PAIGE Cardona and Andrew Weaver dust off the crystal ball to give their 10 fearless predictions of SuperCoach BBL.

1. Melbourne Stars: from last to first
Always the bridesmaid but never the bride, the Melbourne Stars have been semi-final specialists for the majority of the Big Bash competition, having failed to advance to the post-season just the once. That was last season, when the Stars plummeted to the bottom of the table. So our first fearless prediction is that for the upcoming BBL|08, the Stars are set for a bumper season, with rumours abounding that they’ve plucked big hitting West Indian all-rounder Dwayne Bravo as well as English short-form spin sensation Adil Rashid, which will catapult them back to the top of the table, culminating in them collecting their first silverware in the Big Bash competition. Their players will prove a bounty for SuperCoach BBL selectors, with the likes of Rashid, Bravo, Glenn Maxwell, and new recruit Nic Maddinson at the top of the order leading them to glory.

2. The Big Show proves a big winner
Seemingly out of favour with the national selectors, Glenn Maxwell needs a big summer across all forms, but particularly with the Melbourne Stars, ahead of the T20I World Cup coming up England in 2019. If he doesn’t fire in BBL|08 he could be in serious doubt for selection in what is ostensibly thought of as his bread-and-butter format of cricket. But there’s a reason he’s being ignored by selectors; whilst his BBL|07 season was not a disaster by any stretch of the imagination, making three half centuries with a top score of 84 (off 47 balls) in his last innings for the season, he also had three innings where he failed to pass a 10 run tally. For a player of his talent it was simply not good enough, and it’s up to him to really showcase his wares this summer. We think he can, and will. With his availability as an all-rounder set to be determined, he might be a big winner for SuperCoach BBL players this season.

3. Adelaide Strikers tumble
Sure, they were the winners of last year’s competition, but what are the odds they slip to last on the ladder in BBL|08? There’s every chance that several of their star performers last year will not be available for the majority of the season coming — the likes of captain Travis Head, wicketkeeper Alex Carey, and opener Jake Weatherald are serious selection chances at the highest level this summer, with Weatherald already a hot favourite to take one of the two opener spots vacated by Dave Warner and Cameron Bancroft following their suspension as part of the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa earlier in 2018. Last season, Afghani off-spinner Rashid Khan caught everyone by surprise, but every other team will have gone to town examining how they can exploit any weaknesses. It might be wise to avoid Adelaide Strikers players in this upcoming season of SuperCoach BBL.

4. Good Will hunting a breakout season
It was only 12 months ago that emerging teenager and son of Cricket Australia CEO Will Sutherland opted to turn his back on the AFL Draft and choose a career in cricket. Since then, Sutherland has sent tongues wagging as one of the game’s elite up-and-comers. The towering all-rounder is primed to put his stamp on BBL|08, having signed a three-year deal with the Renegades after being listed as a rookie in BBL|07. The 18-year-old had a rip-snorter of a start in the JLT Cup season opener for Victoria, with the young quick taking 5-45 and dismissing Chris Lynn for a duck!

5. International call-ups create SuperCoach BBL chaos
The Big Bash League is a hotbed for talented internationals showing off their prowess with bat and ball, but it’s likely to send SuperCoach players into a frenzy with notable overseas representatives set to be recalled to their national sides throughout the BBL|08 tournament. With a host of English internationals set to embark on the BBL, buyer beware. Joe Root, Jos Butler and Adil Rashid might seem sexy additions to your team, but inevitably they will be called up to national duties which have the potential to cause havoc with your SuperCoach team.

6. All-rounders prove to be overrated
While all-rounders become dual-position players in SuperCoach BBL this season, just how many is too many? And just how many will be overrated? Yep, we said it. Overrated. While the benefit of an all-rounder is their ability to score points from multiple categories, based on our statistics, four of the top SuperCoach players last year were players in dedicated positions. The likes of Alex Carey, Rashid Khan, Travis Head and Andrew Tye all averaged more than 73 SuperCoach points last season while Jofra Archer, Dan Christian and Shane Watson couldn’t average more than 65 SuperCoach points.

7. International mystery man
With every new season comes a new international man of mystery. Last year it was Afghani Rashid Khan, but who will it be in BBL|08? We’re tipping son of a gun Usman Qadir, the offspring of legendary Pakistani leg spinner Abdul. Qadir has lacked opportunity in his home country, but his recent signing with the Scorchers and glowing endorsement from coach Adam Voges equates to a potential boom recruit taking the league by storm this year. Watch this space.

8. Peter Siddle proves a must-have
By the time the BBL|08 season gets under way, the wily old veteran will be 34-years-old, but that’s no reason not to select him as a special bowling option in SuperCoach BBL. He has an economy rate of less than 6.5 runs per over, averages a wicket a tick under every 25 runs he concedes, and most importantly is capable of delivering maiden overs. It’s both a worry and a bonus for SuperCoach fans that he’s something of a favourite to bowl at the death, which is both when the batsmen are likely to be swinging freely and looking to score big, but also when he can pick up wickets as batsmen try (and hopefully fail) to hit him out of the park. It might not be fashionable to pick specialist quicks in SuperCoach BBL, but with Siddle less rather than more likely to be selected to represent Australia across the course of this summer, he looms as a ‘safe’ selection.

9. Veterans turn back time
Cher might have turned back time, but can the golden oldies of the Big Bash League do so this upcoming season? Veteran South African tweaker Johan Botha has signed up with Hobart Hurricanes, taking his talents to Blundstone Oval to represent his third Big Bash side. He’s the sort of competitive, combative player that may well be worth having as part of your SuperCoach BBL side, as he’ll suit up every game and doesn’t know how to not give maximum effort. Another veteran worth looking at is South Australian Callum Ferguson, who after three years at the Melbourne Renegades signed a three-year contract with the Sydney Thunder for BBL|07, BBL|08, and BBL|09. Ferguson badly tore his hamstring and finished his BBL|07 season early, but he’s the sort of wily craftsman who could be an astute selection for SuperCoach BBL coaches this coming season.

10. Injuries bite with the longer, tighter season
There has never been a Big Bash season like that coming up for BBL|08 — the first year of the competition had a meagre 28 regular season games, before expanding to 32 the following year, with three finals matches (two semi-finals and a championship decider), and in 2017/18 it expanded to 40 group stage games with each team playing 10 games before the finals began. But in 2018/19, it’s gone to a whole new level, with a whopping 14 regular season games per team, meaning a huge 56 regular season matches, two semi-finals, and the final. Every SuperCoach NRL and SuperCoach AFL fan knows that the more elite athletes play, the more susceptible they are to injury, and the rate of games in BBL|08 will come thick and fast. Expect to have to trade key players out just when you don’t need to make any changes…as always, use your SuperCoach trades wisely!