BBL|11 - Derp's Megathread + General Discussions

[CerealKiller]

Interested to see how Faridoun does. He's completely unknown in Pakistan too, came through the Lahore Qalandars' talent hunt programme rather than age group and domestic cricket, just like Haris Rauf and Dilbar Hussain. @ddrap14
Also, multiple Pakistan players are rumoured to be signed as replacement players in the BBL after the West Indies series ends, to prepare for the WT20 next year.

 

[ddrap14]

Interested to see how Faridoun does. He's completely unknown in Pakistan too, came through the Lahore Qalandars' talent hunt programme rather than age group and domestic cricket, just like Haris Rauf and Dilbar Hussain. @ddrap14
Also, multiple Pakistan players are rumoured to be signed as replacement players in the BBL after the West Indies series ends, to prepare for the WT20 next year.

Yeah. I'm guessing, though, that we won't see a ton of Faridoun as Joe Clarke and Zahir Khan are on year-long deals, suggesting to me that the All Time Great (we all know it's mr Andre Russell by now) is gonna take his spot.

Now, there's no Superstats, which is hugely disappointing, so I'll have to select them myself.
Josh Philippe (83 (47))
Steve O'Keefe (4/14)
Moises Henriques (76* (38))

Edit: just in from Scott Bailey of AAP

 

[ddrap14]

Very slightly late due to making dinner tonight but here's the teams:

Thunder 1 Alex Hales, 2 Sam Whiteman, 3 Matthew Gilkes, 4, Sam Billings (wk), 5 Alex Ross, 6 Daniel Sams, 7 Ben Cutting, 8 Nathan McAndrew, 9 Chris Green (capt), 10 Gurinder Sandhu, 11 Tanveer Sangha - X-Factors: Jason Sangha, Chris Tremain

Heat 1 Chris Lynn, 2 Max Bryant, 3 Ben Duckett, 4 Sam Heazlett, 5 James Peirson (capt & wk), 6 Jack Wildermuth, 7 James Bazley, 8 Xavier Bartlett, 9 Mujeeb Ur Rahman, 10 Matt Kuhnemann, 11 Liam Guthrie - X-Factors: Cameron Gannon, Tom Cooper

Guthrie making his Heat (and BBL?) debut while Whiteman and Duckett playing for the first time with their teams. Also Sandhu's first Thunder game since BBL|08.

Quiet start. 0/8 for the Heat from two overs

 

[SMMODS]

This is thunder's game today

 

[ddrap14]

Some nice commentator's curse there. Lynn thumps McAndrew back over his head for a impressive boundary the ball after that.

WICKET! Max Bryant was all out of sorts in BBL10 and he's back to the same tricks. An absolute nothing shot and it goes straight in the air to Alex Ross. Well, it ould have been the other ex-Heat Thunder, and that would have been worse 1/13

WICKET! I missed it bc I was still making the kidney bean and corn salad but Lynn's edged to the keeper 2/16

At this point I disappeared to eat my food. Was very good. The Heat have just dealt in singles mainly, possibly wanting to set a foundation to launch later. 2/52 from 9.2

 

[ddrap14]

Now a bit of acceleration from the Heat. 2/26 after six overs, five overs later over 40 more runs have been added. It's been smart running and good cricket awareness; Duckett and Heazlett have hit the gaps, run well and minimized dots (I think only one or two dots have occurred since the 6th). Thunder haven't given up a lot

A HUGE MOMENT OCCURS! Four fielders running into a massive skyball from Heazlett, and Billings drops it after his elbows bounce on the ground.
AND THE NEXT BALL IS IDENTICAL! Although at least Matt Gilkes has the excuse of being a keeper forced to field at fine leg... Heazlett with a double life! Ben Cutting's questioning his life decisions. Ten from the over in the end although I sense my father's blood pressure gained by the same amount.

AND ANOTHER GOES DOWN! This time it's Cutting who drops it, although this one did only reach his leg. He had a chance from a bounce off it but that's always gonna be hard. Heazlett has his third life. Sam Billings is on mic and appears to be joining Cutting in this questioning. This fielding has helped the Heat get away, 19 from the last 2 overs.

Heazlett's fortune continues! Two balls into the power surge, he bottom edges it. Looked closer to being a chop on at first look but still a flukey four. LBW shout from the next ball, clear two noises though. 12 from the first Power Surge over

WICKET! Leave it to the bowler to finally catch a fly ball. And it's Daniel Sams too. He just creates wickets. A productive partnership is ended 3/99. Surge finishes at 3/107, with Duckett ranging in on a scratchy fifty to start.

 

[ddrap14]

WICKET! Wildermuth was sent out to pinch hit and he did hit, but only with the cue end. You can tell he was sent out early solely for the Power Surge. Sandhu makes a pose familiar, but from long ago, to Thunder fans 4/107
WICKET! Duckett checks his swing and it goes straight up. Finally the keeper holds one of these in a BBL game after costly blunders by Pete Nevill yesterday and Billings earlier, 5/110

WICKET! Quite unfortunate that. Jimmy Peirson cuts one hard and sharp but picks out the man. A foot wider and he'd have got probably a boundary 6/111

Bartlett whacks Sandhu into the stands! Big effort from the number eight who has a four and a six now. Five dots too, but...

WICKET! Bazley tries to flat bat Sams. Doesn't go well. Cutting becomes the second Thunder player to drop one and then hold the second chance he gets. 7/124

WICKET! Mujeeb with a traditional tailender shot - thick inside edge carries to Chris Green who takes a nice diving catch. 8/130
But meanwhile at the other end, this is incredible! Bartlett was usually coming in at 11 last year. He's now smoking the Thunder's bowling - the six I mentioned earlier and, given it was his first runs, assumed it was a fluke, but also three very skillful fours and some hard-ran twos. The Heat finish on 8/140. May be a competitive score given the pitch is just doing enough, but it would need good bowling.

 

[ddrap14]

WICKETHOUPGhjOLNTHEPH9YIALM-PJ9LIO;KEDU,PO

IT'S ALEX HALES

 

[ddrap14]

But seriously, what a moment! The best player in last year just checks a drive on one that bounced a little and it goes straight to cover. No mistakes made. The biggest one of all of the Thunder's players down before a run's on the board.

Despite that loss, Mat Gilkes has given them a nice kick start with a couple fours and a six into the square leg dugout. A couple innovative shots from Sam Whiteman too.

WICKET! I finished typing that sentence and Sam Whiteman immediately hit it straight to deep square leg. A dismissal for the ex-Scorcher to another ex-Scorcher in Liam Guthrie, his first wicket too in the BBL 2/28
WICKET! A very slow call by the umpire but for the second time in two days, it's a rookie paceman making a difference! Gilkes is angry but it's a LBW that is probably hitting leg and Guthrie has two in three balls! 3/32 update: hawkeye says it's umpire's call
Mujeeb keeps his over tidy, so after a fast but destructive power play, the score after five is 3/39

 

[ddrap14]

Mujeeb with big interest in having Ross LBW! Was probably high.

And Kuhnemann, after being brutalised to the mid wicket boundary, has an identical shout! Same issue. Bash boost point is claimed easily by the Thunder the next ball. Just three from Bazley's next over though.

Thunder 3/71 after ten overs. One wicket breaks it open, but they're probably favourites at this point

 

[ddrap14]

Another big shout - Bazley on Billings this time. Much further off than the first two though.

Aaand after a couple quiet overs, Ross gets some wide ones from Guthrie. Oh dear. Two boundaries and then a six slapped over point from what was actually a really good bouncer. The Heat really need to break this partnership and - after last year - get Sams quick too.

Ross then nails Kuhnemann for an even more outrageous six to bring up fifty! A couple of pies from Guthrie got him going, and he's now playing outstanding shots against good balls - such as the follow-up sweep. Looks like a matchwinning hand.

Thunder 3/114 after 14.

 

[ddrap14]

Thank goodness the game is won! Jimmy Peirson joins the ranks to miss a high ball. Billings makes it pay by whacking Bazley into the stands.

The world's most meaningless power surge is taken. Billings advances at Mujeeb and whacks him down the ground for four. Nearly throws his wicket away from a bad stumping off his foot, though. A reverse from the final ball levels the scores. Mujeeb tight as usual but not enough.

And a wide decides the game. Better than last time this happened - nobody's lost a ton bc of it.

The Thunder showed a few cracks today - fielding was woeful and the top order collapsed - but they also showed their bowling strength and Billings and Ross stood up when they needed to. The Heat won't be as discouraged as they were last year after their first game - the game was close for 33 overs - but still not the start they wanted. They, like the Thunder, have players coming back soon though in the form of Abell, Neser, Swepson and Steketee.

And now for the three stars:
Alex Ross - 61* (46)
Daniel Sams - 3/22
Gurinder Sandhu - 2/17

See you tomorrow, where the Adelaide Strikers (minus their best two batsmen) square up with the reigning wooden spooners, the Melbourne Renegades!

 

[Bevab]

Quality content mate.

I'm curious as to why there seems to be a sudden surge in the number of T20 Blast 'stars' and unknown Pakistani players in the BBL?

 

[ddrap14]

Quality content mate.

I'm curious as to why there seems to be a sudden surge in the number of T20 Blast 'stars' and unknown Pakistani players in the BBL?

On the first one, for some reason a lot of the top echelon of English T20 players (Livingstone, Roy, Banton, Briggs, Salt) have all opted not to return for this year. So teams have been plugging gaps with them.

On the second one, Haris Rauf was a thing that happened and the Stars seem to think that any Pakistani they sign will do the same (spoiler alert: Faridoun is quite average from what I've seen of him)

 

[NILAYSHAH60]

Why have a proven performer like Ben Dunk have opted out of BBL to participate in the Lanka Premier League? I was quite surprised when I saw him in Sri Lanka.