KFC BBL|12
The eight BBL coaches pick their best XI from this season, with Perth dominanting the selection for official best XI of BBL|12
Jack Paynter
1 February 2023, 07:42 AM AEST
@jackpayn
KFC BBL|12 finalists the Perth Scorchers have dominated the official Team of the Tournament with Aaron Hardie, Josh Inglis and Andrew Tye today named in the starting XI.
Player of the Tournament Matt Short opens alongside Steve Smith, who earned enough votes for selection despite only playing four regular season matches following the Australian Test summer.
Strikers opener Short became just the third player ever to hit 400 runs and take 10 wickets in a BBL season after also opening the bowling for Adelaide with his off spinners, collecting 11 wickets.
The tournament's leading wicket-taker Sean Abbott also earned a spot in the XI in a season in which he became the first bowler to surpass 150 wickets in the BBL.
The eight BBL head coaches were asked to pick their best XI from the regular season and Short, Smith, Hardie and Abbott all received the maximum of eight votes each, while Inglis received seven and Tye five.
Short currently sits top of the tournament's runs tally with 458, ahead of Hardie on 443, who has a chance to add to that in this Saturday's BBL|12 Final against either the Sixers or the Heat.
Third on that list is Aaron Finch with 428 runs, who has been named captain of the official Team of the Tournament following another outstanding campaign where he was thrust back into the Renegades leadership after Nic Maddinson's season-ending knee injury.
The last member of the top six is the Hurricanes globetrotting power-hitter Tim David (354 runs), who has joined the MI Cape Town franchise in the new SA20 league after Hobart missed the BBL|12 finals despite David bowling them to an incredible final ball win over the Heat in their last match of the season.
Brisbane Heat seamer Michael Neser won selection for his most prolific BBL campaign with 24 wickets, which included a hat-trick, while Renegades quick Tom Rogers capped an outstanding debut season at the new club with his 23 wickets to earn his inclusion.
Rounding out the bowling attack is breakout star Paddy Dooley, who was the only spinner selected in the side after taking 19 wickets with a superb economy rate of 6.56, including a best haul of 4-16 against the Scorchers.
New Adelaide Striker and the competition's highest run-scorer of all-time Chris Lynn will carry the drink after his 416 runs across his 11 games earned him three coaches votes.
The starting XI picked were also named in cricket.com.au’s unofficial team of the tournament, which was published last Thursday, with the only difference being Scorchers quick Jhye Richardson as 12th instead of Lynn.
Official BBL|12 Team of the Tournament
1. Matt Short (Strikers) – 8 votes
2. Steve Smith (Sixers) – 8 votes
3. Aaron Hardie (Scorchers) – 8 votes
4. Aaron Finch (c) (Renegades) – 6 votes
5. Josh Inglis (wk) (Scorchers) – 7 votes
6. Tim David (Hurricanes) – 5 votes
7. Michael Neser (Heat) – 5 votes
8. Sean Abbott (Sixers) – 8 votes
9. Andrew Tye (Scorchers) – 5 votes
10. Tom Rogers (Renegades) – 6 votes
11. Paddy Dooley (Hurricanes) – 5 votes
12th. Chris Lynn (Strikers) – 3 votes
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Coaches name official BBL|12 Team of the Tournament – cricket.com.au
