West Indian duo and big-hitting Brisbane boy occupy top spots going into new season of KFC Big Bash
EXTRA Official Player Rankings launched
EXTRA® has joined forces with Cricket Australia to re-launch the EXTRA® Official BBL Player Rankings as cricket fans around the country get ready for BBL|06, beginning next Tuesday, December 20 with the Sydney Smash at the Thunder's home base, Spotless Stadium.
View the full EXTRA Official BBL Player Rankings here
Taking part in that clash will be Jamaican superstar Andre Russell, who enters the competition as the number one ranked allrounder after a stunning BBL|05 campaign in which he helped steer the Thunder to a maiden title.
Thunder and former Australia star Shane Watson said Russell would be his first picked player in a Big Bash Fantasy side, citing the West Indian's all-round skills as critical to his team's hopes in BBL|06.
"He bowls new ball, old ball, back-end of a game. He hits sixes, boundaries, takes catches," Watson told bigbash.com.au.
"He's the ultimate."
While Russell leads the allrounder rankings ahead of Sixer Moises Henriques (second) and Renegade Dwayne Bravo (third), Brisbane Heat six-hitting dynamo Chris Lynn sits comfortably atop the batting charts.
Lynn, who returned from a shoulder injury for the Heat in two warm-up matches last week, is in first spot ahead of Test opener and Thunder dasher Usman Khawaja, with England import and larger-than-life Stars batsman Kevin Pietersen third.
New Heat captain Brendon McCullum is enthused by the prospect of having the big-hitting Brisbane product in his side.
"I don't think he's played for Australia nearly as much as what his impact on competitions around the world suggests (he should have)," McCullum told bigbash.com.au.
"This year is another big year for him and it'd be great to try and facilitate his next stage and his impact in this game.
"He's a 360 player. Australia's got some pretty big boundaries and he still manages to find a way to hit them 10, 15 rows back and not just in one area."
Lynn's teammate, wily West Indies leg-spinner Samuel Badree, is the top-ranked bowler after a five-wicket haul against the Stars catapulted him to number one at the back-end of BBL|05.
Badree is followed by Thunder quick Clint McKay and Scorchers paceman Andrew Tye, in second and third respectively.
The Rankings, devised by esteemed Bond University Professor Steven Stern – the man who also lends his name to the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method used for recalculating rain-affected run chase targets – with Cricket Australia, separates batters, bowlers and allrounders.
The system uses performances from both current and past Big Bash matches, weighted on a sliding scale.