With the Big Bash League being one of the best tournaments in the T20 world and the fact it is all live on Sky Sports at perfectly watchable times a number of outright markets have been priced up. One of those is the Top Tournament Batsman market and I’m going to look at that here.
A number of star names grace this tournament with some of the very best batsmen in the world heading down under for the event. They include the likes of Chris Gayle, Kevin Pietersen, Kumar Sangakkara and Lendl Simmons from overseas while Michael Klinger, Aaron Finch, Chris Lynn and Shane Watson will be home players looking to stand out.
Gayle is arguably the most fearsome batsman ever to play the game and he is the 10/1 favourite to top score in this season’s Big Bash. Whenever he turns up to play he is the favourite but it has to be said he’s had a back injury recently and it wouldn’t be beyond the realms of possibility that injury hampers him in the tournament and that is something to consider if taking him at a skinny looking price.
Kevin Pietersen showed the world what he still has to offer in the game when he went so well in the Ram Slam T20 recently and there is nothing to suggest he can’t emulate that in this tournament. He’s a big player in the competition but his class isn’t in question. He should be right there but he did go home for Christmas last year and in this field missing matches could be key.
I’m a huge Michael Klinger fan and I have been for a few years and he was very nearly my main bet in this market but surely Australia can’t keep ignoring him forever and if he starts the tournament strongly he could end up missing the end of it being on international duty so that has put me off backing him.
Aaron Finch will definitely miss the end of the tournament as he’ll be away on international duty which detracts from some of his value and the same can be said for Shane Watson too.
When picking players to back in this market we should look to those likely to play the entire tournament and preferably those who bat high up the order for their respective franchise.
Genuine cases can be made for Chris Lynn, Lendl Simmons, Luke Wright, Nic Maddinson, Mahela Jayawardene and Tim Ludeman but my main pick is someone who I expect to go incredibly well here.
That is Kumar Sangakkara. Sangakkara comes into this tournament off the back of a very good Bangladesh Premier League where he top scored with 349 runs at just under 40 despite playing three fewer matches than anyone else.
We know Sangakkara is a real class act and he looks like being the mainstay of the Hurricanes batting this season. He can play seam and spin very well and the last time he was in Australia he was breaking all sorts of records in the World Cup so we’ve no form concerns or worries in the conditions and no matter how well the Hurricanes do this season I’m expecting plenty of runs from the Sri Lankan legend.
I can’t leave a market of this size and potential alone without a couple of big priced runners going for me and I’m not going to do that here either.
Marcus Stoinis was one who I looked at but ultimately just passed him over. Callum Ferguson might have seen some of my money but he’s gone down injured on the eve of the tournament. Brad Hodge would have been worth supporting but I hate backing captains in this format of the game as it is frenetic at the best of times. Mike Hussey was only tentatively ruled out purely on age grounds as much as anything.
Brad Haddin is getting no younger but I like the fact he’s retired from international cricket now so we know that he will play the entire season barring injury. He is also set to open for the Sixers this season which is perfect and we’ve seen him play some big innings both domestically and internationally through the years so at 40/1 he looks overpriced.
Haddin is just the sort of player who can get stuck into the powerplays and if he sees the first six overs through he plays spin wonderfully well so he’s well worth supporting throughout this tournament.
Another man who gets stuck into the powerplays is David Willey and he’s quite simply a daft price here. He is set to open for the Perth Scorchers and I think the pace and bounce in the wicket at the WACA will play right into his hands and his fearless approach will have opposing captains running scared very quickly.
Fans of the NatWest T20 Blast will have seen him bludgeon a brilliant century at Hove earlier in the year and while he might not always go big when he does go deep he makes sure he fills his boots and a couple of big knocks coupled with a few cameos could well see Willey right up there with the leading runscorers in the event.
Back K.Sangakkara Top Tournament Batsman (e/w) for a 1.5/10 stake at 15.00 with Bet365 (1/4 1-4)
Back B.Haddin Top Tournament Batsman (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 41.00 with Coral (1/4 1-4)
Back D.Willey Top Tournament Batsman (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 101.00 with Titanbet (1/4 1-4)
Blog cricket YTD: +21.6pts
