Draft: The Panesar Lottery

[Aislabie]

Player 3

Benjamin Aislabie
Nominated by: @Aislabie and @Yash.



The lucky winner of Benjamin Aislabie will have somebody to look after their snuffbox. They will also not have any substitute fielders to replace him with in the field, which is very unfortunate indeed.

And he goes to... @Yash.

Congratulations!

 

[Aislabie]

Player 4

Maharaja of Patiala
Nominated by: @Aislabie and @Yash.


The Maharaja of Patiala was generally considered to be one of the better cricketing princes in India at the time. This largely meant that he was at least better than the Maharajas of Vizianagram and Porbandar (more on them later).

And he goes to... @Aislabie

Congratulations to me!

 

[Aislabie]

Player 5

Maharajah of Vizianagram
Nominated by: @Aislabie and @ahmedleo414



The funniest thing about Vizzy's nomination is that he probably opens the batting by default in both of the teams that our respective nominations would make. More than anyone else in history, Vizzy was a cricketer with all the gear and no idea.

And he goes to... @Aislabie

Oh dear.

 

[Aislabie]

Player 6

Monty Panesar
Nominated by: @Aislabie and @Ed Smith



This absolute machine of a cricketer was always going to be nominated, because it's his name on the thread. One of England's best 21st century spin bowlers, his value with the ball was entirely dwarfed by the meme value of his other contributions.

And he goes to... @Aislabie

I'll take him.

 

[Aislabie]

Player 7

Mason Crane
Nominated by: @CerealKiller and @Yash.



The man with a name quite literally plucked from an episode of Quantum Leap, Mason Crane found himself double-nominated when Yash's first choice of James Muirhead proved to be invalid. A decent enough county bowler, should never have played Test cricket when he did.

And he goes to... @Yash.

Congratulations!

 

[Aislabie]

Player 8

Seymour Clark
Nominated by: @Aislabie and @CerealKiller



Think of the worst batter you've ever seen. Perhaps your grandmother at the annual backyard game if you happen to be Australian. Chances are, Seymour Clark was worse. The gifted wicket-keeper estimated that his highest score in any form of cricket was three.

And he goes to... @Aislabie

I've done well.

 

[Aislabie]

Player 9
Victor Nyauchi
Nominated by: @pillowprocter



A really solid Zimbabwean seamer from Pillowprocter's armada of Zimbabwean seamers. Nyauchi has 20 Test wickets at 36 apiece.

And he goes to... @Ed Smith

Congratulations!

 

[Aislabie]

Player 10

Brenton Parchment
Nominated by: @Yash.



Brenton Parchment was brought into the West Indies side to fill the shoes of Chris Gayle, who had presumably had one of his fallings out with the West Indies board or something. Just let that sink in for a moment. He could not fill those shoes and was promptly discarded.

And he goes to... @ddrap14

Congratulations!

 

[Aislabie]

Player 11

Veer Pratap Singh
Nominated by: @Till Valhalla


Something tells me that the Bengali seamer would be somewhat confused to know he was part of a list of players that also included Brijal Patel, Don Bradman and Seymour Clark. A pretty solid domestic record for Bengal and KKR though, far from the worst player you could get here.

And he goes to... @ddrap14

Congratulations!

 

[Aislabie]

Player 12

Kyle Jarvis
Nominated by: @pillowprocter


Hey look, another Zimbabwean seamer. Kyle Jarvis moved to Manchester and immediately became the owner of a fade haircut and a shit sleeve of tattoos. In other words, he moved to Manchester.

And he goes to... @CerealKiller

Congratulations!

 

[Aislabie]

Player 13

Luke Jongwe
Nominated by: @pillowprocter


Hey look, another Zimbabwean seamer. Luke Jongwe burst onto the scene with his bonkers five for six against Afghanistan as a 21 year old. Somehow, that's already seven years ago. Like Luke Jongwe, I'm getting old quicker than I thought I would.

And he goes to... @Yash.

Congratulations!

 

[Aislabie]

Player 14

Bryce McGain
Nominated by: @ddrap14


One has to feel for Bryce McGain when it comes to how he got battered on Test debut, but the man himself is simply grateful for the adventure that got him there. Every story I've heard about him makes him sound like an absolute legend - and besides, he'll still be more than good enough to deal with Vizzy.

And he goes to... @pillowprocter

Congratulations!

 

[Aislabie]

Player 15

Ken Funston
Nominated by: Random.org



Ken Funston was known for liking to biff it in the middle order. Perhaps he might have been a good sneaky pick for one of the old "pre-T20" drafts that we've done in the past, but in red-ball cricket his record was Crawleyesque, until Zak Crawley improved.

And he goes to... @Ed Smith

Congratulations!

 

[Aislabie]

Player 16

Riaz Afridi
Nominated by: Random.org



Famously one of the blurriest players ever to play Test cricket, Shaheen Afridi's older brother (almost pictured here playing for Pakistan A, or Under 19s, or something) took 328 first-class wickets at 24.60, so it's odd that he only played one Test.

And he goes to... @pillowprocter

Congratulations!

 

[Aislabie]

Player 17

Ravichandran Ashwin
Nominated by: @Verified Enigma


Enigma's whole team was a strong attempt at Reverse Panesars, but Ashwin is one of the nine who didn't ultimately pay off. One of the two best off-spinners ever to play Test cricket, so this is going to be a huge roll.

And he goes to... @pillowprocter

That's a huge result.