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The Melbourne Stars play the Brisbane Heat in the 1st game of the 2023/24 BBL season. The Heat went SO close to winning the title last year and have Marnus Labuschagne & Usman Khawaja filling in for them against a Stars outfit with Glenn Maxwell & Marcus Stoinis fresh off their WC win in India.
Draftstars have a $25,000 prize pool for the BBL 2023/24 season opener – you can join the contest here! Remember you can press the ‘Download’ button and then insert these projections on the Fantasy Insider Cruncher on Draftstars to create multiple teams at once!
Tips to get the most out of BBL DFS
Looking to take your Draftstars knowledge further? Don’t miss 7 tips for creating your Draftstars entries.
BBL DFS Projections
You can access our projected scores for every BBL game Wicky’s Draftstars Stats Bible.
Value Picks
Nathan Coulter-Nile @ $12,600. He’s been a proven performer in the BBL for the best part of a decade. The Stars pace bowling options are limited without Harris Rauf – we’re expecting a couple of wickets in the death overs and maybe even some handy late order runs. Great value at under $13k!
(Photo by Brett Hemmings/Getty Images)
Sam Billings @ $15,400. With Peirson out for the PMs XI game – ‘Bilbo’ takes the gloves which should lead to an extra 10-20 points. He was also a consistent batsman for the Heat last season. Playing a Stars outfit without Haris Rauf and Adam Zampa – we love his chances of getting some runs with the bat to start season 2023/24!
Sam Billings (Photo by Albert Perez – CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)
Fade Options
Usman Khawaja @ $18,500. We all love Uzzie. But at this price for a player who will only contribute through his runs, we’re happy to fade him. We’d much rather pay up for Glenn Maxwell who’s in career best form and can score with the bat, ball and in the field. Marcus Stoinis is likely batting at 3 and could get a couple of overs as well.
Marnus Labuschagne and Usman Khawaja. (Photo by Jonathan DiMaggio/Getty Images)
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Team Building + Strategy
We’ve made the below team with some of the advice above. Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis as Premium picks. Sam Billings and Colin Munro as gun bats against a weakened Stars bowling outfit & Nathan Coulter-Nile as a value pick. We’ve had to pick Max Bryant and Jack Wood to make a team within the salary cap – there is talk that Wood could open and Bryant has opened in the past for the Heat. With Josh Brown not in the squad, we’re happy to keep these guys as placeholders till the final teams are announced at the toss!
Sample team – BBL Draftstars $25,000 Contest
Game 1 Draftstars Suggested Team.
Key Matchup
Colin Munro v Nathan Coulter-Nile
Munro has hit Coulter-Nile for 21 runs in 13 balls in their BBL Careers so far. Without Rauf and Zampa, the Stars can’t afford to let Munro get away to a fast start. This will be a huge matchup that may end up deciding the game!
Keen to give it a go? Hit up Draftstars today to get started.
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