daily fantasy sports articles

The second leg of the BBL08 double header on Saturday sees the ladder-leading Hobart Hurricanes travel to Canberra to take on the Sydney Thunder at Manuka Oval. The Thunder need to record a big win here to jump the Heat after their devastating win against the Stars, while the Hurricanes have top spot all looked up after defeating the Renegades on Thursday night. Last time these two teams played was one of the matches of the season, with the Hurricanes chasing down the Thunder’s 193 with 5 balls to spare thanks to 85 from Matthew Wade and a late cameo from George Bailey.

The Thunder have brought back the big guns for this clash, with Usman Khawaja, Pat Cummins and Kurtis Patterson all returning from Australian duties and Matt Gilkes returning from injury. Arjun Nair, Jono Cook, Baxter Holt and Jason Sangha have all been left out. The Hurricanes retain the same 13 from Thursday night’s game, with James Faulkner given more time to rest his problematic knee.

Manuka Oval in Canberra only hosted the one match last season which saw the Melbourne Renegades successfully defend 189 against the Thunder by nine runs in a high scoring clash. The match featured a massive 20 sixes – the fourth highest tally in a match in the past three seasons of the Big Bash – so those who can take the aerial route will get every opportunity to do so.

In the only game there this season the Thunder made 181 and the Stars could only manage 6-74 off 8 overs in reply before rain forced an early finish. While only a short sample, Manuka Oval is the highest scoring ground used in Big Bash competition with the point distribution strongly leaning towards the batsmen (stats from our BBL Resources Points Against page).

Want to win a free trip to stay at Crown Metropol in Melbourne and play off for a first prize of $50,000? Then the Draftstars “Biggest Bash” contest is for you! With a $2 qualifier running on every BBL contest, here is your chance to party at the VIP Live Final with former Australian fast bowler Brett Lee and compete for a share of $150,000!

Our latest Biggest Bash qualifier interview is with Simon Fitzpatrick aka “Harambe”, the winner of the 2015 Burnie Gift who is now keen to show a clean pair of heels to his DFS opponents at the Live Final!

We have a number of other interviews with qualifying winners this season:

• Jason Knox aka “Knoxinator” won the first qualifier of the season with a solitary $2 lineup!
• Shaun O’Neill aka “THE_BEARD” booked his ticket into the final thanks to one of three lineups he entered while at the pub with his girlfriend!
• No one knows who the “Donkey” is but he will also be at the final after riding Ashton Turner to victory!
• Brent Trannore aka “Brento” came from the clouds thanks to a couple of big blows from Dan Christian to slide into 1^st place and win a trip with the better half to Melbourne for the final!
• Adam Rathjen aka “Milanos1987” is a star on the rise and read the weather to perfection to dance his way to the final!
• “Clangers” aka Andrew Cottman, who resigned from the corporate world to spend more time with his kids and is now making waves in the DFS world!
• “Mattylee” hopped on the ‘Cane Train and rode it all the way to grab his golden ticket to the live final!
• Zac Oldenhof aka “Zjo777” had to win a head to head playoff after tying for first and is now leading a Launceston father/son combo into the big one!
• Stephen Mann aka “Stimpy870” nearly forgot to enter the ODI qualifier but some advice from Shane Warne led him to Yuzvendra Chahal and his six wickets did the rest!
• Joshua David aka “JDJuan” admitted to making -12 last time he picked up a cricket bat but has been much better performed in the fantasy side of the game!

Looking for the best fantasy cricket games to play? There are a number of sites offering a wide range of contests so we have a rundown of the best contests to suit you.

We have been continually improving our Big Bash Cheat Sheets and are proud to unveil our latest offering. Followers of our highly popular NBA cheat sheets will recognise the format and we believe they give you an unrivalled amount of information at a glance. They are an ideal reference to help as you build your lineups in the mad rush after team announcements at the toss.

We are also extremely excited to announce the launch of our BBL Resources section! Not only do we provide cheat sheets for the upcoming three matches, but we have a range of tools such as Points Against, Game Logs and Player Scores to make your Big Bash research even easier! With market leading information on the Big Bash we are proud to add it to our NBA offering as we continue to strive for the best DFS resources in Australia!

BATSMEN

What more can you say about the Hurricanes opening partnership of D’arcy Short ($26,200) and Matthew Wade ($22,600)? Wade was the dominant one with the bat in their win over the Renegades, scoring 115 points from his rapid 58, but while Short only scored 28 runs it was his 2/20 off 4 overs that resulted in a massive 143 fantasy points. Playing both together will take up nearly half of your total salary, but their best is good enough to return value and with a couple of severely underpriced players available you can do it.

Usman Khawaja ($12,000) was devastating last year in this format but hasn’t played this season due to extensive Australian commitments. Assumedly he will be picked to play here and if so is clearly underpriced for both his ability and output from last season. He will be popular at this price but he is very capable of a match-winning score so exposure to him is a must.

Shane Watson ($13,000) has only made two big scores in the whole BBL08 season in what must be said has been a disappointing return, but if he is ever going to make another big score then what better time than now. On the highest scoring ground in the competition, against a Hurricanes bowling attack which allows more points to opposition batsmen than any other, he will get every opportunity at the top of the order. He is easy to play at this price point for that reason.

BOWLERS

Another player returning from a long Australian summer is Pat Cummins ($8,000) and if he takes his place in the team it is hard to avoid playing him at the minimum salary. His bowling is obviously as good as anyone in the country and past BBL seasons have also showcased his hitting power down the order when required. It won’t take much to return value at this price and his upside is extraordinary, especially if he gets a look with the bat in the latter overs.

Qais Ahmad ($14,000) was quite impressive in his first outing for the Hurricanes with a pair of wickets and only some late hitting took away his economy bonus. What was evident was how hard he was to pick up initially with his unique style and that no doubt brought about the downfall of Australian captain Aaron Finch. He is a bit more expensive here but he showed enough on debut to suggest he is going to have a lot of success in BBL action.

Daniel Sams ($14,900) is a genuine all-rounder offered up at a very reasonable price. His form has tapered off to a degree after a blistering start to the season but he has still gone above 65 fantasy points in two of his past four games. He has been inconsistent in recent times but he can score in all four categories and deserves a place in suitable lineups.

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