Eleven to One: an ODI RNG Draft

[Aislabie]

If I had to stick with the same lineup, here is how I would re-adjust the batting card.

1. Colin Munro
2. Qasim Umar
3. Kushal Bhurtel
4. Dale Benkenstein
5. Tony Reid
6. James Foster
7. Ravichandran Ashwin
8. Safyaan Sharif
9. Courtney Walsh
10. Monde Zondeki
11. Milton Small

Again, not the strongest of lineups, but hopefully passable

I think I'd have to go with the following if I were to do the same:
1. David Boon (R2)
2. Mark Greatbatch (R9)
3. Wesley Barresi (R5)
4. Ben Stokes (R3)
5. Shakib Al Hasan (R1)
6. Matthew Walker (R8)
7. Norman Vanua (R6)
8. Johann Louw (R4)
9. Josh Little (R10)
10. Aaqib Javed (R7)
11. Nantie Hayward (R11)

If I were to pick my team with complete hindsight, I'd end up with this:
1. David Boon (R2)
2. Mark Greatbatch (R9)
3. Wesley Barresi (R5)
4. Mal Loye (R4)
5. Ben Stokes (R3)
6. Shakib Al Hasan (R1)
7. Matthew Walker (R8)
8. Norman Vanua (R6)
9. Josh Little (R10)
10. Aaqib Javed (R7)
11. Nantie Hayward (R11)

And honestly, that's not too far away from what I had. Matthew Walker makes the team ahead of Wajahatullah Wasti every time given the latter's sub-50 ODI strike rate.

 

[CerealKiller]

Would love to see a Cricksim knockout tournament @Aislabie

 

[Umair7]

These are Shahid's domestic stats:
View attachment 277656

Ashton Agar can say goodbye to his record now!

 

[Aislabie]

Would love to see a Cricksim knockout tournament @Aislabie

I was having similar thoughts.

Well, in amongst my thoughts about how utterly foolish I was to pick the wrong Walker and not notice until several days later.

 

[Aislabie]

Team-by-Team [P]Reviews: Part One of Three​

@Aislabie
1. David Boon (R2)
2. Mark Greatbatch (R9)
3. Wesley Barresi (R5)
4. Nantie Hayward (R11)
5. Ben Stokes (R3)
6. Shakib Al Hasan (R1)
7. Josh Little (R10)
8. Johann Louw (R4)
9. Norman Vanua (R6)
10. Aaqib Javed (R7)
11. Matthew Walker (R8)

• This team was going so well for the first seven rounds or so. Boon, Barresi, Stokes, Shakib and Aaqib are a really excellent core to the team. First, the big mistake: I didn't notice until it was too late that the player I'd picked in Round 8 was in fact Matthew Walker, not Max Walker, which left him out of place at number 11.
• The batting is cut out at the knees by Hayward and Little getting forced in at numbers four and seven. Apart from that, it's actually quite good, with batters mostly slotting in in their best roles. Mostly.
• The bowling is really nice: Shakib is one of the best modern one-day spinners, and Josh Little is arguably his country's best-ever bowler. The rest are very handy role bowlers, while Walker's domestic bowling stats suggest that he could definitely have done a job at international level if he'd had the chance.
• Picks I'd have made differently include Matthew Walker slotting in at number seven, and (in hindsight) Mal Loye in Round Four instead of Johann Louw. Of course, I wasn't to know how few batting options I'd get down the line.

- - - - -

@Supreme General
1. Aaron Finch (R1)
2. Brendon McCullum (R9)
3. Allan Lamb (R5)
4. Rassie van der Dussen (R3)
5. Glenn Maxwell (R2)
6. Vengugopal Rao (R11)
7. Jimmy Neesham (R7)
8. Dion Nash (R8)
9. Abdur Razzak (R4)
10. Mitchell McClenaghan (R10)
11. Sajeewa de Silva (R6)

• This is an excellent team, and it's really well-balanced. It does perhaps fall a tiny bit short in terms of outright star power, but it also doesn't have anyone who is glaringly out of place.
• The batting is this team's biggest strength: the top five - including the timely Brendon McCullum who came through in Round Nine - are all top-quality ODI players in their particular roles. Not many teams in this draft can boast five batters of this quality.
• The bowling is solid but not spectacular: Sajeewa, McClenaghan and Razzak all have really good bowling records, even if they earned them in generally un-memorable ways. Of course, one more strong bowler would be nice rather than sharing 20 overs between Neesham, Nash and Maxwell.
• There are hardly any picks I'd have made differently in this team. I might have considered picking up Damien Fleming in the opening round because I'm someone who usually picks bowlers first, and this would have led to a couple of changed picks (Syed Abid Ali in Round 4, and Aravinda de Silva in Round 6) - but frankly I think you made every pick correctly for your situation.

- - - - -

@Ed Smith
1. Bruce Reid (R11)
2. Aiden Markram (R3)
3. Shoaib Malik (R7)
4. Neil McKenzie (R5)
5. Ken Rutherford (R1)
6. Frank Hayes (R9)
7. Elton Chigumbura (R6)
8. Manzoor Elahi (R10)
9. Dwayne Leverock (R8)
10. Kyle Jamieson (R4)
11. Jasprit Bumrah (R2)

• This team does have a couple of glaring shortcomings: no wicket-keeper anywhere in the line-up, and Bruce Reid ended up opening the batting. Apart from that though, it's really quite good, with most other roles in the team covered nicely.
• The batting is built mostly around the steady but unspectacular contributions of Markram, Malik, McKenzie and Rutherford; you'd ideally want a big-hitting option in there, but Mazoor Elahi does provide that in the death overs.
• The bowling is spearheaded by the fearsome new ball duo of Bumrah and Jamieson, plus the notable skills of Bruce Reid. After that it's spin to win, although none of your spinners is exactly world-beating.
• Picks I'd have made differently must begin with Round 8: while I understand the reasoning for Leverock with all my heart, Darren Lehmann was right there. Similarly, Ken Rutherford in the opening round was an error when options included Jesse Ryder and Jack Russell, both of whom would have filled specialist roles. Most other options in your pools would have further weakened your batting, and were well avoided - I would absolutely have picked up Shoaib Akhtar too. You also didn't get a single keeping option later than Round 6 ( Manoj Cheruparambil), which was harsh luck.

- - - - -

@ddrap14
1. Herschelle Gibbs (R1)
2. Kepler Wessels (R4)
3. Mohammad Shahzad (R9)
4. Bernard Julien (R11)
5. Arjuna Ranatunga (R2)
6. Rokhan Barakzai (R10)
7. Surinder Khanna (R7)
8. Malcolm Marshall (R3)
9. Lance Cairns (R8)
10. Gladstone Small (R6)
11. Makhaya Ntini (R5)

• I like this team a lot: some slightly janky stuff happened late in the draft to fit players into the batting order, but this couldn't be helped; indeed, it was well worth it to get a new ball duo of Malcolm Marshall and Makhaya Ntini.
• The batting depends quite a lot on Herschelle Gibbs and Arjuna Ranatunga; not that the rest are bad, but those two do stand out in terms of output. Speaking of Arjuna, I can only imagine the running between the wickets whenever he gets to bat with Shahzad. Also amusing is that they get to share the dressing room with the fitness-obsessed Wessels, Julien and Ntini.
• The bowling is this team's raison d'etre. The pace quintet of Marshall, Ntini, Julien, Small and Cairns will be threatening at all times, helped by the fact that they're all totally different bowlers. Barakzai as the only spinner will probably bowl as little as possible.
• Picks I'd have made differently are Andy Caddick in Round 8 (probably a mistake given what Cairns' hitting can offer to a team) and possibly Michael Slater over Gladstone Small in Round 6, although there was no way of knowing at that point that the team would soon run low on top-order batters.

- - - - -

@VC the slogger
1. Upul Tharanga (R5)
2. Sourav Ganguly (R1)
3. Ed Joyce (R4)
4. Moeen Ali (R10)
5. Paul Sheahan (R7)
6. Abhishek Nayar (R8)
7. Ken Wadsworth (R6)
8. Romario Shepherd (R2)
9. Leon Johnson (R11)
10. Wayne Daniel (R9)
11. Morne Morkel (R3)

• There's an awful lot to like about this team: the top three is very nice and solid, and the new ball pairing of Daniel and Morkel is pretty special. It is a bit concerning though that Sourav Ganguly, picked as a pure batter, is quite likely to bowl his full ten overs.
• The batting is solid but not spectacular. After Ganguly, this side lacks the magic of someone like a Buttler who could take the game away from an opposition team. That said, with recognised batters all the way down to number nine, there's always going to be someone to avert a collapse.
• The bowling falls off dramatically after the opening pair. Looking at his domestic stats, Abhishek Nayar may genuinely be this team's third-best bowler, which just goes to show how quickly a draft like this can get away from you even if you don't do anything particularly wrong.
• Picks I'd have made differently start with Kenya's Mohammad Sheikh in either Round 2 (ahead of Shepherd) or Round 5 (ahead of Sheahan). It was an awful pool to come up not once but twice, but I think Sheikh had the best ODI record of the bunch. Morne Morkel over Eoin Morgan was a brave but probably correct choice, while I would have picked Bernard Julien ahead of Ed Joyce later on. From then, most picks sort themselves out, but not Wadsworth: I loved the pick and it turned out there were no more good keepers, but at the same time Adam Voges was also in that pool. I would have gambled and lost out here.

- - - - -

@Aravind.'s XI
1. Matthew Hayden (R3)
2. Aamer Sohail (R1)
3. Kumar Sangakkara (R7)
4. Ian Billcliff (R8)
5. Basit Ali (R9)
6. Sharjeel Khan (R10)
7. David Willey (R2)
8. Chamu Chibhabha (R11)
9. Ian Bishop (R6)
10. Nathan Lyon (R5)
11. Allan Donald (R4)

• This is almost certainly the best team of this first third. Hayden and Sangakkara in your top three is just an enormous flex, while having Bishop and Donald to back them up with the ball does seem rather like using a sledgehammed to crack open a nut.
• The batting does have a couple of relative holes in: the most obvious is labelled "Ian Billcliff". This isn't Billcliff's fault at all, it's just that he wasn't really worth passing on Oman's Bilal Khan for. Otherwise things look really good down to at least number seven.
• The bowling is certainly not letting the side down either. Bishop, Donald and Willey as the main pace trio, with Lyon and Sohail doing a thoroughly adequate job in support. Most bases are covered.
• As I've alluded to, Bilal Khan is the biggest pick I'd have made differently. His bowling is irresistible, and you just make space for a bowler like that - in this case, a little too high at number eight. The surprisingly good stats of Brad Williams would have tempted me ahead of David Willey in Round 2, while McBrine or McCallan would have come ahead of Nathan Lyon in Round 5.

- - - - -

All six of these teams will make up the first of three groups of six in an upcoming tournament to see whose team was best. Fixtures will be added to this post once I've slept.

Group A Fixtures
@Aislabie vs @Supreme General - Trent Bridge
@ddrap14 vs @VC the slogger - Edgbaston
@Ed Smith vs @Aravind. - Wantage Road

@Ed Smith vs @Aislabie - Edgbaston
@Aravind. vs @ddrap14 - Wantage Road
@Supreme General vs @VC the slogger - Trent Bridge

@Supreme General vs @Ed Smith - Wantage Road
@VC the slogger vs @Aravind. - Trent Bridge
@Aislabie vs @ddrap14 - Edgbaston

@Ed Smith vs @ddrap14 - Trent Bridge
@Supreme General vs @Aravind. - Edgbaston
@Aislabie vs @VC the slogger - Wantage Road

@Ed Smith vs @VC the slogger - Edgbaston
@Supreme General vs @ddrap14 - Wantage Road
@Aislabie vs @Aravind. - Trent Bridge

 

[Ed Smith]

Aye I'd have taken Russell had I known the complete lack of keepers coming up. I stand by Big D though, Lehmann is a thunderwang

 

[ddrap14]

All six of these teams will make up the first of three groups of six in an upcoming tournament to see whose team was best. Fixtures will be added to this post once I've slept.

I'd like to file a complaint about being put in the same group as everyone whose team ended up being good /s

 

[Aislabie]

Team-by-Team [P]Review: Part Two of Three​

@ahmedleo414
1. Qasim Umar (R6)
2. Colin Munro (R7)
3. Kushal Bhurtel (R8)
4. Tony Reid (R11)
5. Milton Small (R10)
6. Safyaan Sharif (R9)
7. Dale Benkenstein (R5)
8. Ravichandran Ashwin (R1)
9. James Foster (R4)
10. Monde Zondeki (R3)
11. Courtney Walsh (R2)

• This is a team that was thoroughly wronged by the RNG gods. Frankly I don't think there was a huge amount that Ahmed could have done to make this team work - there is nowhere in an eleven to hide Tony Reid and his 65 mph thunderbolts, for example.
• The batting is absolutely cooked. It probably peaks with Colin Munro at the top of the order, and Colin Munro famously failed in ODI cricket. With the benefit of hindsight, the batting order would have been different - but that doesn't really help with the personnel.
• The bowling of course is pretty good; Ravichandran Ashwin and Courtney Walsh are the headliners, but Safyaan Sharif will also offer lots with the new ball. Small, Reid, Zondeki and Benkenstein will share the other 20 overs amongst themselves.
• It's hard to suggest picks I would have made differently without the benefit of hindsight about the sorts of players to come. Asif Iqbal would have been an interesting left-field pick in Round One. More importantly though, I would definitely have picked Zeeshan Maqsood ahead of Zondeki in Round Three and considered Neil Foster in Round Four - although your point about making sure to get a keeper was a very valid one. There's really not much you could have done.

- - - - -

@Umair7
1. George Munsey (R9)
2. Phil Salt (R2)
3. Stephen Fleming (R7)
4. Jacques Kallis (R1)
5. Peter Fulton (R8)
6. Asad Shafiq (R10)
7. Jahurul Islam (R5)
8. Lonwabo Tsotsobe (R6)
9. Manjural Islam Rana (R4)
10. Ashley Mallett (R3)
11. Shahidullah Mandozai (R11)

• This is a really fun team; most players are also in the right place, which is a big big bonus. The only real oddity is Shahidullah being wasted down at number eleven; this is frankly an unforced error given that Lonwabo Tsotsobe should have been put there in Round Six.
• The batting is dominated by Phil Salt's big hitting and Jacques Kallis' composed runmaking. That's a really good starting point, and more modest players like Asad Shafiq and Jahurul Islam can fit around them nicely to make a nicely balanced team.
• The bowling is a bit numerically challenged - with only five realistic bowling options, that means they will all have to bowl a full ten overs, including Shahidullah. That said, the other four are all very good bowling options: Manjural Islam Rana was a fantastic pick, a player who would have gone on to be a Bangladesh legend if not for his tragic death.
• The picks I would have made differently are few and far between: Ashley Mallett was an inspired pick, and one I might have overlooked: I might have ended up with Sanju Manju instead. Other than that, Lonwabo Tsotsobe would have batted at number 11, and I would have probably picked Damien Fleming over Stephen in Round 7. Again, I don't think I would have ended up with a better team than you did at all.

- - - - -

@Disharies
1. Travis Head (R3)
2. Gary Kirsten (R1)
3. Inzamam Ul-Haq (R10)
4. Brad Haddin (R7)
5. Aasif Sheikh (R6)
6. Cameron White (R2)
7. Josh da Silva (R11)
8. Ravindra Pushpakumara (R5)
9. Zahir Khan (R4)
10. Damien Fleming (R8)
11. Chanaka Welegedara (R9)

• This is a really good team considering the options you had to pick from. A Sri Lankan core isn't what you look for in your pace attack, but you made it work. And the opening pair of Head and Kirsten is absolutely top quality, one of the best in the whole draft.
• The batting is this team's strength. There are generally good players right down to number six, where most teams usually have one or two weaknesses up there. The tail could perhaps offer a little bit more, but I can't criticise you picking your bowlers for their bowling.
• The bowling depends perhaps too much on the part-time spin of Cameron White and Travis Head to complete the 50 overs. Thankfully, Cameron White has a surprisingly good ODI record with the ball and was arguably under-used by Australia. Fleming, Welegedara and Zahir will definitely be the three main bowlers here though.
• There are a couple of picks I would have made differently: my liking to pick bowlers first means I would have likely gone for Reon King in Round 1; from your genuinely awful Round 5 pool I'd have gone for Malinda Pushpakumara, who has astonishing List A stats despite a couple of poor ODI, and probably Aaron Jones over Aasif Sheikh in Round Six. It would have been a different side, for sure, but I like yours.

- - - - -

@pillowprocter
1. Andy McBrine (R10)
2. Johan Botha (R11)
3. Zubayr Hamza (R2)
4. Daryll Cullinan (R5)
5. Alex Cusack (R9)
6. Scott Edwards (R7)
7. Courtney Browne (R6)
8. Dunith Wellalage (R1)
9. Shane Bond (R4)
10. Michael Owens (R3)
11. Dilshan Madushanka (R8)

• This team has possibly my favourite opening partnership of all time. Not that it's by any means a high-quality pairing compared to some of the others out there, but I don't know - it's just a vibe. That said, this wasn't always an easy draft: there were some really awkward pools of players to pick from here.
• The batting is not good. As much as I love the opening pair, their lack of outright batting quality is a theme that extends throughout the top five (with the notable exception of Daryll Cullinan). An awful lot will therefore depend on...
• The bowling. This is headlined by Shane Bond, the best bowler selected by anyone in the draft. Just a flawless pick there; his supporting cast fades into the background by comparison, but both McBrine and Cusack have absolutely stellar bowling records of their own. Michael Owens and Dilshan Madushanka also have domestic stats that suggest they could do a job here. Really good bowling attack.
• There are a lot of picks I would have made differently. Indeed, it's probably quicker for me to just list what my team would have been from your pools (changes in bold):

Spoiler: Aislabie's XI from Procter's pools

1. Dean Brownlie (R6)
2. Kennedy Otieno (R3)
3. Ranjan Madugalle (R8)
4. Johan Botha (R11)
5. Scott Edwards (R7)
6. Bas Zuiderent (R2)
7. Alex Cusack (R9)
8. Pat Cummins (R5)
9. Shane Bond (R4)
10. Andy McBrine (R10)
11. Chanaka Welegedara (R1)

It's not a perfect team of course, it just shows how one different choice leads to another, and another.

- - - - -

@Verified Enigma
1. Pathum Nissanka (R7)
2. Greg Chappell (R5)
3. Andy Balbirnie (R3)
4. Gerrie Erasmus (R4)
5. Kamindu Mendis (R10)
6. Rishabh Pant (R1)
7. Samiullah Khan (R11)
8. Raymon Reifer (R8)
9. Len Pascoe (R9)
10. Javagal Srinath (R6)
11. Ishant Sharma (R2)

• This is a really nice team, even if there's some jank when it comes to exactly how it fits together. Greg Chappell as an opening batter works well, as it really maximises his batting contribution. The bowling attack - including Chappell's underrated medium-pace - has a huge amount of upside as well.
• The batting depends a lot on Chappell and Pant: Balbirnie and Erasmus at numbers three and four is very okay - it could have gone considerably worse (see: Nantie Hayward), but it could also have gone considerably better (more on that in a moment).
• The bowling is really good: Len Pascoe is one of the more underrated one-day bowlers: not only did he take 53 wickets @ 20.11 for the official Australians, but he also took 30 wickets @ 20.60 for the WSC Australians. A fantastic bowler, and one who finds great support from Srinath, Sharma, Chappell and Samiullah Khan (whose domestic stats suggest he deserved more opportunities for Pakistan).
• There are some picks I would have made differently: in Round 2 I would have been tempted to pick Chetan Sharma over Ishant; his bombastic batting would have made him a good dual-role player despite slightly weaker bowling. I wouldn't have committed to Balbirnie and Erasmus at three and four - possibly at 2 and 6 instead. Kris Srikkanth (Round 6) would also be a very desirable pick: a fast-scoring opener whose off-breaks would present a legitimate bowling option. Again, it's fascinating how one change begets another later.

- - - - -

@Till Valhalla
1. Usman Khawaja (R3)
2. Parthiv Patel (R4)
3. Rahul Dravid (R1)
4. Kamran Akmal (R10)
5. Mudassar Nazar (R9)
6. Lendl Simmons (R8)
7. Ramesh Mendis (R11)
8. Brad Hogg (R5)
9. Greg Campbell (R7)
10. Shafiuddin Ahmed (R6)
11. Winston Davis (R2)

• This team is pretty well-balanced: a little heavy on wicket-keepers perhaps, but with four dual-role players, you do actually cover all the bases one might need from a one-day international team. Not many of the teams here can say that.
• The batting is dominated by Usman Khawaja and Rahul Dravid, two accumulators with the ability to guarantee a strong platform more often than not. The middle-order does have some holes though, the product of having to be filled in the last four rounds of the draft which created a real lack of big-hitters in the end.
• The bowling is pretty good: the spin attack of Brad Hogg and Ramesh Mendis is statistically really good, and the pair of them complement each other well. The seam attack isn't ideal though; it'll probably be Davis and Campbell with the new ball, and Shafiuddin Ahmed won't be doing much of anything.
• The picks I would have made differently start pretty early on: I would have been tempted by both Simon Davis and John Davison ahead of Winston, even though the latter is a Northants legend. I would also have picked Munaf Patel ahead of Parthiv in Round 4, the big-hitting Shafiqullah Shinwari in Round 6 and Eric Simons ahead of Lendl Simmons in Round 8. This would almost certainly have left me with too much bowling and not enough batting, much like my actual team has.

Group B Fixtures
@ahmedleo414 vs @Umair7 - Chester-le-Street
@Disharies vs @pillowprocter - Old Trafford
@Verified Enigma vs @Till Valhalla - Headingley

@Verified Enigma vs @ahmedleo414 - Old Trafford
@Till Valhalla vs @Disharies - Headingley
@Umair7 vs @pillowprocter - Chester-le-Street

@Umair7 vs @Verified Enigma - Headingley
@pillowprocter vs @Till Valhalla - Chester-le-Street
@ahmedleo414 vs @Disharies - Old Trafford

@Verified Enigma vs @Disharies - Chester-le-Street
@Umair7 vs @Till Valhalla - Old Trafford
@ahmedleo414 vs @pillowprocter - Headingley

@Verified Enigma vs @pillowprocter - Old Trafford
@Umair7 vs @Disharies - Headingley
@ahmedleo414 vs @Till Valhalla - Chester-le-Street

 

[Till Valhalla]

This team has possibly my favourite opening partnership of all time

I could be wrong but I believe I have used Botha as an opener in some leagues here.

 

[Aislabie]

Team-by-Team [P]Review: Part Three of Three​

@mohsin7827
1. Graham Gooch (R7)
2. Paul Stirling (R5)
3. Liton Das (R9)
4. Steve Tikolo (R6)
5. Grant Elliott (R4)
6. Corey Anderson (R10)
7. Ashwell Prince (R11)
8. Sam Curran (R1)
9. Tim Southee (R3)
10. Andre Nel (R2)
11. Abdul Qadir (R8)

• This team is pretty well balanced I'd say; it's chock full of dual-role cricketers, with batting all the way down to SCurran and Southee down at numbers eight and nine, while six of the top eight are at least reasonable bowlers. This is an incredible amount of flexibility for any team.
• The batting is built around very impressive batting depth: Gooch and Stirling are both excellent ODI opening batters, and high-quality players abound all the way down to Ashwell Prince at number seven. Stirling and Corey Anderson in particular should be worth their weight in gold as power hitters.
• The bowling is excellent too: Andre Nel and Abdul Qadir were both fantastic ODI bowlers in their respective eras, while the likes of Elliott and Southee in particular boast stats that reflect them both having been chronically underused. Gooch, Stirling and Tikolo will be lucky to get so much as an over.
• There weren't many picks I would have made differently, but one would have been Alex Cusack ahead of Sam Curran. It's probably a bit of a weird call, but I'm a biased Ireland fan, so I stand by it. I would almost certainly have picked Hashan Tillakaratne ahead of Steve Tikolo in Round 6 too, just because at that point the need for a keeper becomes quite pressing. But then Liton Das fell out of the sky, and you were rewarded for that particular gamble. Abdul Razzaq and Liam Livingstone were both also unlucky to miss out at their points in the draft.

- - - - -

@Neo 7
1. Hashim Amla (R4)
2. Devon Conway (R5)
3. Zeeshan Maqsood (R10)
4. Jos Buttler (R1)
5. Amay Khurasiya (R7)
6. Lance Klusener (R8)
7. Malcolm Waller (R6)
8. Nehemiah Perry (R9)
9. Alex Wharf (R2)
10. Taskin Ahmed (R3)
11. Mike Smith (R11)

• This team has a very interesting balance to it: certainly, it has the strongest top six of any team in this draft: Amla, Conway, Buttler and Klusener are all top-quality players, and two of them have the added bonus of being dual-role players which really helps to balance out this team.
• The batting, as mentioned, is dizzyingly good. The relative dodginess of Waller and Perry at seven and eight won't matter at all, because I'd be very surprised if their runs are needed in the slightest.
• The bowling isn't quite as overwhelming: Klusener and Taskin are more than adequate seamers, and Zeeshan Maqsood's stats reveal him to be one of the best Associate bowlers going around. However, the overs from Wharf and in particular Perry and Waller will be a real opportunity for opposition batters.
• The picks I would have made differently really surround those fourth, fifth and sixth bowling slots. Wharf came out of a weak pool where it was either him or Brad Wheal, but Malcolm Waller was chosen ahead of Max Walker - a very rogue move that I absolutely would not have made. However, I also wouldn't have chosen Devon Conway, because Bev Congdon (one of the early one-day pioneers) was also in his pool.

- - - - -

@Neptune
1. Stuart Law (R9)
2. Ali Brown (R7)
3. Dean Jones (R6)
4. John Davison (R10)
5. Andrew Symonds (R2)
6. Chris Cairns (R5)
7. Rohan Mustafa (R3)
8. Azhar Mahmood (R8)
9. Wahab Riaz (R1)
10. Michael Kasprowicz (R4)
11. Dogodo Bau (R11)

• The moment when this team was blessed by Dogodo Bau to answer its wicket-keeping vacancy was extremely satisfying. It was in fact the only role not already fulfilled in this team: all of the required batting and bowling talents were already present thanks to an absolute bounty of all-rounders.
• The batting has huge depth, and is headlined by two of Australia's best: the dynamic Dean Jones at number three and the explosive Andrew Symonds at number five, both of whom passed away far too young in the last few years. Besides them, the rest of the batting has much more of a supporting role, but that's okay.
• The bowling is headlined by the excellent Michael Kasprowicz, a man who would have played 200 ODIs for any other country in the world, but didn't because he was from Australia during that period. Apart from him, the rest of the bowling is good without being great, although both Davison and Mustafa are surprisingly effective associate spin bowlers.
• There are a couple of picks I would have made differently: right at the very beginning, I would have picked Adam Voges in Round 1: his international stats are impossible to ignore. After that, there tended to be one obvious pick in every round of players, including Round 8; but seriously, we were both shocked by how mediocre Azhar's stats were. Is he the least effective player ever to play so many one-day internationals?

- - - - -

@Na Maloom Afraad
1. Lahiru Thirimanne (R5)
2. Phil Simmons (R4)
3. Faf du Plessis (R3)
4. Aqib Ilyas (R7)
5. Suryakumar Yadav (R6)
6. Paras Khadka (R2)
7. Dave Callaghan (R9)
8. Andrew Zesers (R11)
9. VRV Singh (R10)
10. Ajantha Mendis (R1)
11. Aavishkar Salvi (R8)

• There are so many teams, good grief. Out of all 18, this is definitely in the better half. The batting is okay, but the bowling is outstanding. It doesn't look it initially, but this has some slightly unexpected excellence tucked away.
• The batting is dominated by the stellar Faf du Plessis: this is his best format after all. His right-hand man will be Aqib Ilyas, Oman's breakout star of the last few years who averages nearly 60 against Associate opposition. Everyone else in the top seven is of a similar standard: supporting cast, but by no means a weakness.
• The bowling is built around the mystery spin of Ajantha Mendis. Popular wisdom suggests that he got "found out", but in actual fact he got injured. Interestingly, his best supporting bowlers (statistically at least) are the Associate pairing of Ilyas and Khadka. Maheer will certainly be hoping they live up to the billing.
• There aren't too many picks I would have made differently. In round four, I would have picked Simi Singh ahead of Phil Simmons thanks to my pro-Irish bias, and possibly a proper wicket-keeper ahead of Suryakumar Yadav. However, the only definite miss-step here was in picking VRV Singh ahead of Robin Singh in Round 10.

- - - - -

@CerealKiller
1. Fakhar Zaman (R4)
2. Shai Hope (R9)
3. Rovman Powell (R10)
4. Saud Shakeel (R8)
5. Paul Collingwood (R7)
6. Shadab Khan (R3)
7. Luke Ronchi (R1)
8. Graeme Swann (R6)
9. Kagiso Rabada (R2)
10. Josh Hazlewood (R5)
11. Neal Radford (R11)

• This team is a strong contender for the overall win: the opening pair is arguably the best of all the teams (in the good way, not the fun way), and the bowling is consistently stellar from first over to last. It's really hard to go wrong here.
• The batting is indeed built around two openers who average over 45 in ODI cricket, but they aren't the only acts in town. Saud Shakeel and Paul Collingwood make for a strong middle-order, while Luke Ronchi has the potential to be very explosive at the death.
• The bowling is just incredible. A devastating new-ball pair (Rabada, Hazlewood), a top-quality spin duo (Swann, Shadab) and two Englishmen to fill out any remaining overs. Neal Radford might seem like a weak link, but his domestic stats suggest that all he really needed was more opportunity.
• There are barely any picks I would have made differently. Round 2 was a bit of a toss-up between Rackemann and Rabada, and frankly either would have been a correct choice. I would, however, have picked the other R. Powell in Round 10: Ricardo comes with a better average, strike rate and more experience, and he got them in a more bowler-friendly era.

- - - - -

@Fenil
1. Adam Gilchrist (R4)
2. Ashton Agar (R11)
3. James Taylor (R7)
4. Rameez Shahzad (R3)
5. Shiv Chanderpaul (R9)
6. Adam Zampa (R10)
7. Jan Frylinck (R6)
8. Tendai Chisoro (R8)
9. Paul Reiffel (R2)
10. Zaheer Khan (R1)
11. Nathan Bracken (R5)

• I suspect that the final of this competition could be between Talha's team and this one. This really does have all bases covered, even if there are a couple of Australians who are noticeably out of position (although I do love Agar as an opener: it's the same vibe as McBrine and Botha).
• The batting starts as it means to go on with Adam Gilchrist, and then it has a powerhouse middle-order of Taylor, Shahzad and Chanderpaul at three, four and five. These four are so good that having to squeeze Agar and Zampa into the top six doesn't even feel like a huge problem.
• The bowling is top tier. Not only are there six very good options, but they're so good between us that Ashton Agar might even be playing as a de facto specialist batter. Both Tendai Chisoro and Jan Frylinck are fantastic white-ball bowlers for unfashionable African sides. And however much praise gets thrown Nathan Bracken's way, it's never enough.
• There were very few picks I would have made differently in this team either. James Taylor vs Harry Tector could have gone either way, but I think Taylor was the right call. Apart from that, Chirag Suri would have been my pick ahead of Tendai Chisoro in Round 8 because at that point, given that at that point only three of the top six had been picked whereas the bowling was already rather stacked.

Group C Fixtures
@mohsin7827 vs @Neo 7 - Bristol
@Neptune vs @Na Maloom Afraad - Taunton
@CerealKiller vs @Fenil - Cardiff

@CerealKiller vs @mohsin7827 - Taunton
@Fenil vs @Neptune - Cardiff
@Neo 7 vs @Na Maloom Afraad - Bristol

@Neo 7 vs @CerealKiller - Cardiff
@Na Maloom Afraad vs @Fenil - Bristol
@mohsin7827 vs @Neptune - Taunton

@CerealKiller vs @Neptune - Bristol
@Neo 7 vs @Fenil - Taunton
@mohsin7827 vs @Na Maloom Afraad - Cardiff

@CerealKiller vs @Na Maloom Afraad - Taunton
@Neo 7 vs @Neptune - Cardiff
@mohsin7827 vs @Fenil - Bristol

Lord's, The Oval and The Rose Bowl will host Super Six and knockout matches.

 

[CerealKiller]

I would, however, have picked the other R. Powell in Round 10: Ricardo comes with a better average, strike rate and more experience, and he got them in a more bowler-friendly era.

Honestly picked Rovman just for the potential of getting a random 50 off 30

 

[Aislabie]

Honestly picked Rovman just for the potential of getting a random 50 off 30

Oh for sure, I absolutely love Rovman as a player and I reckon he has almost unlimited potential. But if I were picking each on their careers to date, I'd go the other way.

 

[Fenil]

Chirag Suri would have been my pick ahead of Tendai Chisoro in Round 8 because at that point, given that at that point only three of the top six had been picked whereas the bowling was already rather stacked.

You are correct and I probably should have done that but at that point of time the average of 25 didn't inspire me. I was also banking on my luck to get a good batsman in the remaining rounds which wasn't to be.

Overall I am happy with the side except for Zampa having to bat @6 but with #7, #8 and #9 being capable to hold the Willow I would be keeping my fingers crossed for them to slog the way to a good score. I'm confident in our bowlers though if the Sim doesn't do it's antics and give Zampa and Agar only 2-3 overs as they are batting high up the order than bowlers generally would.

 

[Na Maloom Afraad]

and possibly a proper wicket-keeper ahead of Suryakumar Yadav.

Yeah, I didn't really anticipate SKY going 0 (1), 0 (1) and 0 (1) in his last three ODI innings. Picking an actual wicket keeper may have been the better move to make.

However, the only definite miss-step here was in picking VRV Singh ahead of Robin Singh in Round 10.

That was certainly a brainfart and a half.

 

[Aislabie]

I didn't really anticipate SKY going 0 (1), 0 (1) and 0 (1)

And really, who would have? The most consistently destructive T20 batter in the world turned into Ajit Agarkar at the prospect of an extra 30 overs to bat