Draft: The Worst of ODI Cricket

[CerealKiller]

My second pick is Prosper Utseya, the Zimbabwean offie. Bowled in 160 ODIs, getting a 133 wickets at an average of almost 47. And he was chucking a lot of the time.

CerealKiller's XI
1.
2.
3.
4. Mohammad Ashraful
5.
6.
7.
8. Prosper Utseya
9.
10.
11.

 

[Aislabie]

Y'all know you're meant to be picking the worst available players right? There's not been much sign of it

 

[Master Bates]

​

My next pick is Navdeep Poonia.

This Scottish batsman managed to play 21 ODIs with an paltry average of 11.28 with just one fifty (67). His stats as a top-order batsman are:
1st position - 44 runs at 7.33 (S/R 57.14) (Innings - 6)
2nd position - 91 runs at 22.75 (S/R 78.44) (Innings - 4)
3rd position - 85 runs at 14.16 (S/R 64.39) (Innings - 6)

He will open the batting and play the first ball, trying to get out within the first 4 overs of the match (average no. of balls faced as an opener-19.3). I did put little effort in calculating his balls stay per match.

01. Navdeep Poonia
11. Pommie Mbangwa

@DalePlaysSports

 

[CerealKiller]

Y'all know you're meant to be picking the worst available players right? There's not been much sign of it

So far i've focused on players who played a lot but were still awful, might look for people with fewer matches now. I've said it before, but a bowler averaging 47 after 160 matches in my opinion is worse than a guy who went wicketless in 2 or 3 matches

 

[Ed Smith]

Taking Rod Marsh on account of his average of 20.08 and the fact that his 92 caps gives me more play for picking utterly honking players moving forward

 

[Ed Smith]

@Bevab you're up. Forgot the tag.

 

[Bevab]

Omer Hussain who played a grand total of eight ODI matches against mighty teams like Afghanistan, Ireland (to be fair.. they did knock Pakistan out), Bermuda, Netherlands and a 2007 West Indies side. All that he could muster was a pitiable batting average of of 9 and a high score of 17. Since some games against other associate sides were not fully considered to be ODIs, including his List A record seems fair. While he does benefit from having an extra fifty (versus Surrey) at least there, his average jumps to only 13.78. And the strike rate? 52.16, perfect for a test. Despite being listed as a keeper, Hussain never kept wickets in any of the ODIs he played and also never bowled a delivery in any official games either. Did he happen to play so many games only because his cousin was the famous Majid Haq? Considering that he averaged less than his famous cousin (who was an all-rounder batting below him) in the 2014 North Sea Series (a local tournament consisting of clubs from Scotland and Netherlands) despite being a specialist batsman, his continued selection was most certainly not just because of his very apparent poor skills.

1. ?
2. ?
3. O. Hussain
4. ?
5. ?
6. ?
7. N. Mongia
   
8. ?
9. ?
10. ?
11. ?

@Aislabie your move.

 

[Aislabie]

Overall Pick #13: Mluleki Nkala

Profile
One of the elite band of players to get picked in both the Worst of Test Cricket and Worst of ODI cricket drafts, it's easy to forget that Mluleki Nkala was once one of the most promising players in the world: the eighteen-year-old who dominated an Under-19 World Cup, then got Sachin Tendulkar's wicket in the very first over of his ODI career. At that point, the sky was the limit. But that was also pretty much as good as things ever got.

For eight years, Nkala earned repeated selection thanks to his admirable qualities as a team man but it was difficult not to notice that he was getting absolutely no on-field results. At domestic level, he was the kind of guy you'd describe as a "combative all-rounder" - the guy whose stats weren't on his side, but you'd want on your side in a pressure moment. In internationals though, he was an all-rounder only in the sense that he wouldn't make the side on either discipline alone.

Statistics
ODIS - 324 runs @ 10.80, SR 61.59 (best 47) and 22 wickets @ 71.36, econ 5.95 (best 3/12) in 50 matches
LIST A - 714 runs @ 14.00, SR n/a (best 54*) and 71 wickets @ 38.90, econ 38.90 (1 5WI, best 5/35) in 93 matches

Role in the Team
Nkala takes on pretty much his real-life role: comes in down the order with the team about 80/6, then comes on first change (probably - he might open the bowling) when his team is trying to defend 120.

Fields on Wheels so far:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8. Mluleki Nkala (Pick #13, 50 caps)
9. Srinivas Venkataraghavan (Pick #2, 15 caps)
10.
11.

(65/200 caps)

Next pick:
@El Loco

 

[Bevab]

I'm going to pick Mluleki Nkala to bat at eight; write-up will come this evening

@El Loco

Excellent pick. Very nearly picked him in the first round. An economy of nearly six in the 2000s is criminal to say the least.

 

[Aislabie]

Excellent pick. Very nearly picked him in the first round. An economy of nearly six in the 2000s is criminal to say the least.

To think he started off as the 18-year-old who got Tendulkar in his first over

 

[Ed Smith]

He wasn't a wicket-taker, but he did offer excellent control to his captain. I believe he even touched the top ten in the bowling rankings for a while. Yes there's a lot to dislike about him (elbow, personality) but he doesn't belong in this draft.


I give up.

Thank goodness for Navdeep Poonia.[DOUBLEPOST=1573220261][/DOUBLEPOST]I'm going to pick Mluleki Nkala to bat at eight; write-up will come this evening

@El Loco

Give it time. I have a plan

 

[Aislabie]

Give it time. I have a plan

If I were still a staffie here, I'd find a way to infract you for picking Rod Marah in a worst-of XI of any kind.

 

[Ed Smith]

If I were still a staffie here, I'd find a way to infract you for picking Rod Marah in a worst-of XI of any kind.

By today's standards. His batting average is dog and he fills half my caps almost. I have some gloriously shite ideas coming up bro. Dont fret.

Or I can change it if you're that against it

 

[Aislabie]

No no, choices have been made

 

[CerealKiller]

He wasn't a wicket-taker, but he did offer excellent control to his captain. I believe he even touched the top ten in the bowling rankings for a while. Yes there's a lot to dislike about him (elbow, personality) but he doesn't belong in this draft.


I give up.

Thank goodness for Navdeep Poonia.[DOUBLEPOST=1573220261][/DOUBLEPOST]I'm going to pick Mluleki Nkala to bat at eight; write-up will come this evening

@El Loco

Well, you are clearly the better researcher