Story CSL: It's time for trades

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Northeastern Conference part 1
Atlanta Legend
Predicted Lineup:
Mayank Agarwal
KL Rahul
Daryl Mitchell
Zubayr Hamza
Ravi Bopara
James Peirson
Tim David
Beuran Hendricks
Anrich Nortje
Mitch Swepson
Prasidh Krishna

The frontline bowling (particularily the quicks) is top quality.
A good percentage of the team is yet to peak. Could be a slow burner, this team
Four overs out of Bopara and Tim David may hurt.

Boston Rams
Predicted Lineup:
Shikhar Dhawan
Shaun Marsh
Marnus Labuschagne
Callum Ferguson
Kurtis Patterson
Jon Wells
David Willey
Bjorn Fortuin
Lungi Ngidi
Morne Morkel
Sheldon Cottrell

The strongest batting lineup in the competition on paper?
And they're ably supported by the bowlers too- Ngidi, Morkel, Willey...
Age. If they don't win in the first two seasons, it's unlikely they will for several more as their veterans retire.

Charlotte Giants
Predicted Lineup:
Keaton Jennings
Raynard van Tonder
Amad Butt
George Worker
Deepak Hooda
Krunal Pandya
Carlos Brathwaite
James Pattinson
Kane Richardson
Steve O'Keeffe
James Anderson

Strong (if aging) bowlers.
This is a squad with top quality desire and work rate to win.
Unfortunately, it's also a squad with low batting levels.

 

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Northeastern Conference part 1
Miami Titans
Predicted Lineup:
Matt Wade
Glenn Phillips
Will Pucosvki
Alex Ross
MS Dhoni
Kieron Pollard
Roston Chase
Sikander Raza
Wiaan Mulder
Ben Laughlin
Lutho Sipamla

Batting! Pollard, Dhoni and Chase for power, and Wade, Phillips and Pucovski up top is a tantalising prospect.
The allround power of Pollard and Dhoni alone.
Not very much bowling.

New York Queens
Predicted Lineup:
:nzl: Tom Blundell
Marcus Stoinis
Dan Lawrence
Eoin Morgan
Rassie vander Dussen
Dwayne Bravo
Tom Curran
Rakheem Cornwall
Ben Dwarshuis
Adil Rashid
Yuzvendra Chahal

Seven bowling options including three spinners. Yes.
Batting isn't half bad too.
Fielding maybe? A lack of infielders? I'm clutching at straws

Orlando Storm
Predicted Lineup:
Jonny Bairstow
Alex Carey
Virat Kohli
Sanju Samson
Robin Uthappa
Angelo Mathews
Ravi Jadeja
Dhawal Kulkarni
Lasith Embuldineya
amit Mishra
Sandeep Sharma

An all-star level top four.
Plenty of keeper options here!
Bowling maybe isn't quite up to scratch.


My surely wrong predictions for the Northeastern Conference:
1. New York Queens- not a lot wrong with this team, one of the best
2. Boston Rams- pretty much as good as New York
3. Orlando Storm- very very good batting should get them here
4. Miami Titans- similar to Orlando but slightly less good
5. Atlanta Legend- a very middle of the road squad
6. Charlotte Giants- batting is the achilles heel of a good bowling team

 

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Please ignore this post, this is for my scheduling convenience

Spoiler: scheduling

Week 1: 1v2, 3v4, 5v6
Week 2: 2v3, 4v5, 6v1
Week 3: 1v3, 2v5, 4v6
Week 4: 5v1, 2v4, 3v6
Week 5: AvB, CvD, EvA
Week 6: BvC, DvE
Week 7: 1v4, 5v3, 6v2
Week 8: Inv Week1
Week 9: Inv Week2
Week 10: A+1vB, C+1vD, E+1vA
Week 11: B+1vC, D+1vE
Week 12: Inv Week3
Week 13: Inv Week4
Week 14: Inv Week5

 

[mohsin7827]

Looks really good.
How many players in a squad?

 

[ddrap14]

Looks really good.
How many players in a squad?

18 players to each squad as of the initial draft. With trades and drafts, the actual numbers may fluctuate, but 20 is the cap.

On a somewhat related note, I should explain the draft and free agency. Draft will be like the NBA draft- pool of about 100 young players (including some IRL players first season), 2-round draft. I also have a load of free agents in my player tracking sheet, so teams can use them to improve areas if they need (although none will be good at being a starter right away, some may have decent potential or plug a depth need).

 

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FORMAT TESTING
Las Vegas Wizards vs Nashville Demons
Las Vegas
Prematch Table Placings: n/a

Toss: Las Vegas won and chose to bat



Well this was an interesting innings! Scott Kuggeleijn bowled his four overs straight and while he was expensive, he got all of the top three. Pant and Taylor stabilised but couldn't accelerate and only a late burst from Mitch Starc got Las Vegas to 142.



Whew. Harper's early assault was ended by Mitch Starc, after a few wickets went before Crawley and Mendis stabilised. Then Sam Curran bowled Mendis and a few overs later, Nathan Coulternile got the prized scalp of Crawley. The batting collapsed to give Las Vegas a narrow win.

LV: 8/142 (20)
NAS: 9/130 (20)
MOTM: Nathan Coultner-Nile (LV, 4/27)

Table update: n/a

 

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Cricket Super League, Round 1 Match 1
Western Conference
Las Vegas Wizards vs Los Angeles Stallions
Las Vegas
Prematch Table Placings: All teams even

Toss: LA won and chose to bowl



The Haris Rauf show! Together with Jason Holder, he left LA 3/16 in the third over, then came back late to remove Mahmudullah and Curran. In between, decent knocks from Ross Taylor and Rishabh Pant got Las Vegas to a modicium of respectability but surely LA are the favourites...



WELL! The top order didn' do so well, but then Sam Curran went in for the kill! Five wickets in four consecutive overs delivering a all-time PCCS low of 67 all out and a shock, comfortable win to Las Vegas.

LV: 8/122 (20)
LA: 67 (14.2)
MOTM: Sam Curran (LV, 5/13)

Table update: Las Vegas to 1st on 2 points, Los Angeles remain on 0 points

 

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Cricket Super League, Round 1 Match 2
Western Conference
Portland Vikings vs San Diego Bolts
Portland
Prematch Table Placings: All teams even

Toss: San Diego won and chose to bat



Oh dear. After a quick start by Markram and Shoaib Malik, everything slowed down and lost all of the wickets. Dale Steyn particularily was important as he got rid of both of the openers, as well as finishing the innings. Lightning can't strike twice, right?



No, no it can't. While Jagadeesan and Head fell early, measured batting from Inglis and Dawid Malan got Portland home.

SD: 111 (19.1)
POR: 2/113 (16.5)
MOTM: Dale Steyn (Portland)

Table update: Portland to 2nd on 2 points, San Diego remain on 0 points.

 

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Cricket Super League, Round 1 Match 3
Western Conference
San Francisco Dolphins vs Seattle Bulldogs
San Francisco
Prematch Table Placings: All teams even

Toss: Seattle won and chose to bat



While the tail couldn't provide much acceleration, this was a much better batting performance than the rest of the West had performed. Much of this was on the openers- Avishka Fernando fell just short of his 50, while Prithvi Shaw went on to a well made 58.



WHEW! Thanks to a quick blast from Chris Lynn and a innings similar to Shaw's by Ben Dunk, the Dolphins needed just eight runs going into the final over. But Shah pinning Hetmyer LBW the prior over was a key moment, and the priorly expensive Benny Howell delivered a brilliant final over, bringing the win for Seattle.

SEA: 6/159 (20)
SF: 6/154 (20)
MOTM: Prithvi Shaw (SEA, 58)

Table update: Seattle to 3rd on 2 points, San Francisco remain on 0 points.

 

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Cricket Super League, Round 1 Match 4
Southwestern Conference
Austin Thunderbirds vs Dallas Tumbleweeds
Austin
Prematch Table Placings: All teams even

Toss: Austin won and chose to bat



Neil Wagner did a pretty good job, but his fellow Dallas bowlers struggled as Nick Larkin, Tim Seifert and Ben Stokes (who I can assure you was much happier about his knock than this picture suggests) put on 176 for Austin. Going to be a tough chase.



And so it proved- despite Rohit Sharma reaching 50 (something none of Austin's batters did), he batted slowly and nobody else got going, consigning them to a loss.

AUS 4/176 (20)
DAL 9/138 (20)
MOTM: Jasprit Bumrah (1/16)

Table update: Austin to 1st on 2 points, Dallas remain on 0 points.

 

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Cricket Super League, Round 1 Match 5
Southwestern Conference
Denver Prime vs Houston Cheetahs
Denver
Prematch Table Placings: All teams even

Toss: Denver won and chose to bat



A lightning start by skipper Rayudu and Reeza Hendricks gave the Prime the platform to build a solid innings off, and Shahid Afridi converted that into some late runs to finish with 161. Maharaj (2/10) was outstanding, Boland and Zadran less so.



Daniel Sams and Xavier Bartlett were outstanding in leaving Houston 7/66 and seemingly sunk. Then Chris Jordan got the long handle out. He biffed them back into contention, but one too many swipes at Vishwa Fernando ended his innings and despite Scott Boland finding the fence a few times, Houston's victory chances were over with him.

DEN: 7/161 (20)
HOU: 141 (18.1)
MOTM: Daniel Sams (4/29)

Table update: Denver to 2nd on 2 points, Houston remain on 0 points.

 

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Cricket Super League, Round 1 Match 6
Southwestern Conference
Kansas City Sharks vs Phoenix Broncos
Kansas City
Prematch Table Placings: All teams even

Toss: KC won and chose to bat



A good innings by Kansas. Fletcher and Gaekwad pulled off a good start, then after Sundar had seemingly made a mess of the finish, Billy Stanlake for some reason was given the final over and Anwar Ali took it for 18.



Sharks Attacked! Tom Banton and Shubman Gill never got too far ahead of themselves but kept the rate ticking over at ten an over, then when Banton was run out and Munro failed, Gill and AB did the same. A big knock for the young man in particular as Phoenix get their campaign off to the right start.

KC 7/166 (20)
PHO 3/167 (16.2)
MOTM: Shubman Gill (76)

Table update: Phoenix to 2nd on 2 points, Kansas City remain on 0 points.

 

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Cricket Super League, Round 1 Match 7
Southern Conference
Cincinnati Knights vs Indy Inferno
Cincinatti
Prematch Table Placings: All teams even

Toss: Indy won and chose to bowl



Super Smash is an apt descriptor for the Cincy innings! A brilliant start by two of the best hitters around- Jason Roy falling short of fifty despite clearing the fence four times, and Finn Allen passing it. Add 20 from the final over courtesy of Delport, and 180 is the highest first innings score of the competition so far.



While Sherfane Rutherford was similarily productive off the final over, hitting it for 22, he was on 16 (24) beforehand. This despite Rashid only bowling one over for some reason. He still ended up with 3 wickets of course... Indeed the best bowler was Oshane Thomas.

CIN 3/180 (20)
IND 8/148 (20)
MOTM: Finn Allen (55)

Table update: Cincinnati to 1st on 2 points, Indianapolis remain on 0 points.

 

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Cricket Super League, Round 1 Match 8
Southern Conference
Memphis Stars vs Nashville Demons
Memphis
Prematch Table Placings: All teams even

Toss: Nashville won and chose to bat



The top order for Nashville got a bit addicted to running themselves out, which meant that Crawley and Mendis had to put on a rescue plan. That they did, but it allowed Pat Cummins to get some outstanding figures.



Most chases become simple when Kane Williamson gets going. The one positive for Nashville would be Scott Kuggeleijn- the Kiwi is on fire!

NAS 5/131 (20)
MEM 4/133 (17.1)
MOTM: Kane Williamson (57*)

Table update: Memphis to 1st on 2 points, Nashville remain on 0 points.

 

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Cricket Super League, Round 1 Match 9
Southern Conference
Oklahoma City Hounds vs St Louis Rockets
Oklahoma City
Prematch Table Placings: All teams even



Again, an explosive top order batsman had a big say on this innings- Darcy Short scored 48 from 22 deliveries in the powerplay. His team stumbled home though, the game seems poised at halfway.



Some very average running proved to be the downfall of St Louis here- three of the top six being run out, including the on fire Josh da Silva, cost them a real shot at winning. Chris Morris' death bowling didn't help either.

OKC: 4/166 (20)
STL: 8/146 (20)
MOTM: D'Arcy Short (54)

Table update: Oklahoma City to 3rd on 2 points, St Louis remain on 0 points.