Mister Wright said:
First of all - KEEPING IS THE MOST IMPORTANT POSITION ON THE FIELD!!!
Keeping to spinners is tough, trust me I've tried it. You have to be concerntrating every single ball, because that could be the one! You have to keep your team alive even when things are up the creek. You have the vantage point of seeing everything, what the ball is doing, what the batsman are doing, what the bowler is doing, what the fielders are doing. You need to think about all this while concerntrating on your own performance. TRUST ME it is not as simple as putting the gloves on!!!
I have no problem with Johnny A selecting Tillekeratne he kept for at least 10 matches and that is the rule. And the Sri Lankan selectors do consider him as a keeper because I remember him being the reserve keeper for the Australian VB series and the world cup.
I agree MW ... it is the most important position
on the field. But in terms over the overall team setup, the WK has to also have the ability to balance the teams batting, and score runs. You can maybe afford a defensive cather against Bangledesh or Zimbabwe, but against the stronger nations, you need a big bat in there.
OK perhaps I'm overstating things because of the debate about Tillekeratne, but not considering that discussion for a moment ... I don't see why more batsmen on the periphery of the test team don't really make an effort to take up the gloves. It might be hard work getting used to it. But if its the difference between playing test match cricket, and playing county cricket, I know what I'd be spending my winter doing!!
It's nothing a bit of hard work, practice and good coaching couldn't fix.
Another baseball comparison. There are 9 hitting slots in a baseball team ... the catcher and pitcher (in NL teams) have to hit. Having a catcher who can also hit like a regular player gives that team a huge advantage. Like cricket, catchers who hit really well are rare. But you'll not be surprise to note, that of the last 4 teams in this years Playoffs, 3 of them "coincidentally" had the top 3 hitting catchers in all of baseball (Ivan Rodriguez, Jorge Posada and Jason Varitek) ... and Rodriguez was the postseason MVP (because of his batting!).
Rodriguez is a great defensive catcher, but the other two are cetainly not. Rodriguez is a freak of nature! Posada and Vartiek earn their place because of their immense offensive contribution ... and their teams win as a consequence ... despite making the odd mistake. Rodriguez led the Marliins to the World Series.
In fantasy baseball (a multi million dollar industry in the States), the same ruling applies. Because great hiiting catchers are rare, they go early in the draft. So everyone is on the lookout for other fielders who qualify for the poistion by meeting the minimum requirements. IT'S PART OF THE STRATEGY OF THE GAME!!!
Players who do the best research WIN ... and they often win LOTS of money (thousands of $$$$$). Walcott was a great pick I didn't realise he started life as a WK. I might have tried to wait a few rounds more and try and get him cheap! Fantastic research and knowledge of the game ... like Walcott, Tillekeratne was a great pick!
It's also part of the strategy of drafting to try and get players cheaper then their real value. In fact, this is the ESSENCE of drafting. The person who make most profit on their picks will win. I thought about leaving Tillekeratne for the next round and picking Miandad instead. Miandad and Tillekeratne would be of higher value that Tillekeratne and ******* (not allowed to name names).
I could have risked leaving Tillekeratne, and made a higher profit on my 4th and 5th picks, but I figured that someone else would know that he started life as a WK, and is often selected as the Sri Lankan reserve keeper. He would never have made it back to me! He scored a double hundred against England AS a keeper didn't he? That's how I remember.
That adds to the enjoyment. I haven't given that much thought either to be fair ... the first few rounds are usually pretty easy in this type of thing.
