Auction draft II - ODI voting thread

[Cevno]

Marc ,why did you not list the reserves too?


If i had known the reserves did not matter at all ,it would have been a completly different game for me.
I could have probably gotten a Tendulkar instead of Amarnath then and had a modi and Utseya as my reserves.

I set out by dividing my budget into 13 players rather than 11.

[Noble One]

My brief opinion on each side:

Himannv
Any ODI side that contains Tendulkar in the top order needs to be respected. Otherwise I find the batting relatively tame, no truly great ODI bat in the middle order. Cronje, Lehmann, Border and Rhodes are all relatively similar paced. Not a line-up that will take a side past 300 too often. A couple of young cricketers in the lower order, relatively unproven. Bowling line-up is awesome, plenty of great bowlers mixed with a wealth of cricketers who can bowl 10 tidy overs.

Rating: 7/10

Cevno
Batting not strong enough for my liking. I am not a fan of Clarke, Gavaskar and Amarnath all in the one lineup. Too many slow accumulating types. Not a terrible lineup, just looks out of shape. Bowlers are strong though, and with depth.

Rating: 6/10

GI Joe
How awesome to have Brett Lee batting at number 10. I am a big fan of ODI teams that bat very deep. So many all-time greats in the batting line-up, and nearly every bat capable of a century at greater than a run-a-ball. The only oddity is Dravid at number 6, also doubles up with the gloves which is a massive weakness in my opinion. A solid choice with the gloves, but how would he go keeping to Lee? The bowling is solid, not one of the strongest though. Relying on 10 overs from the likes of Morkel and Kulusekara is a touch risky given the quality of opposition.

Rating: 7.5/10

Noble One
No comment

weldone
Another solid team. But not the strongest. Some impressive bats, but a little one-paced. Jayawardene at 6? I don't find Boucher or Pollock to be the best later-order sloggers either. I think this team will struggle to make big totals on a regular basis. Bowling is very good, Ambrose and Pollock as brilliant as they come. Not the best support in the pace department though, beyond Vass you only have Steve Waugh. At best an average medium-pacer who hardly bowled a ball in the second half of his career.

Rating: 6/10

honestbharani
Some very good top order bats. Can't dispute a team that has Ponting, Miandad, de Villiers and Hussey. Will struggle to have a flying start though with Chanderpaul and Boon, far too similar in style. Also a worry is Hadlee at 7 followed by tail-enders, a definite weakness. The lack of a strong tail made up for with the quality of bowlers on display, I don't know about everyone else but Ray Price looks so odd in that lineup. A definite risk considering the lack of all-rounders, if your frontline 5 don't work then trouble.

Rating: 5.5/10

Blakus
Long depth in batting, although Thorpe is a waste at 7. This team will score big every time, far too much quality. The bowling is decent, but nowhere near the strongest. Only six guys who can bowl is a slight risk, especially with Agarkar always a risk at going at greater than 6 an over.

Rating: 5.5/10

Pothas
Awesome opening combination. A good mix of attacking cricketers with solid run-scorers in the middle order. Tikolo and Morgan maybe a bit out of place considering some of the other combinations of 6 and 7. Enough depth with the batting though, actually great depth. Bowling lineup is the strongest in my opinion. McGrath, Holding and Bond is a fantastic combination. Hogg is a multiple world cup winner and such an underrated cricketer, and then you have Botham.

Rating: 8.5/10

Pskov
Batting lineup is very nice. Symonds and Kemp down the order is very dangerous, although I would prefer Lara as opener over Dilshan, and Symonds possibly one position higher in the order. Frontline bowling attack is top shelf, and enough bowling depth to manage 10 overs out of Symonds, Kemp and Dilshan. Very good team.

Rating: 8.5/10

Somerset
Vaughan such a standout weakness in the lineup. Such a shame, as so many fantastic bats throughout this side. No question marks that Sobers would have made a fantastic ODI cricketer, so no issues with his place. Bowling (spin especially) such a key to this side. Given the right conditions this team would be a nightmare to play. A couple of solid pace-bowlers, but far strong ones available.

Rating: 7.5/10

Overall winner.....Pothas. Bowling lineup seals it. Batting perhaps a star short, but still has the depth to compensate. Sorry if anyone finds my analysis harsh, I just call it as I see it. I have my own preferences to how I like ODI teams to be compiled, and who I consider a good player and not.

[marc71178]

Originally Posted by Cevno

Marc ,why did you not list the reserves too?

In my view the idea of a 13 man squad was because there was no strict role selection and also to allow for the muppets that were nominated - with the idea of creating an 11. That's why I'm going through each 11 for my various categories.

[Somerset]

Originally Posted by Cevno

Marc ,why did you not list the reserves too?


If i had known the reserves did not matter at all ,it would have been a completly different game for me.
I could have probably gotten a Tendulkar instead of Amarnath then and had a modi and Utseya as my reserves.

I set out by dividing my budget into 13 players rather than 11.

I think we had the same dilmena in another draft as to whether to include the reserve players in accessing the best side. Even though my reserve players, especially Mushtaq Ahmed, are of a much higher quality than several of the other reserves, cough Utseya cough Joginder Sharma, I think its fairer to access the starting XI - in a tournament the reserves would come into play but for simplicity's sake I'd say judging the best XI players from each squad is a fairer exercise.

[Somerset]

Originally Posted by Noble One

Somerset
Vaughan such a standout weakness in the lineup. Such a shame, as so many fantastic bats throughout this side. No question marks that Sobers would have made a fantastic ODI cricketer, so no issues with his place. Bowling (spin especially) such a key to this side. Given the right conditions this team would be a nightmare to play. A couple of solid pace-bowlers, but far strong ones available.

Rating: 7.5/10

Fair, and perhaps even a generous analysis of my side. My over-indulgence early in the draft was my main problem; then picking up Vaughan, hardly a player who thrived in ODIs, and waiting until the final three rounds to collect my two opening bowlers.

[Blakus]

Anyway, I've decided to vote for Pothas. His team has the best balance between bat and ball for me.

[Cevno]

I'll write a analysis on each team's strength and weakenesses probably with reserves later .

And have to say that the teams which have the most strength here in one department,have a striking weakness in some other.
I know the voting mostly goes with star power in teams ,but for me balance both in terms of bowling options ,batting options,fielding is paramount.
You also need to have both good spinning options as well as fast bowling options for all conditions. A good top order,middle order and a lower order. Rather than a excellent top order and a mediocre middle order.

[Pothas]

Very close run thing this.

Joe's batting lineup is ridiculously awesome but bowling just lets it down overall.

Think I will go with Pskov, great bowling attack and a lot of power with Symonds in there.

[G.I.Joe]

Originally Posted by Noble One

Great job with the rankings Marc.

Massive LOL at anyone who votes for their own side. I will post my opinions/vote later.

You'd rather I vote for a team I don't think is the best then? What next, the swimsuit round and expressing a desire for world peace?

[G.I.Joe]

BTW, +1 pasag. A true connoiseur (sp?) of the game.

[Himannv]

After loads of thought, voted for Blakus despite the presence of Agarkar. Would have voted for Cevno if Vettori had played ahead of Amarnath I reckon.

[marc71178]

Next in my list is the depth of the batting - this takes into account the quality and how deep it goes. From best to worst I rank them as follows:

G.I.Joe - Having already highly rated the top 6, seeing Cairns, Morkel, Lee as 8, 9, 10 is for me the depth a team needs.

Noble One - Whilst they lack in the lower-middle order, they follow it up with a 7 and 8 who could quite easily be switched with the current 5 and 6, and then have Harvey at 9, who is no slouch himself.

Cevno - Another who's order could be switched - Flintoff who comes in at 8 has multiple ODI tons.

Blakus - Thorpe at 7 is an extravagance, but he's comfortably better than any of the other players named in that position. Oh yes, and AA got a ton at Lords (may have been in Tests, but he's AA so that doesn't matter for me!)

weldone - As with the SA side of the 90s and early 00's, Boucher and Pollock are a dangerous pairing to follow the main batsmen.

Himannv - Another case where come the end of their careers this side could be higher up the order, but for me, Mathews and Shakib aren't quite dependable enough as yet when compared to other teams.

Pskov - The presence of Saqlain at 9 and Akram at 8 means this team doesn't have sufficient late order batting for me.

Somerset - 3 rabbits here as well, meaning Shastri and Warne isn't deep enough to compete with the better sides.

Pothas - An already unproven lower-middle order isn't helped by having Hogg at 8 and Bond at 9.

honestbharani - Gillespie may have made more test double-hundreds than Kallis, but if he's batting 8 then there's too much for the top order to do.

[Himannv]

When's the next draft starting? Count me in

[marc71178]

weldone has plans for one - with my forthcoming life upheaval and next few months of weddings etc. I don't intend running my next one till October time (although I want to enter weldone's) so that should give weldone's one time to run hopefully!

I'll aim to post my other 6 rankings over the next few days - laptop switch permitting.

[Himannv]

You have 6 more?? Wow. I figured it might be just batting, bowling and fielding

Come on weldone, start your draft!!