SQUAD
LIKELY PLAYING XI
It seems as if Craig Overton & George Garton will miss out to begin with as Southern Brave lack depth with the bat and the only option is to add Ross Whiteley down the order.
They have plenty of bowlers who can bat. Additionally, Danny Briggs also might miss out as they already have Liam Dawson in the side. To add variety, they might look to add Jake Lintott (Wild card) who is a chinaman bowler.
Devon Conway will have no choice but to slip down to #3. The only possible swap could take place between Alex Davies & James Vince. But, Davies is better suited as an opener and Vince is better at #4 considering the team balance.
AREAS OF STRENGTH
1) This team certainly has one of the best bowling attacks. Nearly all the pacers and spinners in this squad have put up a stellar performance in the ongoing Vitality Blast 2021.
2) Jake Lintott adds a lot of variety to this side. It was surprising to me that he was a wild card pick and not drafted first-up. The interesting fact about Lintott is that he is only one of the two chinaman bowlers in the entire competition.
3) Skipper James Vince has been in an incredible touch as he notched up a couple of centuries not so long ago. He scored 102 against Pakistan in an ODI, and three days later scored 102 against Sussex in the Blast.
4) Devon Conway cannot stop scoring runs from the time he has landed in England. Somerset were looking at someone who can fill Babar Azam’s shoes and they found a perfect match in Conway. His average of 61.8 was the 4th best in the Blast and scored a fifty in every 2 games that he played.
5) The entire Sussex bowling contingent has been on fire. Delray Rawlins, George Garton, and Chris Jordan have also chipped in with some very quick runs in the campaign. While Garton may not be seen by many as an all-rounder, he is actually more than capable of striking the long ball. He was utilized as a pinch-hitter at #3 under Jason Gillespie a couple of years back.
AREAS OF CONCERN
1) Where are the quick runs coming from? That’s one of my major concerns with this squad. There are accumulators, there are batters who are technically adept, but where are the sloggers with stats to back them up? Not a single batsman in this side has a Boundary% of 70 or above.
This is where I expect Quinton de Kock to provide some respite and the low boundary% is the very reason why I’d want to see Alex Davies opening and not being wasted down the order.
Colin de Grandhomme & Ross Whiteley have a reputation of being big-hitters. But, despite the big hits, they end up eating quite a few deliveries and end with a fairly low SR. Especially, Whiteley. But, slotting them down the order should solve this issue as they will most likely come in to bat with no choice but to attack.
2) Delray Rawlins has been intent++, but how does one fit him into the side? The only choice for the Brave would be to replace Whiteley with Rawlins.
VITALITY BLAST 2021 STATS (Relevant stats only)
Cricket Strategist 