Draft: The Panesar Lottery

[pillowprocter]

That's probably one of the best bowling attacks of the lottery already. Afridi, Ashwin, McGain

 

[Aislabie]

Player 18

Tony Suji
Nominated by: @Yash.



Tony Suji is a real staple of the genre, and he's an excellent nomination from Yash. If we're being fair to Suji, his career definitely suffered from being shunted around to fill whatever hole the Kenyan side had on any given day. But we're not being fair to anyone here in the Panesar Lottery.

And he goes to... @Ed Smith

Congratulations!

 

[Aislabie]

Player 19

Doddapaneni Kalyankrishna
Nominated by: @Till Valhalla



I don't know who this man is, but apparently he is a commentator now.

And he goes to... @Aislabie

Guess I'd better learn about him!

 

[Aislabie]

Player 20

Arsal Sheikh
Nominated by: @CerealKiller



Arsal Sheikh has enjoyed a thoroughly unremarkable domestic career in Pakistan, averaging over 50 with the ball in both first-class and List A cricket before drifting away from cricket like he wishes his off-break drifted away from the batter.

And he goes to... @ahmedleo414

Congratulations!

 

[Aislabie]

Player 21

Iftikhar Ahmed
Nominated by: @CerealKiller


I've never been particularly sold on Iftikhar Ahmed, even as he starts scoring more and more runs. I am open to the possibility that this means I'm completely wrong about him. Anyway, in this draft he's probably one of the bigger names.

And he goes to... @Till Valhalla

Congratulations!

 

[ddrap14]

Player 1

Jimmy Anderson
Nominated by: @ddrap14 and @Verified Enigma
View attachment 283449

690 Test wickets, and one of only two successful reverse Panesars, Jimmy Anderson is one of the biggest names in the entire draft. Both of the players who nominated him will be delighted to have a 50:50 chance of giving him the new ball.

And he goes to... @Verified Enigma

Congratulations!

Sod off. I so thought it'd be me vs @Supreme General

 

[CerealKiller]

Player 20

Arsal Sheikh
Nominated by: @CerealKiller

View attachment 283469

Arsal Sheikh has enjoyed a thoroughly unremarkable domestic career in Pakistan, averaging over 50 with the ball in both first-class and List A cricket before drifting away from cricket like he wishes his off-break drifted away from the batter.

And he goes to... @ahmedleo414

Congratulations!

Played all of his cricket thanks to his father Shakeel Shaikh, former member of the PCB Board of Governors, and victim of his number being leaked by Najam Sethi, leading to text messages like the one i sent him in the screenshot below

 

[Aislabie]

Player 22

Rubel Hossain
Nominated by: @Yash.


More than 150 international caps would probably make Rubel a star player in this draft, if not for the fact that it's a red ball draft and he averages 76.77 in Tests and 54.03 in all first-class cricket. To be absolutely clear, those are bowling averages.

And he goes to... @ahmedleo414

Congratulations!

 

[ddrap14]

Yash's first choice of James Muirhead

@Yash. is a legend

 

[Aislabie]

Player 23

David Sewell
Nominated by: @Welwyn



A man who sounds more like a bank manager than an international cricketer, although given that he played in the amateur era of New Zealand cricket there's really no reason that he couldn't have been both.

And he goes to... @Yash.

Congratulations!

 

[Aislabie]

Player 24

Alec Douglas-Home
Nominated by: @CerealKiller



One of Britain's most forgettable Prime Ministers was also one of its many forgettable first-class cricketers. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing: how many of us would love to be first class cricketers, and how many of us would love for our politicians to go back to being forgettable?

And he goes to... @ddrap14

Congratulations!

 

[Aislabie]

Player 25

Tirumalasetti Suman
Nominated by: @Till Valhalla



On the basis of being an actual proper batter, Suman has to be a pretty high value player in this lottery. He averaged a whopping 28 in first-class cricket, and racked up at least four IPL franchises (but frankly I don't have the energy to check).

And he goes to... @ahmedleo414

Congratulations!

 

[Aislabie]

Player 26

Pud Thurlow
Nominated by: @ahmedleo414



Thurlow is one of the most baffling Baggy Greens ever awarded. I've not been able to find any satisfactory explanation why a bowler who never averaged below 36 in any Shield season was drafted into the Test team, but from the moment he walked out onto the field for Australia until the end of his first-class career, he claimed eight more wickets at 101 apiece. He also managed to run himself out and leave Bradman stranded on 299 not out in his only Test innings.

And he goes to... @Yash.

Congratulations!

 

[Aislabie]

Player 27

Asif Ali
Nominated by: @CerealKiller



How to describe Asif Ali? I guess he's sort of like a rich man's Lionel Cann.

And he goes to... @Aislabie

He surpasses the Maharaja of Patiala as the best batter in my team!

 

[Aislabie]

Player 28

Wasim Akram
Nominated by: @Verified Enigma



Remember how I mentioned an entire team of failed reverse Panesars? Well here's one of the biggest.

And he goes to... @Till Valhalla

Genuine congratulations!