What should the BBL13 Team of the Tournament really look like?

Who was the BBL Team of the Tournament’s biggest snub? Who is Cricket Today’s Player of the Season?

With the BBL13 regular season finished, the official Team of the Tournament has been selected, with some controversial calls made by the selectors. Read on and listen to the Cricket Today Podcast for a full breakdown, selection and debate over the BBL13 Team of the Tournament.

The coaches have selected the official #BBL13 Team of the Tournament! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/mE0olWfgT0

— KFC Big Bash League (@BBL) January 17, 2024

OFFICIAL BBL13 TEAM OF THE TOURNAMENT

The official ‘best of the BBL’ team tends to create controversy no matter who’s chosen and this year was no different, with plenty of Scorchers bias and questionable bowling choices.

Josh Inglis had a solid season for Perth behind the stumps, but both Josh Phillipe and Ben McDermott made more runs, and hit more boundaries across the tourament.

Even Lance Morris’ selection seems a strange one: the Wild Thing picked up two wickets less than his Scorchers teammate Jason Behrendorff, who also had a better average and economy rate.

Getting the coaches to select the best players of the season remains quite a strange thing to do: it’s not how most other sports operate and the BBL’s coaching ranks could have clearly done a better job at picking the most consistent performers.

Cricket Today BBL13 Team of the Tournament

CRICKET TODAY PODCAST TEAM OF THE TOURNAMENT

Marcus Bazzano and Liam ‘Stats Guy’ McAllion on the Cricket Today Podcast each break down their Team of the Tournament and both have some slightly different choices to the BBL coaches.

“Simply have to get Laurie Evans in this side, multiple 70 scores off 30 balls, amazing return to his career,” says McAllion. With the best strike rate of any player in the competition (190) and the fourth most runs, Evans has had an amazing career resurgence and was the biggest snub out of the official Team of the Tournament.

Ben McDermott is the other inclusion into Cricket Today’s side: he was very unlucky not to make the official team after making the sixth-most runs for the whole BBL.

The Hurricanes wicketkeeper might not be the most consistent player, but McDermott had more runs, a better average and stronger strike rate than every other keeper in the tournament and this underperforming Hobart side could have finished dead last without him.

PLAYER OF THE TOURNAMENT

This is the easiest decision of all time, Matt Short is the Cricket Today Podcast’s choice for Player of the Tournament and the Team of the Tournament skipper.

With only one score below 39, six fifties in nine innings and an average of 72, the classy Strikers batsman (and pride of Ballarat) produced 509 runs in the regular season, as well as a handy four wickets for one of the best BBL season’s of all time.

Short has been picked for Australia’s white ball teams after dominating for Victoria and Adelaide over the past few seasons and is arguably the most in form white ball player in the world, set to dominate the biggest stage.

— CHECK OUT CODE BET’S BBL HUB HERE —

Originally published as What should the BBL13 Team of the Tournament really look like?