Ok Y'all, here's my proposal for a draft to celebrate those quirky brethren: the left handers. These southpaws and kack handers have had quite an effect on our game and it's time to acknowledge their greatness.
What are the rules?
*You are making a team of 11 Test cricket players picking one in each round of the draft until each team is chock full of left-handers and left-armers.
*There is a limit of 4 players from one nation, just to make it a little bit trickier.
Who can join?
*Anyone who is going to be on the forums at the same time every day for the 11 days after we start.
*Anyone who knows their left handers through Test cricket.
Who is eligible to be a leftie?
*Any left hander/armer who has played 10 or more Test matches: I picked 10 to avoid having Dougie Bollinger, Phil Hughes and Mohammad Aamer included and it will also cull some of the pre WWI guys who only played a handful of Tests but had insane averages. I am open to argument here though
*If the player mixed left and right hands, here's the deal: to qualify as a leftie I'm thinking it should go on ratios based around one wicket being worth 20 runs. If your left handed discipline is worth more: then you're in! Some examples:
Nathan Bracken (RHB/LFM): 70 runs, 12 wickets. Wickets x20 are worth more than runs, therefore he qualifies as a leftie.
Sir Richard Hadlee (LHB/RFM): 3124 runs, 431 wickets. Wickets x20 are worth more than runs, he's NOT a leftie.
Ravi Shastri (RHB/SLA): 3830 runs, 151 wickets. Runs are 20x more than wickets, he's NOT a leftie either.
How will it work?
*There'll be 6 teams (so me, and 5 others managers)
*There's a 24 hour time limit once it's your turn. But hopefully we won't be using that. Please check the thread as often as you can, especially if it's getting close to your pick. Otherwise just check it to compliment smart selections and of course mock at any questionable selections
*If you don't pick in the 24 hour time limit your don't make your pick when you next come on, instead the pick is put onto the end of the draft in a 12th round.
Edit:
And here's a short list of players who ARE NOT ELIGIBLE as lefties - just to save your calculators:
Sir Frank Worrell
Charlie Macartney
Ravi Shastri
Andy Blignaut
Peter Taylor
Ravi Ratnayake
Jack Gregory
Stuart Broad
Bruce Taylor
Sir Richard Hadlee
So look, until Gazza gets organised lets get this ready to roll. shravi and Cricketman are you in? I'll randomly generate an order for the first 2 rounds. If you want to go first or last or middle in future, let me know and you'll have it. So here's the random order:
Round 1:
1.1 Gazza (Sir Garfield Sobers)
1.2 mattfb (Brian Lara)
1.3 send2yaari/Dare (Clive Lloyd)
1.4 shravi (Wasim Akram)
1.5 sifter132 (Alan Davidson)
1.6 Iridium (Adam Gilchrist)
1.7 Cricketman (Kumar Sangakkara)
Round 2:
2.1 Cricketman (Graeme Pollock)
2.2 Iridium (Daniel Vettori)
2.3 sifter132 (Andy Flower)
2.4 shravi (Rodney Marsh)
2.5 send2yaari/Dare (Ridley Jacobs)
2.6 mattfb (Allan Border)
2.7 Gazza (Hedley Verity)
Round 3:
3.1 sifter132 (Neil Harvey)
3.2 Cricketman (Bishen Bedi)
3.3 Iridium (Arthur Morris)
3.4 send2yaari/Dare (Bobby Peel)
3.5 shravi (Chaminda Vaas)
3.6 mattfb (Jack Russell)
3.7 Gazza (Matthew Hayden)
Round 4:
4.1 Gazza (Justin Langer)
4.2 mattfb (Bruce Reid)
4.3 shravi (Bill Johnston)
4.4 send2yaari/Dare (No pick - time limit breached)
4.5 Iridium (Shivnarine Chanderpaul)
4.6 Cricketman (Zaheer Khan)
4.7 sifter132 (Mitchell Johnson)
Round 5:
5.1 shravi (Graeme Smith)
5.2 Cricketman (Michael Hussey)
5.3 Dare (Derek Underwood)
5.4 Dare (Gary Kirsten)
5.5 Iridium (Ryan Sidebottom)
5.6 mattfb (Johnny Briggs)
5.7 sifter132 (David Gower)
5.8 Gazza (Simon Katich)
Round 6:
6.1 Gazza (Bill Voce)
6.2 sifter132 (Graham Thorpe)
6.3 mattfb (Mark Taylor)
6.4 Iridium (Andrew Strauss)
6.5 Dare (Richard Collinge)
6.6 Cricketman (Bill Whitty)
6.7 shravi (Frank Woolley)
Round 7:
7.1 Gazza (Tony Lock)
7.2 Dare (Saeed Anwar)
7.3 sifter132 (Johnny Wardle)
7.4 mattfb (Iqbal Qasim)
7.5 Iridium (Trevor Goddard)
7.6 Cricketman (Roy Fredericks)
7.7 shravi (Phil Mead)
Round 8:
8.1 shravi (Bill Lawry)
8.2 Cricketman (Wilfred Rhodes)
8.3 Iridium (Sourav Ganguly)
8.4 mattfb (Marcus Trescothick)
8.5 sifter132 (Gautam Gambhir)
8.6 Dare (Pedro Collins)
8.7 Gazza (Alvin Kallicharran)
Round 9:
9.1 Dare (Stephen Fleming)
9.2 mattfb (Shakib Al Hasan)
9.3 Cricketman (Ashwell Prince)
9.4 Gazza (Darren Lehmann)
9.5 shravi (Eddie Paynter)
9.6 sifter132 (George Hirst)
9.7 Iridium (Irfan Pathan)
Round 10:
10.1 Iridium (Jacob Oram)
10.2 sifter132 (Ernie Toshack)
10.3 shravi (Colin Blythe)
10.4 Gazza (Frank Foster)
10.5 Cricketman (John Edrich)
10.6 mattfb (Bob Cowper)
10.7 Dare (Larry Gomes)
Round 11:
11.1 Dare (Hashan Tillakaratne)
11.2 Cricketman (James Franklin)
11.3 Iridium (Gary Gilmour)
11.4 shravi (Warren Bardsley)
11.5 mattfb (Lance Klusener)
11.6 Gazza (Parthiv Patel)
11.7 sifter132 (Chris Gayle)
What are the rules?
*You are making a team of 11 Test cricket players picking one in each round of the draft until each team is chock full of left-handers and left-armers.
*There is a limit of 4 players from one nation, just to make it a little bit trickier.
Who can join?
*Anyone who is going to be on the forums at the same time every day for the 11 days after we start.
*Anyone who knows their left handers through Test cricket.
Who is eligible to be a leftie?
*Any left hander/armer who has played 10 or more Test matches: I picked 10 to avoid having Dougie Bollinger, Phil Hughes and Mohammad Aamer included and it will also cull some of the pre WWI guys who only played a handful of Tests but had insane averages. I am open to argument here though
*If the player mixed left and right hands, here's the deal: to qualify as a leftie I'm thinking it should go on ratios based around one wicket being worth 20 runs. If your left handed discipline is worth more: then you're in! Some examples:
Nathan Bracken (RHB/LFM): 70 runs, 12 wickets. Wickets x20 are worth more than runs, therefore he qualifies as a leftie.
Sir Richard Hadlee (LHB/RFM): 3124 runs, 431 wickets. Wickets x20 are worth more than runs, he's NOT a leftie.
Ravi Shastri (RHB/SLA): 3830 runs, 151 wickets. Runs are 20x more than wickets, he's NOT a leftie either.
How will it work?
*There'll be 6 teams (so me, and 5 others managers)
*There's a 24 hour time limit once it's your turn. But hopefully we won't be using that. Please check the thread as often as you can, especially if it's getting close to your pick. Otherwise just check it to compliment smart selections and of course mock at any questionable selections
*If you don't pick in the 24 hour time limit your don't make your pick when you next come on, instead the pick is put onto the end of the draft in a 12th round.
Edit:
And here's a short list of players who ARE NOT ELIGIBLE as lefties - just to save your calculators:
Sir Frank Worrell
Charlie Macartney
Ravi Shastri
Andy Blignaut
Peter Taylor
Ravi Ratnayake
Jack Gregory
Stuart Broad
Bruce Taylor
Sir Richard Hadlee
So look, until Gazza gets organised lets get this ready to roll. shravi and Cricketman are you in? I'll randomly generate an order for the first 2 rounds. If you want to go first or last or middle in future, let me know and you'll have it. So here's the random order:
Round 1:
1.1 Gazza (Sir Garfield Sobers)
1.2 mattfb (Brian Lara)
1.3 send2yaari/Dare (Clive Lloyd)
1.4 shravi (Wasim Akram)
1.5 sifter132 (Alan Davidson)
1.6 Iridium (Adam Gilchrist)
1.7 Cricketman (Kumar Sangakkara)
Round 2:
2.1 Cricketman (Graeme Pollock)
2.2 Iridium (Daniel Vettori)
2.3 sifter132 (Andy Flower)
2.4 shravi (Rodney Marsh)
2.5 send2yaari/Dare (Ridley Jacobs)
2.6 mattfb (Allan Border)
2.7 Gazza (Hedley Verity)
Round 3:
3.1 sifter132 (Neil Harvey)
3.2 Cricketman (Bishen Bedi)
3.3 Iridium (Arthur Morris)
3.4 send2yaari/Dare (Bobby Peel)
3.5 shravi (Chaminda Vaas)
3.6 mattfb (Jack Russell)
3.7 Gazza (Matthew Hayden)
Round 4:
4.1 Gazza (Justin Langer)
4.2 mattfb (Bruce Reid)
4.3 shravi (Bill Johnston)
4.4 send2yaari/Dare (No pick - time limit breached)
4.5 Iridium (Shivnarine Chanderpaul)
4.6 Cricketman (Zaheer Khan)
4.7 sifter132 (Mitchell Johnson)
Round 5:
5.1 shravi (Graeme Smith)
5.2 Cricketman (Michael Hussey)
5.3 Dare (Derek Underwood)
5.4 Dare (Gary Kirsten)
5.5 Iridium (Ryan Sidebottom)
5.6 mattfb (Johnny Briggs)
5.7 sifter132 (David Gower)
5.8 Gazza (Simon Katich)
Round 6:
6.1 Gazza (Bill Voce)
6.2 sifter132 (Graham Thorpe)
6.3 mattfb (Mark Taylor)
6.4 Iridium (Andrew Strauss)
6.5 Dare (Richard Collinge)
6.6 Cricketman (Bill Whitty)
6.7 shravi (Frank Woolley)
Round 7:
7.1 Gazza (Tony Lock)
7.2 Dare (Saeed Anwar)
7.3 sifter132 (Johnny Wardle)
7.4 mattfb (Iqbal Qasim)
7.5 Iridium (Trevor Goddard)
7.6 Cricketman (Roy Fredericks)
7.7 shravi (Phil Mead)
Round 8:
8.1 shravi (Bill Lawry)
8.2 Cricketman (Wilfred Rhodes)
8.3 Iridium (Sourav Ganguly)
8.4 mattfb (Marcus Trescothick)
8.5 sifter132 (Gautam Gambhir)
8.6 Dare (Pedro Collins)
8.7 Gazza (Alvin Kallicharran)
Round 9:
9.1 Dare (Stephen Fleming)
9.2 mattfb (Shakib Al Hasan)
9.3 Cricketman (Ashwell Prince)
9.4 Gazza (Darren Lehmann)
9.5 shravi (Eddie Paynter)
9.6 sifter132 (George Hirst)
9.7 Iridium (Irfan Pathan)
Round 10:
10.1 Iridium (Jacob Oram)
10.2 sifter132 (Ernie Toshack)
10.3 shravi (Colin Blythe)
10.4 Gazza (Frank Foster)
10.5 Cricketman (John Edrich)
10.6 mattfb (Bob Cowper)
10.7 Dare (Larry Gomes)
Round 11:
11.1 Dare (Hashan Tillakaratne)
11.2 Cricketman (James Franklin)
11.3 Iridium (Gary Gilmour)
11.4 shravi (Warren Bardsley)
11.5 mattfb (Lance Klusener)
11.6 Gazza (Parthiv Patel)
11.7 sifter132 (Chris Gayle)
Last edited:
? That's my only request. Otherwise, I'm game.
Do you take a big name keeper very early at the expense of say a good left arm quick or an all rounder? Or do you wait until the end and just pick from the leftover keepers? That's what I did in the ODI draft ending up with the almighty Kamran Akmal 
