The new season of the Big Bash League begins on Tuesday and before it does we have just enough time to go through what is an extensive market for the top bowler in the competition, an event which is always competitive.
Peter Siddle was the leading wicket taker in what was a sensational tournament for the former Australia international a year ago. He is one of a number of bowlers who is capable of topping the wicket charts this term.
Recent Winners
2021-22 – Peter Siddle (30)
2020-21 – Jhye Richardson (29)
2019-20 – Daniel Sams (30)
2018-19 – Kane Richardson (24)
2017-18 – Dwayne Bravo & Rashid Khan (18)
2016-17 – Sean Abbott (20)
2015-16 – Clint McKay (18)
2014-15 – John Hastings (16)
2013-14 – Cameron Gannon (18)
2012-13 – Ben Laughlin (14)
The Favourites
Jhye Richardson was the leading wicket taker two seasons ago but was restricted to just two appearances last term as he was being carried around with the Australia squad for The Ashes. He has no international commitments at present unless Australia collect a load of bowling injuries in the lead up to the two Tests over Christmas and New Year. He is around 8/1 to be the top bowler in the competition and that looks a fair price if he stays around.
His teammate Andrew Tye is a joint second favourite at around the 11/1 mark with Sean Abbott and Daniel Sams. Sams had an excellent season three years ago and was excellent for the Trent Rockets in The Hundred but he feels a little on the skinny side to me with his slower ball generally worked out these days. Abbott is another who is a little too close to the Australia radar for my liking but there is no getting away from the credentials of Tye who is a regular wicket taker in this tournament but seems to always find one or two with more wickets than him.
Nathan Ellis is around a 12/1 shot to be the leading wicket taker in the tournament. I believe he is the best death bowler in the competition but the problem is plenty others know it as well and they tend to just get what they can off of him at the back end of an innings these days, a little like teams do to Rashid Khan. Ellis had a brilliant season for Hampshire in the T20 Blast last season but I suspect he’ll be more economical than full of wickets.
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Profile
As with the batsmen, we need to settle the field down a little bit wherever possible otherwise we are betting in a 40 runner field if not a few more so once again I’m going to apply some logical filters which are based on historical things. The obvious place to start is whether to choose a seamer or a spinner. If you look at the list of winners above they are all seamers while only two of the leading nine wicket takers were spinners last season.
Wickets are a lower denominator than runs so each one could be crucial therefore taking bowlers who are likely to be involved in the playoffs could be advantageous. Clearly we would need luck to get the ultimate number of matches but we can effectively take out three teams with at least one extra match let alone a potential three or four.
Betting
This isn’t a market that I want to get too involved in because we don’t really know the team line-ups and bowlers can do down at the drop of a hat especially in competitions like this but there are a couple at big prices who might be worth a go. The first of those is the Sydney Thunder seamer Gurinder Sandhu. He is a bowler who gets injured a lot so we are taking a bit of a chance here but at 50/1 I think it is a chance worth taking. Only eight bowlers took more wickets than Sandhu in this competition last season but Sandhu only played 11 matches, between two and six fewer than six of the eight bowlers ahead of him. He tends to bowl at the key moments for the Thunder and if the likes of Sams and Sangha are tight throughout the tournament someone is going to have to go and if teams think that Sandhu is the man then he might pick up some cheap wickets. Only five bowlers have more wickets than him in the Marsh Cup this season so Sandhu is a regular wicket taker and at 50/1 I’ll pay to see how many of them he takes here.
The other bet I like is for Henry Thornton to be the leading bowler in the tournament. Anyone facing the Adelaide Strikers this season will have to find a way to play out Rashid Khan and the leading bowler from last season in Peter Siddle not to mention Cameron Boyce and others so that means someone is going to have to go the distance. They might think that is Thornton but the might soon find that he isn’t as easy to get away as they might want. Thornton picked up 13 scalps in just seven matches last season and if he had played double that number which is the minimum he should have then he would have been on 26 wickets at the same rate. That would have seen him second on the wicket charts. Thornton already has 10 wickets in five matches in the Marsh Cup so he is in decent nick and at 80/1 he could be a huge price in this market.
Tips
Back G.Sandhu Top Tournament Bowler (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 51.00 with Coral (1/5 1-4)
Back H.Thornton Top Tournament Bowler (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 81.00 with Betfair (1/4 1-4)
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