The Big Bash League 2022-23 season begins on Tuesday and before it does there is just enough time to take a good look at the markets for the leading batter and bowler in the tournament, beginning with the one for the batters.
Some brilliant batters will be on show over the course of this campaign. Ben McDermott was the leading run scorer in the competition last year and he’ll be looking for a repeat in a competition loaded with great batters.
Recent Winners
2021-22 – Ben McDermott (577)
2020-21 – Alex Hales (543)
2019-20 – Marcus Stoinis (705)
2018-19 – D’Arcy Short (637)
2017-18 – D’Arcy Short (572)
2016-17 – Ben Dunk (364)
2015-16 – Chris Lynn (378)
2014-15 – Michael Klinger (326)
2013-14 – Ben Dunk (395)
2012-13 – Shaun Marsh (412)
The Favourites
Ben McDermott wasn’t just the winner of the run scoring a year ago but he went and had a brilliant campaign for the Hampshire Hawks in the T20 Blast and is establishing himself as one of the best white ball batters in Australia. It remains a mystery how he couldn’t force his way into the Australia setup for the T20 World Cup last month. He should go well but it might be that he doesn’t open the batting with Matthew Wade back this season and so I wouldn’t want to be on someone at this sort of price if they are not opening, regardless of the obvious standout qualities that they have.
Josh Philippe is next in the betting at around the 8/1 mark. He is the second highest scorer in the Marsh Cup this season and generally goes well at the top of the order for the Sydney Sixers so he is another who can’t be ruled out, especially when we think back to the T20 World Cup and remember how high scoring the matches in Sydney were. While I would like the fact he is opening, he is a little all or nothing for my liking but if he is on it he is a real danger.
D’Arcy Short is no stranger to top scoring in this competition having done it in both BBL 7 and BBL 8 and it wouldn’t be a big surprise were he to come along and top the run scoring in this competition. He averaged a shade over 35 in the Marsh Cup so he is in decent form and tends to come alive when he puts on the purple of the Hobart Hurricanes. Like McDermott though, we don’t actually know which two will open the batting for the Tasmanian outfit and that would put me off.
It is another Hobart man who is the fourth favourite to top the run charts this season in Matthew Wade. He is an excellent T20 batter who has had his fair amount of success with the bat for the Hurricanes but only two of he, Short and McDermott can open and the man at three might face a lack of overs because the two who do open are sure to do it very well indeed. I guess the fact that Wade can close out an innings might mean he is utilised away from the opening pair and I definitely wouldn’t want to be on him in that case.
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Profile
Eight teams are in this tournament each with six or seven batsmen so the 50 or so runner field needs to be reduced before we can get stuck into a bet. So how can we do that? Well we can use history to apply some filters. These won’t guarantee we find the winner but it is a big help. The obvious thing when we look at the previous winners is we want openers. Every single name on the above list is an opener and five of the top six last season opened for their sides too.
That reduces the field to 16 players, or 24 players if you wanted to include a number three, so from there we can pick accordingly. In an absolute ideal world we would look for players who will be playing for teams who will go deep in the tournament as those extra matches can make such a difference. Home grounds is usually something that I look for as those who bat on smaller grounds should be able to accumulate runs a lot quicker.
Betting
I’ll go with a couple of bets over the course of the season in this market. Matt Short had an excellent season in Adelaide Strikers colours last term and I see no reason why the man who hit the third most amount of runs can’t go a couple better this season. Short is perfectly suited to Australian pitches. He is tall and hits the ball hard and with half of his matches in Adelaide he can quickly pile up the runs. Only eight men have scored more runs than him over the first part of the Marsh Cup with him reaching 50 twice in five matches. He averages 47.50 in that competition so is becoming one of the better white ball batters in the country. At 33/1 he feels overpriced to me.
Nobody has scored more runs in the Marsh Cup than Daniel Hughes and while the Sydney Sixers have Josh Philippe and James Vince who can open, they would be foolish not to employ him in the top three at the very least. Hughes has three tons in five 50 over matches this season and form like that doesn’t grow on trees. For all Sydney are very good in this format, they are never blessed with the longer batting depth known to man so the more aggressive players are all going to need someone to bat around. That man can be Hughes at a big price.
Tips
Back M.Short Top Tournament Batter (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 34.00 with Coral (1/5 1-4)
Back D.Hughes Top Tournament Batter (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 51.00 with William Hill (1/4 1-4)
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