RedCafe Cricket Draft

Red-Indian said:
Who did everyone pick by the way?

1. Stretch - Steyn
2. Interval - Ponting
3. Mighberight - Kallis
4. Crappy - Murali
5. Donadol - Vettori
6. Red-Indian - Hayden
7. Harooney - Tendulkar? Boucher?
8. Nm03 - Steve Waugh? Merv Hughes?
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Quoted for the new page.

I myself am feeling a little guilty about standing up for Sehwag so much and picking Hayden instead. Somehow, though i did appreciate Hayden as a batsman, i never really admired him or warmed to him.

I think i'll change to Sehwag.
 
Sehwag is a better Test batsman, by just about that much. Makes sense for you, with a right and left combo, and Sehwag's offies chipping in.
 
The margins are fine but this is more about guilt than anything else. I don't need Sehwag's offies to be fair. I have 5 full bowlers including McMillan plus Aravinda and Clarke can do a fair job part time. Its just that I don't see why I should pick someone I didn't personally like very much when one of the characters i love is available with no or hardly any sacrifice.
 
Sorry. Just woke up. I'm going with Steve Waugh. He is being added to my team.
 
Red-Indian said:
The margins are fine but this is more about guilt than anything else. I don't need Sehwag's offies to be fair. I have 5 full bowlers including McMillan plus Aravinda and Clarke can do a fair job part time. Its just that I don't see why I should pick someone I didn't personally like very much when one of the characters i love is available with no or hardly any sacrifice.
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Do it. I just decided I could not pass up Waugh or Flower, two players I like a lot. Hughes probably makes more sense, but I prefer to stick to my guns!
 
nm03 said:
Do it. I just decided I could not pass up Waugh or Flower, two players I like a lot. Hughes probably makes more sense, but I prefer to stick to my guns!
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Its a bit easier for me than you to be fair. Hayden or Sehwag is a matter of personal preference and a tactical wash. There's actually people like Donadol who think Sehwag's the better test batsman though I'm not sure if I agree.

You on the other hand are making a tactical decision to go with a batsman when a bowler's what you need. Of course its a majestic batsman over a decent bowler but even so.

In the end though, its a stupid game that we're playing for fun. I'd love to win but not with a team that I don't enjoy waxing lyrical about.

PS - Stretch and Crappy. Write-ups today or early tomorrow for the matchup to start tomorrow please. This rounds's going to be a lot more fun. Hopefully there's a few heated arguments and people calling each other cnuts.
 
Red-Indian said:
Its a bit easier for me than you to be fair. Hayden or Sehwag is a matter of personal preference and a tactical wash. There's actually people like Donadol who think Sehwag's the better test batsman though I'm not sure if I agree.

You on the other hand are making a tactical decision to go with a batsman when a bowler's what you need. Of course its a majestic batsman over a decent bowler but even so.

In the end though, its a stupid game that we're playing for fun. I'd love to win but not with a team that I don't enjoy waxing lyrical about.

PS - Stretch and Crappy. Write-ups today or early tomorrow for the matchup to start tomorrow please. This rounds's going to be a lot more fun. Hopefully there's a few heated arguments and people calling each other cnuts.
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I really don't think so. I am going with a player I know and like versus what I need. I'm basing on personal preference, not tactics! Either way, up to you. You can't go wrong with either!
 
As they say - nothing ventured, nothing gained. I should go with Boucher but Sachin is too good to turn down so I'm taking the little master. It's a gamble but I hope it pays off!
 
Red-Indian said:
The margins are fine but this is more about guilt than anything else. I don't need Sehwag's offies to be fair. I have 5 full bowlers including McMillan plus Aravinda and Clarke can do a fair job part time. Its just that I don't see why I should pick someone I didn't personally like very much when one of the characters i love is available with no or hardly any sacrifice.
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Sounds like how I made my team.
 
Updated

1. Stretch - Steyn
2. Interval - Ponting
3. Mighberight - Kallis
4. Crappy - Murali
5. Donadol - Vettori
6. Red-Indian - Sehwag
7. Harooney - Tendulkar
8. Nm03 - Steve Waugh

Full Squads

Stretch - Amla, Lee, Younis Khan, Ian Bishop, Samarweera, F. De Villiers, T. Dilshan, K.Wessels, Herath, Symonds, Bresnan, Strang, Steyn
Interval Level - Akram, S. Mushtaq, Chanderpaul, Watson, Gul, Brendan McCullum, Gambhir, Robin Smith, Jimmy Adams, Cork, Lehmann, Gurusinha, Ponting
Mightberight - Pollock, Ambrose, A.Cook, Akhtar, Swann,M. Prior, Gayle, Fleming, A Prince, C McMillan, Rhodes, Prabhakar, Kallis
Crappy - Dravid, Walsh, Chris Cairns, G. Kirsten, M. Crowe, S. Mcgill, Alderman, Cullinan, M. Hafeez, Misbah, Taibu, Parore, Murali
Donadol - Sangakarra, Donald, Pietersen, McDermott, M. Waugh, S. Anwar, Atherton, Hooper, Cronje, Klusener, M Aamir, Yuvraj, Vettori
R-Indian - McGrath, Kumble, G Smith, M. Clarke, B McMillan, Streak, A DeSilva, Dujon, G Marsh, Lamb, Angelo Mathews, Nash, Sehwag
ha_rooney - Warne, de Villiers, Vaas, Langer, Clark, Richardson, Trescothick, Tillakaratne, Ross Taylor, Razzak, Finn, Doull, Tendulkar
nm03 - Lara, VVS Laxman, Stewart, Ntini, Reiffel, Broad, Dean Jones, Mushtaq Ahmed, Afridi, P Adams, M Richardson, G Mathews, S Waugh
 
Red-Indian said:
Thanks guys.

So its

Crappy Vs. Stretch
Nm03 Vs.Donadol
Harooney Vs. Red-Indian
Interval Vs. mightberight
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Omar listed a random sequence first. That should be used instead of kps one.

In any case, I can't do the match tomorrow, too busy with work, have a plethora of meetings tomorrow. Someone else will have to step up if it is indeed me vs Stretch
 
omardalvi said:
Here is the sequence

6
3
2
7
8
4
5
1
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According to this the match ups are -

Red-Indian vs mightberight

Interval vs ha_rooney

nm03 vs crappy

Donadol vs Stretch


I will leave it to KM to decide which one to follow, though it should be omar's given he gave his sequence first. If I wanted to be cynical, I would say Red Indian wanted to avoid mightberight :angel:
 
Thats a bit silly Crappy. I didn't even know Omar was doing a draw. kps offered to do it and turned it in neatly formatted to use.

Anyway, i'm happy to go use Omar's, kps' or a new one done by KM if that's what you'd prefer.

I shouldn't be singing my own praises (obviously everybody has their own opinion) but I genuinely think mine is the best team in the draft at this point. Obviously mightberight's is serious quality as well so it'll be fun going up against his.
 
I was joking.. use either but I can't do the match tomorrow. Off to bed now.. dead tired.. and won't be able to spare much time in office tomorrow.
 
Red-Indian said:
Fair enough. To avoid any such controversy, I'll ask KM to do the draw again and post it on here.
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Works for me, but might mean no game tomorrow. I don't mind any draw - I am the underdog either way.
 
Research already? Your game was four days away.

I'd love to have a game tomorrow but it looks like KM's not online. Maybe we can ask kps or Omar to come back and do it again. Problem is...there might be controversy again.

I'll check their activity anyway.
 
:lol: You guys making a simple draw so complicated. I blame Omar for doing it despite me volunteering.
 
Hello all, just did a random sequence generator.

These are the results

7
6
2
5
8
3
4
1

So that means
Ha_Rooney vs Red-Indian
Interval vs Donadol
NM03 vs MightbeRight
Crappy vs Stretch
 
RI Pmed me to say that there has been controversy and told me to do a draw.
 
Yeah well let's make this draw final. I'm hoping to get the QF started by evening, so it'll be great if Haroon and RI send me their teams soonish.
 
So stretch it is. Steyn will look good in my line-up ;)

Anyway, I am going away tomorrow night, will be back on Monday only. So if possible I would actually like to have my match with Stretch today. Will have to take time out from the office. I will PM stretch to see if he is up for it.
 
crappycraperson said:
So stretch it is. Steyn will look good in my line-up ;)

Anyway, I am going away tomorrow night, will be back on Monday only. So if possible I would actually like to have my match with Stretch today. Will have to take time out from the office. I will PM stretch to see if he is up for it.
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Yeah PM him. I don't think he'll have any problems having a match today.
 
Hmm...harooney, it looks like you and me are destined to go up against each other.

I should be able to do my write-up in maybe an hour or so once i wake up properly and have my morning coffee. After all, its only the tactics to change and one player to be added.

Thanks KM, by the way.
 
Here's my write-up. KM, just copy it over.



A feature across my team is that they won’t give an inch. Starting from the Captain to Kumble bowling with a broken jaw, they’ll take everything you can throw at them and keep coming back. In fact, one of them – Dujon has never played in a losing series. I don’t think you can price that attitude too highly in a team and thats what I was looking for. In fact, I sacrificed averages a couple of times for players I thought had the right mentality. Maybe Sehwag’s a minor exception…but I chose him over Hayden because I love the guy.

When bowling to ha_rooney’s team, I’ll expect a quick breakthrough from McGrath. After all, Langer’s a decent batsman but Trescothick was unfortunately one who didn't stand up to be counted when the going got tough. Once that’s done, its about getting through that high quality middle order. It's going to need tight bowling and smart changes. Luckily I have the team for that with 8…count’em…8 bowlers. High quality seam (McGrath and Nash), swing (Streak), bounce (McMillan) and spin (Kumble) plus useful partnership breakers (Sehwag, Clarke and Aravinda). I think we’ll keep them to a manageable score.

Batting wise, in my opinion, its going to be all about handling the master – Shane bloody Warne. Fortunately then, I have some excellent spin players in Sehwag, Aravinda and Clarke. The rest of his bowlers as I see them are a bunch of honest triers and I have batsmen who genuinely love playing against the quicks in Smith, Lamb and McMillan. Keep in mind also that I’m expecting a fair few dropped catches with a part-timer like AB or Tillekaratne behind the stumps. And if you give someone like Smith a chance, you’ll pay for it.

All in all, I believe my batting’s about level with his while I bat a shade deeper. I have the better bowling unit with more options and I have space for a high quality wicketkeeper. Plus I have that X-factor - my bunch of guys just hate losing.

RI's Bastards (and Veeru)

The XI

1. Graeme Smith (c)
2. Virender Sehwag
3. Allan Lamb
4. Aravinda de Silva
5. Michael Clarke
6. Brian McMillan
7. Jeff Dujon (wk)
8. Heath Streak
9. Dion Nash
10. Anil Kumble (vc)
11. Glenn McGrath

I think my team’s very nicely balanced with everyone in the position they’re best suited to.

Batting

Opening – Smith and Sehwag are easily the best opening partnership left in the draft – a lovely chalk and cheese left and right handed combination. Smith (8000 runs at 50) is probably the best opener of the last decade while Sehwag (8200 at 51) is the most explosive batsman currently in world cricket and an incredible game changer and morale destroyer.

Middle Order - At 3 I’ve got Allan Lamb (4600 at 36) who was an ever-present in the England middle order for a decade and loved playing against the quicks. Then come the stroke players deSilva (6300 at 43) and Clarke(6000 at 49). They’re both quality players of spin and importantly for me in the middle get their runs relatively quickly. Brian McMillan at 6 was a technically perfect middle order batsman who accumulated 2000 runs with an average of 40.

Lower Order Okay its 350 for 4 and you’ve made it past my devastating opening partnership and formidable middle order. Can you breathe a sigh of relief? No...because Dujon at 7 is a strokeplayer averaging 32 with 5 centuries, Streak and Nash are almost allrounders with averages of 22 and 23 (after Nash's injury restricted his bowling, there were suggestions he play on as specialist batsman). Anil Kumble at 10 has a fecking test century and 5 fifties and was the usual nightwatchman for India. You’ll get McGrath quickly enough I suppose if you make it that far.

Bowling

Glenn McGrath…I’m not even going to talk about except to say 563 wickets at 21 point fecking 6. Heath Streak was a one-man attack for Zimbabwe and a superb swing bowler with 216 wickets at 28. Dion Nash when not injured or smoking pot was a lively seam bowler who got 93 wickets at 28. Big Mac was a much underrated allrounder…international cricket came a little late for him in his career but he still managed 74 wickets at 34 always hitting the deck hard and making batsmen uncomfortable with his bounce. Now my spin option - Kumble has 619 wickets and every legspinner’s trick in the book plus some he's invented. Sehwag, Clarke and Aravinda will chip in and act as partnership breakers. They have 98 wickets among them.

One thing you’ll note about the bowlers is that they won’t shirk long spells. There’s not one among them that needs to be mothered and bowled in short spells.

Dujon’s one of the all-time great keepers and an incredible athlete – just awesome to watch. Personally, I think McMillan’s the best slip fielder I have ever seen. From an article about him -
If he dropped a catch - and there aren't too many recorded instances, so you have to rely on his first-class colleagues for that - the reaction in the field would be stunned silence. Just silence, players looking at each other, not saying a word.
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McGrath will be buying him a lot of beers.

Smith’s captain and I have a bunch to choose from for Vice-Captain. Streak, Clarke and deSilva were all possibilities. I went with Kumble in the end because I think he’ll be a perfect complement for Smith’s aggression and impulsiveness.
 
Interval Level said:
:devil: ;)

Any suggestions who I should drop. Adams, Robin Smith or Lehmann? How do people rate Smith?
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I'd drop Smith personally. He's going to be a liability up against Vettori. Plus Ponting will want that one down position. Thats assuming you don't have any quota problems of course.

I'll PM harooney. Think his profile's set to invisible and I have no idea if he's looked into this thread.
 
Cheers for the write up R-I.
I'll start the thread whenever Haroon posts his writeup.
 
Team line-up:
Justin Langer – (average 45.27; 23 100’s) – a real battler as a batsman, Langer was an integral member of the successful Aussie side scoring over 7500 runs at Test level. He showed his ability to fight for runs when he was the leading Aussie run scorer in the 2005 ashes, where all batsman struggled with the swing movement, Langer showed he could get runs in the toughest of conditions, averaging 43 in that series. He will accumulate runs at his own pace and rarely will he give his wicket away by playing a false shot. Over his career Langer consistently proved he was a superb test opener and he will provide a good platform for my team to get started.

Marcus Trescothick – (average 43.79; 14 100’s) – an elegant batsman who combined aggression with genuine strokeplay and was a fixture at the top of England’s batting line up until depression got the better of him. Trescothick has the ability to take the initiative away from any bowling attack and score quick runs whilst never looking flustered in his batting and rarely giving his wicket away. An excellent slip fielder who would have scored a lot more runs had illness not stopped him, Trescothick will provide big runs for my team. A part-time spin option as well should he be needed.

Richie Richardson – (average 44.39; 16 100’s) – coming in at the all important position of #3 is the destructively brilliant Richardson. An outstanding batsman who was a world-class stroke player and had all the big shots in his armoury and a tendency to score big centuries once set, Richardson will provide fire-power and leadership to my team. An outstanding slip or gully fielder.

Sachin Tendulkar – (average 55.44; 51 100’s) –The iconic batsman who has broken all Test match records will anchor my batting line-up. Adept at playing all kinds of shots against all bowlers in all conditions, Sachin has proven himself to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest, batsman of all time and despite being under the pressure of producing everytime he comes to bat, Sachin rarely lets his team down. A useful part-time option with the ball as well should he be needed and another excellent fielding option for my team.

AB de Villiers (WK) – (average 49.16; 13 100’s) – An excellent batsman who possesses all the cricket shots, AB in recent years has emerged as an essential part of the successful SA side. Batting comes effortlessly to him and he demonstrated his ability to bat on all types of pitches by scoring first double-century by a South African against India and doing so in India. Averaging 63 since 2008 and the ability to bat anywhere in the order, AB will be the key batsman to my side and will score big runs against any type of bowler. He will WK for my side and as he possesses excellent powers of concentration and fielding ability, including quick reflexes, AB will have no problem picking up the gloves. He has shown in his short Test career as WK that he is very good behind the stumps and he will be competent enough to keep to my bowling attack and should not face any serious issues especially when he will be assisted by Warne, Trescothick, Sachin and Richardson behind the stumps.

HP Tillakaratne – (average 42.87; 11 100’s) – a gritty batsman who will provide solidity to the lower order and who will strengthen my batting line-up. An average of 47 when batting at the #6 position, he will provide resistance in my line-up should the top order fail and will be able to stick around with the tail.

Abdul Razzaq – (batting average 28.61; 3 100’s; bowling average 36.94; 100 wickets) – he may be more successful at ODIs but since we are picking teams when players were at their peak, Razzaq will be a valuable all-rounder in my team who performed reasonably well in Tests as a lower-order option with the bat and alternative bowling option. He emerged as a genuine fast bowler who has now become a stump-to-stump option, Razzaq will provide control to my bowling attack whilst also having the ability to be a partnership breaker. His role is to solidify my bowling and batting and give me another option in both categories. A very aggressive batsman he can change the momentum of the game with a few big hits and will score some important runs down the order.

Chaminda Vaas – (bowling average 29.58; 355 wickets; batting average 24.32; 1 100) – an underrated player who carried Sri Lanka’s seam attack by himself and will be my opening bowler. A superb swing bowler, Vaas amassed over 350 wickets despite bowling on mostly flat tracks showing he is able to take wickets in the most difficult of conditions. Alongside the great Imran Khan, he is the only player to take 14 wickets in one match on the sub-continent. A master of swing bowling who will trouble both left and right handers with his ability to bowl both in and out swingers and a well disguised slower delivery, he will be offer my team the threat of picking up early wickets with the new ball and then returning when reverse swing comes into play and being as dangerous with the old ball. Averaging a useful 24 with the bat, he will add depth to my batting and score runs down the order.

Shane Warne (C) – (bowling average 25.41; 708 wickets) – one of the greatest bowlers of all time, arguably the greatest spin bowler ever. Warne showed he got better with age by taking a record 96 wickets in 2005. Could bowl on all pitches and be as effective in all conditions, his ability to out-think the greatest batsman by mixing his deliveries up whilst never losing control made him the one of the most devastating bowlers ever. He will be the primary bowler in my team and with the supporting cast he is guaranteed to take many wickets. An excellent slip fielder as well as offering runs down the order ensuring my batting line up goes down to #9. He will also captain my side.

Stuart Clark – (bowling average 23.86; 94 wickets) – but for injury and the great Aussie bowling line-up, Clark would’ve been a mainstay in Aussie test cricket and potentially an all-time great. An incredible average and 94 wickets in just 24 matches, Clark has the ability to control the ball with superb line and length bowling whilst getting the ball to seam and cause havoc for batsman. He will open the bowling with Vaas and his role in the team will be to pick up key wickets, something which he has proven in his short career, whilst not giving away any runs and creating pressure so that the more penetrative Vaas or Warne can benefit from Clark’s superb accuracy.

Steven Finn – (bowling average 27.42; 56 wickets) – a wildcard pick to round off my bowling attack, Finn has shown he will be leading the English bowling attack in years to come. A genuine fast bowler who uses his height to trouble batsman, Finn also has the ability to swing the ball and pick up wickets when it matters most. Whilst Finn could be more expensive than my other bowlers, his pace and height will cause problems even for batsmen who have been set at the crease so he will offer the threat to break up partnerships and help changing the momentum of the game.

My bowling attack is well balanced with the 4 seamers who all offer a variety of pace, bounce, swing, reverse swing, seam, control and a bit of unpredictability. Vaas and Clark will open the bowling with Vaas offering swing and Clark offering line and length bowling with seam movement to trouble the batsman. Razzaq will be used as a stump to stump option to build pressure so that Warne will pick up the wickets when RI’s batsmen become frustrated and resort to playing silly shots. Finn will offer pace and bounce which will unsettle the middle-order and with Vaas returning to utilise the reverse swing, his line-up will struggle to make sufficient runs.

Add to that attack the great Shane Warne who has the guile and intelligence to spin an entire side out by himself, I should have no trouble going through RI’s batting line-up. Trescothick & Sachin also provide part-time spin options in the unlikely event I become desperate for wickets.

Criticism of my bowling attack will be towards the inexperience of Finn. Finn may not have played many Test matches but has his qualities already in his short career and his role in my side will be to unsettle the batsman and pick up the odd-wicket. He may be one of my main seam options, but like the other seamers, he will take a back-seat to Warne who will be the primary bowling option in my attack.

My batting is well balanced with some gritty players like Langer and Tillakaratne mixed together with more elegant stroke makers like Trescothick and Richardson. The top 3 batsman will build a solid platform for my team ensuring runs are scored at a fast pace but not at the threat of losing early wickets. Once Richardson has settled at the crease, he will be a threat to score a big century against RI’s bowling attack who will suffer first-hand from his big shots.

AB and Sachin in the middle order will provide solidity to my batting line-up and both have shown they can take momentum away from the other side by batting long periods of time and frustrate opposing attacks. AB has become one of the best middle-order players in recent times and is as adept playing spin as he is fast bowling. Sachin meanwhile is one of the all-time greats, he thrived playing against Australia and will not have any problem playing against McGrath. They will be followed by the gritty Tillakaratne who is an excellent lower-order batsman and will stick around with my bowlers to add valuable runs for my team to defend.

The one criticism that can be levelled at my side is the lack of specialist WK. AB is not a specialist WK (yet) but he is an excellent fielder, has great powers of concentration and has shown he is a competent option behind the stumps when SA need him there. Whilst WK to my seamers, AB will have no problems making catches and he will be ably assisted by Warne, Sachin, Trescothick & Richardson in the slip cordon. As for Warne, well 15% of his wickets were attributed to the WK (stumpings or catches) – AB has the reflexes and athleticism to make the stumpings and to make the extraordinary catch. Again, when keeping to Warne, AB will have Trescothick and Richardson to help him and they’re more likely to come into play than AB is. His lack of experience in the position of WK should not lead people to the conclusion AB will fail as a WK. He is an exceptional fielder, probably the best in world cricket right now, and he has shown he can WK at Test level.

Overall a balanced and deep batting line-up will ensure I have sufficient runs to put the game out of RI’s reach. The variety and wicket-taking ability of my bowling attack, which will be lead by Shane Warne, will be enough to put the game beyond his him and ensure my passage through to the next round.
 
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