Probably worthwhile splitting this off from the Australian Domestic Thread.
Starts tomorrow with the 'Sydney Smash', Sixers vs Thunder, and here's my ultra-brief run-down of the teams (squads shamelessly copied and pasted from the BBL website):
Adelaide Strikers
Squad: Wes Agar, Alex Carey, Jonathon Dean, Ben Dunk, Travis Head, Brad Hodge (c), Jon Holland, Chris Jordan (OS), Ben Laughlin, Jake Lehmann, Tim Ludeman, Michael Neser, Kieron Pollard (OS), Kane Richardson, Craig Simmons, Kelvin Smith, Billy Stanlake, Jake Weatherald.
Rookies: Connor Dudley, Nadun Maliduwa
Dan's Best XI: 1. Dunk, 2. Weatherald, 3. Head, 4. Hodge, 5. Lehmann, 6. Pollard, 7. Ludeman, 8. Jordan, 9. Richardson, 10. Holland, 11, Laughlin.
Apparently Holland is injured for the first part of the season, though. Will be interesting to see how Stanlake goes if he stays fit.
Brisbane Heat
Squad: Samuel Badree (OS), Joe Burns, Ben Cutting, Alex Doolan, Andrew Fekete, Luke Feldman, Jason Floros, Sam Heazlett, Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Lalor, Chris Lynn, Brendon McCullum (c, OS), James Peirson, Nathan Reardon, Alex Ross, Mark Steketee, Mitchell Swepson, Jack Wildermuth
Rookies: Cameron Trask, Max Bryant
Dan's Best XI: 1. McCullum, 2. Burns, 3. Lynn, 4. Reardon, 5. Ross, 6. Cutting, 7. Peirson, 8. Swepson, 9. Feldman, 10. Steketee, 11. Badree
This team really, really needs bowling.
Hobart Hurricanes
Squad: George Bailey, James Bazley, Cameron Boyce, Stuart Broad (OS), Dan Christian, Hamish Kingston, Ben McDermott, Dominic Michael, Simon Milenko, Tim Paine (c), Sam Rainbird, Jake Reed, Clive Rose, Kumar Sangakkara (OS), D'Arcy Short, Shaun Tait, Beau Webster, Jonathan Wells
Rookies: ???, ???
Dan's Best XI: 1. Paine, 2. Sangakkara, 3. Webster, 4. Bailey, 5. Wells, 6. Christian, 7. Milenko, 8. Kingston, 9. Broad, 10. Boyce, 11. Tait
Urgh.
Melbourne Renegades
Squad: Tom Beaton, Dwayne Bravo (OS), Tom Cooper, Xavier Doherty, Callum Ferguson, Aaron Finch (c), Marcus Harris, Brad Hogg, Sunil Narine (OS), Peter Nevill, James Pattinson, Nathan Rimmington, Matthew Short, Peter Siddle, Chris Tremain, Matthew Wade, Cameron White, Nick Winter
Rookies: Shubham Bhargave, Xavier Crone
Dan's Best XI: 1. Finch, 2. Harris, 3. White, 4. Ferguson, 5. Cooper, 6. Bravo, 7. Nevill, 8. Rimmington, 9. Pattinson, 10. Hogg, 11. Narine.
(Assuming Wade and Siddle on international duty).
Soild imo. Pretty good bowling depth, good spin options, batting depth isn't awful either.
Melbourne Stars
Squad: Michael Beer, Scott Boland, James Faulkner, Sebastian Gotch, Evan Gulbis, Peter Handscomb, Sam Harper, Jackson Coleman, Ben Hilfenhaus, David Hussey (c), Glenn Maxwell, Kevin Pietersen (OS), Robert Quiney, Marcus Stoinis, Tom Triffitt, Dan Worrall, Luke Wright (OS), Adam Zampa
Rookies: Devlin Malone, ???
Dan's Best XI: 1. Wright, 2. Stoinis, 3. Pietersen, 4. Maxwell, 5. Hussey, 6. Faulkner, 7. Harper, 8. Zampa, 9. Hilfenhaus, 10. Boland, 11. Beer
(Assuming Handscomb on international duty).
Looks pretty handy to me. But that happens every year and they still lose.
Perth Scorchers
Squad: Ashton Agar, Cameron Bancroft, Jason Behrendorff, Ian Bell (OS), Hilton Cartwright, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Mitchell Johnson, Michael Klinger, Mitch Marsh, Shaun Marsh, James Muirhead, Joel Paris, Jhye Richardson, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye, Adam Voges (c), Sam Whiteman, David Willey (OS)
Rookies: ???, ???
Dan's Best XI: 1. Cartwright, 2. Bell, 3. Klinger, 4. Voges, 5. Marsh, 6. Whiteman, 7. Willey, 8. Agar, 9. Coulter-Nile, 10. Johnson, 11. Behrendorff
(Assuming Marsh on international duty).
Joel Paris is out injured, which is disappointing. Doubtless they'll force Agar into a middle order role, pick Bancroft over Whiteman, and leave Cartwright out entirely.
Sydney Sixers
Squad: Sean Abbott, Sam Billings (OS), Jackson Bird, Doug Bollinger, Johan Botha, Ryan Carters, Ben Dwarshuis, Brad Haddin, Josh Hazlewood, Moises Henriques (c), Daniel Hughes, Nathan Lyon, Nic Maddinson, Joe Mennie, Stephen O'Keefe, Jason Roy (OS), Jordan Silk, Mitchell Starc
Rookies: Henry Thornton, Marty Jeffrey
Dan's Best XI: 1. Roy, 2. Haddin, 3. Hughes, 4. Henriques, 5. Billings, 6. Carters, 7. Botha, 8. Abbott, 9. O'Keefe, 10. Mennie, 11. Bollinger
(Assuming Bird, Hazlewood, Lyon, Maddinson, Starc on international duty).
No idea what their reserve list looks like, but when you have the entire Test attack on your books for a comp that overlaps with the Tests, seems a little silly. Especially when you don't contract Smith based on availability. A theoretical attack of Starc + Hazlewood + Lyon + O'Keefe + Botha + Henriques would be pretty ridiculous though. Very excited to see Billings, too.
Sydney Thunder
Squad: Fawad Ahmed, Aiden Blizzard, Patrick Cummins, Jake Doran, Ryan Gibson, Chris Green, Chris Hartley, Usman Khawaja, Nathan McAndrew, Alister McDermott, Clint McKay, Eoin Morgan (OS), Arjun Nair, Kurtis Patterson, Ben Rohrer, Andre Russell (OS), Gurinder Sandhu, Shane Watson (c)
Rookies: Jason Sangha, ???
Dan's Best XI: 1. Hartley, 2. Watson, 3. Patterson, 4. Morgan, 5. Russell, 6. Rohrer/Gibson, 7. Nair, 8. Cummins, 9. McKay, 10. Sandhu, 11. Ahmed
(Assuming Khawaja on international duty)
Feels a batsman short, but I'm loving that Alister McDermott is a thing again. Watson out for the first part of the season, Morgan for the later half.
Starts tomorrow with the 'Sydney Smash', Sixers vs Thunder, and here's my ultra-brief run-down of the teams (squads shamelessly copied and pasted from the BBL website):
Adelaide Strikers
Squad: Wes Agar, Alex Carey, Jonathon Dean, Ben Dunk, Travis Head, Brad Hodge (c), Jon Holland, Chris Jordan (OS), Ben Laughlin, Jake Lehmann, Tim Ludeman, Michael Neser, Kieron Pollard (OS), Kane Richardson, Craig Simmons, Kelvin Smith, Billy Stanlake, Jake Weatherald.
Rookies: Connor Dudley, Nadun Maliduwa
Dan's Best XI: 1. Dunk, 2. Weatherald, 3. Head, 4. Hodge, 5. Lehmann, 6. Pollard, 7. Ludeman, 8. Jordan, 9. Richardson, 10. Holland, 11, Laughlin.
Apparently Holland is injured for the first part of the season, though. Will be interesting to see how Stanlake goes if he stays fit.
Brisbane Heat
Squad: Samuel Badree (OS), Joe Burns, Ben Cutting, Alex Doolan, Andrew Fekete, Luke Feldman, Jason Floros, Sam Heazlett, Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Lalor, Chris Lynn, Brendon McCullum (c, OS), James Peirson, Nathan Reardon, Alex Ross, Mark Steketee, Mitchell Swepson, Jack Wildermuth
Rookies: Cameron Trask, Max Bryant
Dan's Best XI: 1. McCullum, 2. Burns, 3. Lynn, 4. Reardon, 5. Ross, 6. Cutting, 7. Peirson, 8. Swepson, 9. Feldman, 10. Steketee, 11. Badree
This team really, really needs bowling.
Hobart Hurricanes
Squad: George Bailey, James Bazley, Cameron Boyce, Stuart Broad (OS), Dan Christian, Hamish Kingston, Ben McDermott, Dominic Michael, Simon Milenko, Tim Paine (c), Sam Rainbird, Jake Reed, Clive Rose, Kumar Sangakkara (OS), D'Arcy Short, Shaun Tait, Beau Webster, Jonathan Wells
Rookies: ???, ???
Dan's Best XI: 1. Paine, 2. Sangakkara, 3. Webster, 4. Bailey, 5. Wells, 6. Christian, 7. Milenko, 8. Kingston, 9. Broad, 10. Boyce, 11. Tait
Urgh.
Melbourne Renegades
Squad: Tom Beaton, Dwayne Bravo (OS), Tom Cooper, Xavier Doherty, Callum Ferguson, Aaron Finch (c), Marcus Harris, Brad Hogg, Sunil Narine (OS), Peter Nevill, James Pattinson, Nathan Rimmington, Matthew Short, Peter Siddle, Chris Tremain, Matthew Wade, Cameron White, Nick Winter
Rookies: Shubham Bhargave, Xavier Crone
Dan's Best XI: 1. Finch, 2. Harris, 3. White, 4. Ferguson, 5. Cooper, 6. Bravo, 7. Nevill, 8. Rimmington, 9. Pattinson, 10. Hogg, 11. Narine.
(Assuming Wade and Siddle on international duty).
Soild imo. Pretty good bowling depth, good spin options, batting depth isn't awful either.
Melbourne Stars
Squad: Michael Beer, Scott Boland, James Faulkner, Sebastian Gotch, Evan Gulbis, Peter Handscomb, Sam Harper, Jackson Coleman, Ben Hilfenhaus, David Hussey (c), Glenn Maxwell, Kevin Pietersen (OS), Robert Quiney, Marcus Stoinis, Tom Triffitt, Dan Worrall, Luke Wright (OS), Adam Zampa
Rookies: Devlin Malone, ???
Dan's Best XI: 1. Wright, 2. Stoinis, 3. Pietersen, 4. Maxwell, 5. Hussey, 6. Faulkner, 7. Harper, 8. Zampa, 9. Hilfenhaus, 10. Boland, 11. Beer
(Assuming Handscomb on international duty).
Looks pretty handy to me. But that happens every year and they still lose.
Perth Scorchers
Squad: Ashton Agar, Cameron Bancroft, Jason Behrendorff, Ian Bell (OS), Hilton Cartwright, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Mitchell Johnson, Michael Klinger, Mitch Marsh, Shaun Marsh, James Muirhead, Joel Paris, Jhye Richardson, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye, Adam Voges (c), Sam Whiteman, David Willey (OS)
Rookies: ???, ???
Dan's Best XI: 1. Cartwright, 2. Bell, 3. Klinger, 4. Voges, 5. Marsh, 6. Whiteman, 7. Willey, 8. Agar, 9. Coulter-Nile, 10. Johnson, 11. Behrendorff
(Assuming Marsh on international duty).
Joel Paris is out injured, which is disappointing. Doubtless they'll force Agar into a middle order role, pick Bancroft over Whiteman, and leave Cartwright out entirely.
Sydney Sixers
Squad: Sean Abbott, Sam Billings (OS), Jackson Bird, Doug Bollinger, Johan Botha, Ryan Carters, Ben Dwarshuis, Brad Haddin, Josh Hazlewood, Moises Henriques (c), Daniel Hughes, Nathan Lyon, Nic Maddinson, Joe Mennie, Stephen O'Keefe, Jason Roy (OS), Jordan Silk, Mitchell Starc
Rookies: Henry Thornton, Marty Jeffrey
Dan's Best XI: 1. Roy, 2. Haddin, 3. Hughes, 4. Henriques, 5. Billings, 6. Carters, 7. Botha, 8. Abbott, 9. O'Keefe, 10. Mennie, 11. Bollinger
(Assuming Bird, Hazlewood, Lyon, Maddinson, Starc on international duty).
No idea what their reserve list looks like, but when you have the entire Test attack on your books for a comp that overlaps with the Tests, seems a little silly. Especially when you don't contract Smith based on availability. A theoretical attack of Starc + Hazlewood + Lyon + O'Keefe + Botha + Henriques would be pretty ridiculous though. Very excited to see Billings, too.
Sydney Thunder
Squad: Fawad Ahmed, Aiden Blizzard, Patrick Cummins, Jake Doran, Ryan Gibson, Chris Green, Chris Hartley, Usman Khawaja, Nathan McAndrew, Alister McDermott, Clint McKay, Eoin Morgan (OS), Arjun Nair, Kurtis Patterson, Ben Rohrer, Andre Russell (OS), Gurinder Sandhu, Shane Watson (c)
Rookies: Jason Sangha, ???
Dan's Best XI: 1. Hartley, 2. Watson, 3. Patterson, 4. Morgan, 5. Russell, 6. Rohrer/Gibson, 7. Nair, 8. Cummins, 9. McKay, 10. Sandhu, 11. Ahmed
(Assuming Khawaja on international duty)
Feels a batsman short, but I'm loving that Alister McDermott is a thing again. Watson out for the first part of the season, Morgan for the later half.
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