his aeroplane took flight in BBL13 after he arrived as a relative unknown to Aussie fans. By the end of the summer, the 201cm Englishman had achieved cult hero status and taken 17 wickets to help Brisbane Heat secure the BBL title. Walter had the sixth highest SuperCoach average (63.4) of anyone who played at least two matches in BBL13, becoming one of the game’s must-haves in his first campaign in teal. After scoring 101 in the opening round, Walter scored below 30 only once and rose to a season-peakof $208k. Keep him on your radar for Brisbane’s round 3 double.

2. DANIEL SAMS (THUNDER) $162,800 BAT-BWL

A long-time SuperCoach star, Sams had an average tournament by his lofty standards in BBL13, taking five of his 12 wickets in one game and seven in the other eight matches. After scoring 200 and 191 runs in BBL10 and 11, Sams has totalled 201 runs in the past two summers for the Thunder. All you really need to know, though, is that despite being down on his usual output, Sams still finished ninth for total points in SuperCoach BBL last season and 12th on the list of highest averages for BBL13. His points ceiling is huge and his role as a death bowler, No.6 or No.7 batter and fielding in the outfield means Sams is always in the hunt for points. A must-have on Thunder doubles but he can score well in any round.

Aaron Hardie has been one of the BBL’s dominant batters in the past two seasons. Picture: James Worsfold/Getty Images

3. AARON HARDIE (SCORCHERS) $177,800 BAT-BWL

The 25-year-old has been one of the BBL’s most prolific batters in the past two seasons, compiling 794 runs since the start of BBL12 for the Scorchers. Hardie has averaged 57.5 and 60.2 points in the past two years despite being under-utilised with the ball. He bowled 44 overs in BBL10 but has since only been called on for 36.1 overs across the three seasons since. If that number increases, Hardie has the potential to be the No.1 scoring player in SuperCoach with a prime role as a No.3 batter who bowls. Could injuries to Cooper Connolly and Ashton Agar help his cause? He could go ballistic in the Scorchers’ round 2 double.

Can Marcus Stoinis recapture his best form for the Stars? Picture: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

4. MARCUS STOINIS (STARS) $84,200 BAT-BWL

It feels like a lifetime ago that the burly Aussie all-rounder plundered 705 runs in one BBL tournament, including a then-record 147 not out. Stoinis’s past three campaigns have yielded a combined 529 runs and he has not averaged more than 30 since BBL10. SuperCoaches have widely assumed it will only be a matter of time before Stoinis is back dominating the BBL, although his SuperCoach price has not been higher than $137k since round 2 of the 2021-22 season. He bowls regularly for Australia but has rarely been used by the Stars in the past five years – owing in part to injuries. Maybe that will change if he succeeds Glenn Maxwell as captain?

Strikers captain Matt Short averaged 103 SuperCoach points per round last season. Picture: Mark Brake/Getty Images

5. MATT SHORT (STRIKERS) $304,200 BAT-BWL

How much of your SuperCoach budget can you afford to devote to one player? That’s the question most SuperCoaches will ask themselves this pre-season after seeing Short’s sky-high price tag. The Strikers skipper peaked at an insane $337k last summer and scored less than 66 points once. To put that in perspective, only five players who featured in more than one match averaged more than 66 SuperCoach points in BBL13. The Strikers have a double in round 2, so hoping to get Short much cheaper than $300k is likely to be wasted energy. Just pay up and enjoy watching him rack up points.

Originally published as Five all-rounders every team should consider in SuperCoach BBL