All but one of the BBL11 games have now been completed, with Friday night’s final between the Perth Scorchers and Sydney Sixers set to decide the champions.
We will have a preview for the big game coming on Thursday afternoon, but in the meantime, we thought we would run you through the Before You Bet BBL11 Team of the Season, brought to you by our guru, Mr. Cricket himself.
BBL11 Team of the Season
1. Ben McDermott (wk)
Obviously, one of the opening positions has to go to the seasons leading run scorer and inarguably the best batsman of the tournament, Ben McDermott. The hard hitting Hurricanes opener became the first person in Big Bash League history to score three career centuries as he knocked up back to back tons midway through the season to go with his century from a few years ago.
McDermott scored 577 runs at a very healthy average of 48.08. His season included two hundreds, three fifties and he his the most sixes of any player in the competition with 29.
2. Matthew Short
The opener and off spinner was the catalyst to the Strikers turn of form late in the season. Leading up to the Challenger Final against the Sixers, Short had posted a run of scores which read 72, 8, 27, 34, 33, 89 and 39. He was also impressive at the start of the season to make for a tally of 493 runs at an average of 34.79.
His bowling was also very handy for the Strikers, taking eight wickets throughout the season at a very tidy economy rate of 7.00.
3. Jason Sangha
Jason Sangha couldn’t break into the Thunder team at the start of the season, but some injuries and the departure of a few English internationals finally gave him his chance and boy did he capitalise. In just 12 innings, he managed to finish fourth on the run scorers list with 445 runs at an average of 49.44, second only to the next man on this list.
Sangha’s first four games this season made his case for selection clear, smashing 39, 47, 56 and 91.
4. Mitch Marsh
Marsh might have broken all of the BBL batting records if he hadn’t have been called up to the Test squad throughout the summer. In his first four games of the season before being called up, Marsh smashed scores of 100, 21, 86 and 42 and came back into the side in January with scores of 59 and 28. He finished 15h on the run scorers tally in just 7 innings with 342 runs at an average of 68.40, the best in the league.
Didn’t bowl as much as we would like throughout his seven games, but there’s no doubt that his batting earns him a spot in the team alone.
5. Glenn Maxwell
It was a tough year for the Stars all round as they were without doubt the most COVID affected team throughout the season. The shining light for them, however, was their skipper Maxwell, who blasted 468 runs at an average of 42.55. His season was highlighted by the scoring the highest ever score in a BBL game as he compiled 154 off just 81 balls in the Stars final game of the regular season.
6. Colin Munro
Our last designated batsman position will go the way of hard hitting Scorcher, Colin Munro. Munro missed a few games through COVID this season but still compiled 389 runs at an average of 48.63 including a hundred back at the start of the season. He continues to add to his already impressive Big Bash League resume, which has seen him score almost 1,000 runs at an average of over 30.
7. Daniel Sams
BBL11 has been the breakout season for premium bowlers finding real form with the bat, and the next three spots in our line-up all likely would have made this team on their bowling performances alone, but their batting has also been outstanding in the lower order.
Sams picked up 15 wickets at an economy rate of 8.49 this season, a solid season with the ball which had him ranked as the 6th highest wicket taker. However, he also added 191 runs including a brilliant 98 with the bat, really taking his batting to the next level.
8. Sean Abbott
Abbott added to his glittering Big Bash League resume throughout the season, picking up another 16 wickets to become the all time leading wicket-taker in BBL history. He also added some valuable runs, averaging over 25 with the bat and playing multiple match-winning innings.
9. Hayden Kerr
Hayden Kerr has been inarguably the most improved and breakout player of the season. He took 24 wickets at an economy rate of just 7.34 and played one of the all time great Big Bash League innings in the Challenger Final, smashing 98 off just 58 balls opening the batting to lead his team to a historic, undermanned victory.
10. Rashid Khan
Khan reminded us why he is the No.1 T20 bowler in the world again this season, taking 20 wickets at a ridiculous economy rate of just 6.34. He had to jet off early to represent Afghanistan so he played just 11 games this season, but still finished in fourth place on the wicket-takers list.
11. Peter Siddle
At 37 years old, Siddle topped the wicket-takers list once again this season, racking up 29 wickets at an economy rate of 8.42. I certainly don’t think it was his most impressive year with the ball, and his stats were definitely helped by bowling himself at the right time of the game. However, he led the Strikers all the way the penultimate game of the season and took more wickets than anyone else. Hard to deny that.
