Story CSL: It's time for trades

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Match 20: Thunder vs Strikers

At 8/80, the Strikers looked in trouble thanks to some poor shot selection and brilliant bowling from Pat Cummins. Then Wes Agar decided, with the help of Neser, to get a total he could defend. He took it steady but then hit Cutting for three sixes in the final over.


However, when Alex Hales gets going, there's not much you can do. Not much at all.

Strikers 9/142 (Agar 35*, Cummins 4/26) lost to Thunder 4/144 (Hales 86)
MOTM: Alex Hales

Golden Bat: Josh Philippe (275 runs)
Golden Arm: Haris Rauf (14 wickets)

 

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Match 21: Stars vs Scorchers
match 20 should have been Scorchers vs Strikers but I took the fixture from the wrong week

Turns out the MCG pitch, fresh from the MCG Test, was an absolute spinning track. Agar handled this by defending, Inglis handled this by attacking and everyone else handled this by getting out.


Not to be outdone, the Scorchers quicks reduced the Stars to 5/18 then 9/78 and looked likely to steal a win. But Stanlake and Zampa ground out the required 15 tuns to keep the unbeaten streak alive. After this the MCG curator was dismissed.

Scorchers 91 (Inglis 38, Stoinis 3/8) lost to Stars 9/93 (Cartwright 29, Behrendorff 3/14)
MOTM: Josh Inglis

Golden Bat: Josh Philippe (275 runs)
Golden Arm: Haris Rauf (14 wickets, despite being terrible today)

 

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Match 22: Heat vs Thunder

While Chris Lynn continued his lean run, the rest of the Heat lineup played well. Banton and Dunk played good innings, then after the Cooper-Labuschagne partnership stalled the innings a little, Bazley came out and boosted the Heat total to 8/159.

When MS Dhoni, who had finally got going in the tournament, was run out by a diving Chis Lynn at backward point, the game looked dead in favour of the Heat. Step forward Ben Cutting to resuce the innings and Pat Cummins to put the Thunder in front. But then, in late drama, Green, Milne and Tremain scored one run between them. All Tremain had to do though was score off Mujeeb's final over. He missed the first ball, which bit back in and collected middle stump. The game was a tie. And because of the game not being willing to simulate a Super Over, the points were shared.

Heat 8/159 (Banton 49, Dunk 42, Green 3/20) tied with Thunder 159 (Cutting 37*, Mujeeb 3/27)
MOTM: Mujeeb ur Rahman

Golden Bat: Josh Philippe (275 runs)
Golden Arm: Haris Rauf and Ben Laughlin (14 wickets)

 

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Match 23: Scorchers vs Strikers

Neser was good with the new ball, however, a rapid middle stanza from Inglis put Perth back into it. Green and Richardson then kicked the Scorchers to 7/166.


The Strikers' top order (barring Carey) played very well, however, they were let down badly again by their lower order who crumbled following Stokes' dismissal to give the game to the Scorchers. With the aforementioned Pom in the team, thoughts among Strikers supporters turned to whether a bowler should be dropped.

Scorchers 7/166 (Ingliss 44, Neser 2/16) beat Strikers 148 (Stokes 39, Tye 5/30)
MOTM: Josh Inglis

Golden Bat: Josh Philippe (275 runs)
Golden Arm: Haris Rauf, Ben Laughlin and Wes Agar (14 wickets)

 

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Match 24: Hurricanes vs Thunder

The Canes were again let down badly by their batting. While Matt Wade was good, the rest of the order struggled. All of the Thunder bowlers picked up wickets, but Chris Tremain was the best of them.


The Thunder cruised home thanks to the efforts of their top 3 batsmen.

Hurricanes 112 (Wade 39, Tremain 3/22) lost to Thunder 2/113 (Ross 52*)
MOTM: Alex Ross

Golden Bat: Josh Philippe (275 runs)
Golden Arm: Haris Rauf, Ben Laughlin and Wes Agar (14 wickets)

 

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Possible spoiler?

 

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So, I suppose I have a little bit of explaining to do...

Basically, what happened last time with the CSL is that when I tried to port the players into PCCS, I corrupted my PCCS file, completely ruining my enthusiasm to continue. In addition, the confusing format and bad explanations of last time hurt it (I was still a novice host then).

So what I've done now is a complete redraft, changed some teams (a few nickname changes and one relocation, Cleveland to Minnesota), and a improved format setup (the first stage will be like the NFL, with each team playing their conference mates twice and a paired conference once, then the second will be split into thirds as per last time), and the league should prosper.

I'll do up a few team previews over the next few days, then start the sims.

For what you should expect... one team scored 241 in their test sim, so....

 

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Western Conference part 1
Las Vegas Wizards
Predicted Team:
Chris Gayle
Devon Conway
Ishan Kishan
Rishabh Pant
Ross Taylor
Mahmudullah
Nathan Ellis
Sam Curran
Mitch Starc
Nathan Coulter-Nile
Shah Nawaz Dhani

A solid core of veterans, this team may be able to contend straight away.
The bowling unit looks particularily strong- Ellis, Curran, Dhani, Starc and NCN are all very different and skilled bowlers, and they're supported by Craig Overton, Wes Agar and Mat Willans.
At the same time, their best spinner is Mahmudullah...

Los Angeles Stallions
Predicted Team:
Hilton Cartwright
Haider Ali
Faraan Behardien
Denesh Ramdin
Dhananjaya Da Silva
Iftikhar Ahmed
Cam Green
Jason Holder
Imran Tahir
Dan Worrall
Haris Rauf

Bowling in this team is both diverse and strong.
The team has a lot of veterans, but are they good enough to pursue the title?
Batting isn't the strength of this team- they beat Vegas in testing, solely because of Haris Rauf.

Portland Vikings
Predicted Team:
Narayan Jagadeesan
Josh Inglis
Travis Head
Dawid Malan
Glenn Maxwell
Henrich Klaassen
Kyle Mayers
Tabraiz Shamsi
Navdeep Saini
Dale Steyn
Blair Tickner

That top five is a luxury- the world number one batsman, coupled with The Big Show and three very solid players in their own right.
This is also a very young team- among their starters only Dale Steyn is approaching retirement.
Their only world class bowler is the aforementioned Dale Steyn, and he's 37...

 

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Western Conference part 1
San Diego Bolts
Predicted Team:
Aiden Markram
Shoaib Malik
Joe Clarke
Moises Henriques
Shakib al Hasan
Ben Cutting
Imad Wasim
Peter Siddle
Mark Steketee
Adam Milne
Jason Behrendorff

A team stacked with bowling options, @CerealKiller can relate
A lot of leadership in the team too- Henriques, Shoaib, Siddle...
A lot of leadership also means a lot of age (67% of the squad is 30 or older), and then there's the top order which lacks firepower barring Clarke...

San Francisco Dolphins
Predicted Team:
Avishka Fernando
Prithvi Shaw
Joe Burns
Shreyas Iyer
Suresh Raina
Matt Critchley
Benny Howell
Nathan Lyon
Mohammad Amir
Naseem Shah
Sandeep Lamichhane

Three quicks, a leggie and an offie as their best five bowlers- perfect diversity.
Some real renegades in this team- Amir in particular could make or break their season
Aside from Amir, Shreyas Iyer and Lyon, all their best players are either not all that good, declining, or yet to hit their potential. Oh yeah, and Seattle bowled them out for 85 in warmups...

Seattle Bulldogs
Predicted Team:
Martin Guptill
Chris Lynn
Ben Dunk
Suryakumar Yadav
Shimron Hetmyer
Lewis Gregory
Wanindu Hasaranga
Dwaine Pretorius
Bhuveneshwar Kumar
Hayden Walsh Jr
Richard Gleeson

As above, a diverse bowling attack, although it has six real options here.
That top order- 1-5 are all good players (at least on their day) and can change the game.
Not really convinced they have a bowler they can count on with the 20th over of a tight game...

My surely wrong predictions for the Western Conference:
1. Las Vegas- the top three are all really tight here but the six-pronged attack edges it for LV for me.
2. Seattle- their bowling is marginally better than Portland, meaning if their batting delivers
3. Portland- don't be shocked if they win the group, my only concerns are the overs from Tickner, Maxwell and Mayers.
4. San Francisco- their batting will have to stand up but they have a better bowling unit than either team above them IMHO
5. San Diego- the second best bowling attack in the division (maybe even best) but their batting is incredibly weak
6. Los Angeles- Haris Rauf carried them to a win in the warmup, but their batting was unconvincing and the rest of their bowling isn't good on paper. Maybe a building season

 

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Southwestern Conference part 1
Austin Thunderbirds
Predicted Lineup:
Nick Larkin
Priyam Garg
Tim Seifert
Ben Stokes
Seb Gotch
Mohammad Nabi
Shadab Khan
Tim Southee
Ashley Nurse
Umesh Yadav
Jasprit Bumrah

Some great versatility in the team- Stokes, Nabi and Shadab can do a job with both bat and ball.
Their opening bowlers are literally Bumrah and Southee...
...which makes up for their opening batsmen being Nick Larkin and Priyam Garg.

Dallas Tumbleweeds (rebrand surely incoming)
Predicted Lineup:
Yashasvi Jaiswal
Rohit Sharma
Niroshan Dickwella
Phil Salt
Matt Renshaw
Matt Parkinson
Hardik Pandya
Sean Abbott
Alzarri Joseph
Neil Wagner
Chetan Sakariya

I really like that opening pair. Jaiswal is young and promising, Rohit is more experienced and will be a good help for the youngster.
Similarily with the bowling attack, there's the right blend of youth (Joseph, Chetan) and experience (Wagner, Abbott, Hardik).
Is Matt Parkinson really good enough at either batting or bowling to be a championship level No. 6?

Denver Prime
Predicted Lineup:
Ambati Rayudu
Reeza Hendricks
Moeen Ali
Krishnappa Gowtham
Fabian Allen
Ashton Turner
Shahid Afridi
Daniel Sams
Sohail Tanvir
Vishwa Fernando
Xavier Bartlett

World class all rounders all around!
A lot of youth here- while Shahid Afridi, Tanvir and Rayudu are old, most of the team is quite young.
Pacers. Vishwa and Bartlett aren't starting quality in terms of the league- remember how I mentioned earlier Wes Agar wasn't starting for Vegas?

 

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Southwestern Conference part 2
Houston Cheetahs
Predicted Lineup:
Mohammad Hafeez
Liam Livingstone
Max Bryant
Shai Hope
Adam Lyth
Ibrahim Zadran
Chris Jordan
Dominic Bess
Keshav Maharaj
Scott Boland
Josh Lalor

Versatility. With a few small tweaks (e.g. shunting Zadran up the order, bringing in Raymon Reifer for Bess) this team can be suited to any condition.
Hitting power. Hafeez, Livingstone, Bryant, Zadran, Jordan and even some of the bowlers can hit a long ball.
Adam Lyth at five seems a bit of a hanger-on, not helped by a tail really beginning with the bowling AR at seven.

Kansas City Sharks
Predicted Lineup:
Andre Fletcher
Ruturaj Gaikwad
Rohail Nazir
Anwar Ali
Gihahn Cloete
Andre Russell
Mitch Santner
Ishant Sharma
Toby Roland-Jones
Harry Gurney
Karn Sharma

Dre Russ. Stands head and shoulders above the other 10 players here.
Some useful pieces here- Ishant, TRJ, Santner, Fletcher and Gaekwad can do a job.
Absolutely no star power aside from Dre Russ, and a woeful (albeit young) batting order.

Phoenix Broncos
Predicted Lineup:
Tom Banton
Shubman Gill
Colin Munro
AB de Villiers
Faf du Plessis
Dinesh Chandimal
Mahipal Lomror
Washington Sundar
Rahul Chahar
Billy Stanlake
Olly Stone

The top six is just incredible. Six world class players, three keeping options and a clear leader in Faf.
Age may weary that middle order- while the openers and tail are all young, 3-6 are 31 or older.
While the bowlers do have room to improve, they aren't there yet. And Lomror as the fifth bowler...

My surely wrong predictions for the Southwestern Conference:
1. Dallas Tumbleweeds- While Parkinson may be a hanger-on, their top and bottom fives have enough quality for a divisional title.
2. Phoenix Broncos- There's enough batting for this and possibly any other team in the league to not handle, but the bowling is weak.
3. Houston Cheetahs- As above but generally weaker.
4. Austin Thunderbirds- Their opening pair may not cut the mustard but their other nine do.
5. Denver Prime- A little weak on batting and bowling, but great in depth and have some game changing allrounders.
6. Kansas City Sharks- Apart from Dre Russ, maybe the worst team in the league?

 

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Southern Conference part 1
Cincinatti Knights
Predicted Lineup:
Finn Allen
Jason Roy
Cameron Delport
Ajinkya Rahane
Sam Heazlett
George Linde
Rashid Khan
Axar Patel
Stuart Broad
Oshane Thomas
Avesh Khan

A power-filled top four, plus Heazlett, a good firefighter, at five in case of disaster.
Rashid Khan.
The rest of the attack.

Indianapolis Inferno
Predicted Lineup:
Aaron Finch
Joe Denly
Rahmanullah Gurbaz
Rilee Rossouw
Sherfane Rutherford
Kyle Verreynne
James Faulkner
Cam Boyce
Tim Bresnan
Kagiso Rabada
Sandeep Warrier

Another power-filled top four, only this time it's Sherfane Rutherford at five who's even better.
Rabada.
His pace bowling companions apparently, who caused a loss to Kansas in testing

Memphis Stars
Predicted Lineup:
Alex Hales
Mohammad Rizwan
Kane Williamson
Darren Bravo
Colin Ingram
Nick Pooran
Mohammad Nawaz
Thisara Perera
Pat Cummins
Mark Wood
Luke Fletcher

What a top 6 that is.
Cummins and Wood- a scary new ball proposition.
Mohammad Nawaz might not be the best spin option. Just thinking...

 

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Southern Conference part 2
Nashville Demons
Predicted Lineup:
Jake Weatherald
Sam Harper
Zak Crawley
Ben McDermott
Kusal Mendis
Sarfraz Ahmed
Michael Neser
Mayank Markande
Jacob Duffy
Scott Kuggeleijn
Fawad Ahmed

A lot of the top order could best be described as 'underrated'
They could also be described as 'young'- as well as several key bowling cogs.
The bowling lacks firepower- they're OK bit players but there's no Rabada (or even Ngidi or Sipamla) to lead them.

Oklahoma City Hounds
Predicted Lineup:
Hazratullah Zazai
Darcy Short
Jos Buttler
Shivam Dube
Sam Billings
Colin de Grandhomme
Chris Morris
Sunil Narine
Ravi Ashwin
Mohammed Siraj
Reece Topley

Again, what is it with power packed top orders in this division?
This time there's ample depth and bowling to go with it too.
Not a lot, but maybe four is high for Shivam Dube?

St Louis Rockets
Predicted Lineup:
Josh Philippe
Manish Pandey
Mac Harvey
Josh da Silva
Yaseen Valli
Jayant Yadav
Kyle Jamieson
Jofra Archer
Jhye Richardson
Trent Boult
Riley Meredith

The pace bowling here is catastrophically good (for other teams that is).
Josh Philippe and Manish Pandey are good openers.
That's good because the rest of the batting is truly awful.

My surely wrong predictions for the Southern Conference:
1. Oklahoma City Hounds- there's few teams that can match them on paper
2. Memphis Stars- almost as good as OKC, only worse because of their spin options
3. Indy Inferno- worse spin than Cincy, but better pace bowling and mildly better batting
4. Cincinatti Knights- the inverse to above
5. St Louis Rockets- their bowling and Philippe is enough to keep the awful middle order off last in my reckoning
6. Nashville Demons- competent but not on the level of anyone else here's highs

 

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Eastern Conference part 2
Chicago Greens
Predicted Lineup:
Nitish Rana
Fakhar Zaman
Henry Nicholls
Kusal Perera
Mark Chapman
Faheem Ashraf
Sinethemba Qeshile
Kuldeep Yadav
AJ Tye
Josh Hazlewood
Usman Khan Shinwari

Bowling attack! Two new ball bowlers, two death bowlers, and a spinner.
A few young all-rounders who could become team centrepieces
The batting isn't there yet. Maybe with the youth it will be one day, but that day isn't today.

Detroit Kings
Predicted Lineup:
Devdutt Padikkal
Paul Stirling
Janneman Malan
Joe Root
Peter Handscomb
Dinesh Karthik
Rahul Tewatia
Jaydev Unadkat
Mustafizur Rahman
Pawan Negi
Lasith Malinga

A good batting lineup, highlighted by Joe Root and plenty of youngsters.
With the sole Irishman (not counting Eoin Morgan) in the league, this is the team Aislabie will surely follow.
Bowling feels a bit light, behind Malinga and Fizz.

Milwaukee Bucks Lions
Predicted Lineup:
Usman Khawaja
Imam-ul-Haq
Nic Maddinson
Ben Duckett
Ben Foakes
Samit Patel
Chris Green
Chris Woakes
Mujeeb Ur Rahman
Adam Zampa
Hasan Ali

Spinners! This team has 6 or 7 spinners in all and 4 start.
Batting to ten could be useful in tough chases.
Everyone from 3 to 7 feels slightly out of their natural place in the order. And the lack of pace.

 

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Eastern Conference part 2
Minnesota Vultures
Predicted Lineup:
Babar Azam
Rovman Powell
James Vince
Khaya Zonda
Lendl Simmons
Macalister Wright
Beau Webster
Shardul Thakur
Lockie Ferguson
Shaheen Shah Afridi
Zahir Khan

Bowling attack- it's world class
Babar and James Vince in the top 3...
Four through seven. Lack of both convincing batting and convincing bowling

Philadelphia Spartans
Predicted Lineup:
David Warner
Daniel Hughes
Marcus Harris
Steve Smith
Najibullah Zadran
Will Jacks
Venkatesh Iyer
Wahab Riaz
Harshal Patel
Simon Harmer
T Natarajan

The Aussies in the team are a top quality top four.
The Indian bowlers are also of great quality at each end of the innings.
The other five players.

Washington Blizzard
surely this should be Texas
Predicted Lineup:
Quinton de Kock
Johnson Charles
Tom Latham
David Miller
Mitch Marsh
Dan Christian
James Neesham
Andile Phehlukwayo
Fidel Edwards
Mohammed Shami
Murugan Aswin

Four all rounders of the highest quality. They all fill good roles too.
The batting is generally very strong.
The ARs come at the expense of spin options.

My surely wrong predictions for the Southern Conference:
1. Washington Blizzard- even with the lack of spinners beyond Murugan, that can be traded for and they look the most complete team.
2. Milwaukee Lions- the inverse problem to Washington, and slightly less class overall
3. Minnesota Vultures- Babar, Vince, and the bowlers should paper over some but not all of the cracks in the middle order.
4. Chicago Greens- light on batting but the best bowling attack in the league
5. Philadelphia Spartans- I feel guilty putting Warner, Smith and co here, but they have five players not on the quality of the other six.
6. Detroit Kings- not fully sure the batting is strong enough to counter three weak bowlers