Current English County Cricket Draft

[Cabinet96]

Saeed Ajmal - From pretty early on I new I wanted my overseas to be a bowler, and as all the decent spinners went in the first few rounds, it was always going to be a spinner. Who else really? Would dominate county cricket with his bag of tricks.

 

[91Jmay]

Wanted Ajmal, but knew he would go 1 or 2. Need a spinner as its my only weakness at the moment IMO, unfortunately there is a drop off after Swann/Ajmal.

This leads me to a conundrum, do I pick one of four players I consider to be elite or do I pick a good but not great spinner who is not as good a player....

I am going to take Vernon Philander, I couldn't justify a batsmen with the resources I already have their but feel how well suited to English conditions Philander is means that my lack of a great spinner is not as big of an issue. Dean Cosker has 560 FC wickets @ 36 so if the pitch is a dustbowl he should be something of a threat.

FC Team:
Cook
Robson
Wells
Taylor
Prince
Kieswetter
Willey
Philander
Hogan
Rankin/Jordan
Cosker

 

[Cabinet96]

Philander is a solid pick, adds batting depth and will destroy on a lot of county decks. Only issue is he's a bit of a FC specialist. Should still dominate the YB40 etc.

 

[MW1304]

Chris Dent because Benny Howell's a douche

How dare you.

 

[AndyZaltzHair]

Sorry for all the confusion. I'll pick Tim Groenewald for R16

 

[Jarquis]

Hashim Amla because yeah.

 

[theegyptian]

AB De Villiers. Maybe not the next best player but fits nicely into my team. We'll give him a few injections for his back and a few painkillers and he can take the gloves in the 4 day stuff whilst Mustard takes them in the 40/20 over stuff. Gives good balance to the 4 day team allowing plenty of bowling whilst the 40/20 over team now has a formidable middle order with contrasting styles. The 40 over team is probably the stongest of the 3 teams I can put out. De Villiers just about at his peak so should be fairly consistent and has batted well in England in the past

4 day - Lumb, Jaques, Madsen, Trott, AB De Villiers(wk), Morgan, Stokes, Thomas, Finn, Kerrigan, Richardson
40 over - Mustard(wk), Lumb, Trott, De Villiers, Morgan, Stevens, Stokes, Thomas, Batty, Finn, Wright
20 over - Mustard(wk), Lumb, Stokes, De Villiers, Morgan, Stevens,Thomas, Batty, Finn, Topley, another somewhere

 

[AndyZaltzHair]

Michael Clarke

FC:

1. Alex Hales
2. Alex Lees
3. Michael Yardy
4. Michael Clarke
5. Ryan ten Doeschate
6. Jonny Bairstow+
7. Peter Trego
8. Stuart Broad
9. Tim Murtagh
10. Toby Roland Jones
11. Monty Panesar

Are the overseas players allowed to play in list A/T20?

 

[Cabinet96]

That 3-5 in the List A side is incredible. Easily the best you could get with the players available.

Are the overseas players allowed to play in list A/T20?

Yeah, Clarke will play all forms for you. You pick one more overseas who will just be a T20 player though, who will play in the T20 side with Clarke,

 

[Jarquis]

Considered AB but ill probably make Hash open

 

[Howe_zat]

I guess I have to take Jacques Kallis then

Oh dear, how sad, never mind

 

[theegyptian]

Pothas – James Anderson, Chris Tremlett, Marcus Trescothick, Neil Mckenzie, Gary Ballance, Moeen Ali, Chris Nash, James Tredwell, Keith Barker, Owais Shah, James Foster, Glen Chapple, Chris Wood, Steven Peters, Tom Smith, Andrew Hall

Cabinet96 – Kevin Pietersen, Chris Woakes, Nick Compton, Stuart Meaker, Michael Carberry, Danny Briggs, James Hildreth, Tim Ambrose, Liam Dawson, James Harris, Jamie Overton, Rory Hamilton-Brown, Ajmal Shahzad, Anthony Ireland, Michael Bates, Vikram Solanki

91Jmay – Alastair Cook, James Taylor, Sam Robson, Craig Kieswetter, Michael Hogan, Boyd Rankin, Ashwell Prince, Chris Jordan, Luke Wells, David Willey, Steven Crook, Dawid Malan, Azeem Rafiq, Paul Collingwood, David Masters, Dean Cosker

Marcuss – Graeme Swann, Ian Bell, Samit Patel, Jim Allenby, Jade Dernbach, Steven Davies, Graham Napier, Jimmy Adams, Chris Rushworth, Scott Borthwick, Brendan Nash, Dimi Mascarenhas, Daryl Mitchell, Liam Plunkett, Chris Read, Chris Dent

Theegyptian – Jonathan Trott, Steven Finn, Eoin Morgan, Ben Stokes, Simon Kerrigan, Michael Lumb, Darren Stevens, Alfonso Thomas, Phil Jaques, Chris Wright, Alan Richardson, Wayne Madsen, Reece Topley, Gareth Batty, Phil Mustard, Rory Burns

Andyzaltzhair – Stuart Broad, Monty Panesar, Tim Murtagh, Jonny Bairstow, Peter Trego, Alex Hales, Ryan Ten Doeschate, Alex Lees, Michael Yardy, Toby Roland-Jones, Josh Cobb, Joe Denly, George Dockrell, Sean Ervine, Chris Liddle, Tim Groenewald

Howe_zat – Matt Prior, Tim Bresnan, Ed Joyce, Jack Brooks, Adil Rashid, Rob Key, Murray Goodwin, Andrew Gale, James Vince, Rikki Clarke, Matt Coles, Paul Stirling, Ned Eckersley, Chesney Hughes, Adam Lyth, Craig Meschede

Dan – Joe Root, Graham Onions, Ravi Bopara, Jos Buttler, Ryan Sidebottom, Varun Chopra, Luke Wright, Mark Davies, Shiv Thakor, Steven Parry, Azharullah, Will Beer, Azhar Mahmood, Steven Croft, Will Gidman, Zafar Ansari





Players selected by county - Yorkshire(13), Sussex(11), Surrey(10), Somerset(10), Hampshire(10), Warwickshire(9), Middlesex(9), Essex(8), Nottinghamshire(8), Lancashire(7), Kent(6), Durham(6), Northamptonshire(5), Glamorgan(4), Leicestershire(4), Derbyshire(3), Worcestershire(3), Gloucestershire(2)




And a squad of the leftovers

Mark Stoneman, Tom Westley, Laurie Evans, Alex Gidman, Benny Howell, Gareth Andrew, Mark Wallace, Jigar Naik, Andre Adams, Harry Gurney, James Anyon, Kyle Hogg, Gareth Roderick, Alex Wakely, Ravi Patel, James Fuller

 

[Cabinet96]

FC team:

1. Michael Carberry
2. Liam Dawson
3. Nick Compton
4. Kevin Pietersen
5. James Hildrith
6. Tim Ambrose
7. Chris Woakes
8. James Harris
9. Jamie Overton
10. Saeed Ajmal
11. Stuart Meaker

Bit bowler heavy, but oh well.

List A:

1. Micheal Carberry
2. Nick Compton
3. Kevin Pietersen
4. James Hildrith
5. Tim Ambrose
6. Liam Dawson
7. Chris Woakes
8. James Harris
9. Danny Briggs
10. Saeed Ajmal
11. Stuart Meaker

Again, line up is pretty to heavy. Should have picked stronger reserve batting options. In the field I'll have the Hampshire strangle that could've been had Ajmal signed.

T20:

1. Michael Carberry
2. Kevin Pietersen
3. Tim Ambrose
4. Chris Woakes
5. Nick Compton
6. James Hildrith
7. Liam Dawson
8. James Harris
9. Danny Briggs
10. Saeed Ajmal
11. Stuart Meaker

Batting line up is a crazy ones I know. Won't stick because I'll get a batsman into that line up as second overseas.

 

[theegyptian]

Michael Clarke

FC:

1. Alex Hales
2. Alex Lees
3. Michael Yardy
4. Michael Clarke
5. Ryan ten Doeschate
6. Jonny Bairstow+
7. Peter Trego
8. Stuart Broad
9. Tim Murtagh
10. Toby Roland Jones
11. Monty Panesar

Are the overseas players allowed to play in list A/T20?

The chance to see Michael Clarke and Michael Yardy batting together will be one of those rare beautiful moments!

 

[Howe_zat]

Right, time to see if I can actually make a functioning team out of these

Championship

Key*
Joyce
Vince
Kallis (4)
Goodwin
Gale
Prior+
Rashid (5)
Bresnan (1)
Brooks (2)
Coles (3)

Not too shabby at all, the batting order is packed with experience and goes deep. Between them I'm guessing this lineup has around 8.3 million first-class hundreds. Going with a bowling attack of four seamers plus Rashid was a plan from early on and would have worked well if I'd picked seamers that had actually kicked on this season instead of Brooks and Coles. But win some, lose some.

UB40

Stirling (6)
Vince
Kallis (4)
Joyce
Prior+
Gale
Key*
Rashid (5)
Bresnan (1)
Meschede (3)
Coles (2)

In comes the season's leading wicket-taker in Meschede to provide an extra dimension to the attack and improve the fielding. Stirling, a man with some blistering ODI hundreds and a not-to-be-underestimated offie replaces Goodwin, who is not quite the mover in the field he was. Key remains mainly for captaincy and as a firefighter down the order - if necessary Meschede, Bresnan and Rashid are all good options to send in for the slog overs. Vince, arguably the most exciting one-day opener in the country right now, moves up.

Mascot Races XI TBA

 

[MW1304]

That's a ridiculous tail.

 

[Dan]

Ravindra Jadeja as my full season pick. Problem spots were #3 and the spinner in my FC team, so Sir Jadeja allows for a shuffle that improves the side overall. plus he, individually, is the most improved player on the international scene. FC averages of 50 & 25ish make him an ill version of the h4x ICC spinners.

T20 is a bit tougher. Shane Watson. Destructive batting and yet more bowling - at domestic level he should be gun.

 

[Howe_zat]

I could probably do with a specialist quick to beef up my T20 side but with spinners dominating the format and my side already containing two very good one-day seamers and Kallis, I'd think a world class left arm spinner who can also bat would work very well. So the world's no. 5 T20 bowler, formerly the no.1 ODI bowler in world cricket, who also happens to have 5 ODI tons and a T20 strike rate of 125 can come on down, it's Shakib Al Hasan

Mascot Race XI

Stirling
Vince
Prior
Kallis
Shakib
Joyce
Key*
Clarke
Rashid
Bresnan
Meschede

Featuring Rikki Clarke as a specialist short cover. The batting order is, er, flexible

 

[AndyZaltzHair]

Lasith Malinga

 

[MW1304]

Well done your T20 tail got even more ridiculous