Alphabetic draft

[stephen]

Tate and Philander are pretty analogous. Decent with the bat, deadly medium pacers in helpful conditions who were stock bowlers away.

Yeah, Philander probably better though.

Still, some people have Tate in their English XIs though with Trueman and Anderson/Willis.

In both this and the classic draft I've ended up with Pollock and a second tier great quick instead of a first tier one. Last draft it was Roberts, this time it was Tate. At least I got Holding this time.

 

[trundler]

I'd have shot for Faulkner if if taken Cameron, or at least Davidson. I feel you want to make your weakest picks give you a big leg up on a top player.

Probably my mistake in both this and the classic draft has been to have a side that has been filled with great players but not really with any marquee players who make people go "holy crap that's amazing". Sure, I have Barrington but he's not as ***y as Hobbs. Yes I have Dravid but he's not as revered as Tendulkar. And Kohli is second fiddle to Smith. Simpson and Lawry aren't as widely revered as G Smith and Gavaskar. Pollock, Tate, Holding and Grimmett are definitely not as impressive as Marshall, Imran, Roberts and Warne (seriously wtf, how did you get that Trundler?).

Armstrong tied my hands wrt the all rounder slot right at the start. I did the slingshot fairly early in the draft so wasn't sure how much value would be placed on what players. Should've taken Greenidge or an H probably. I skipped a few letters to take Imran and given I didn't have the greatest of riches, I got bumped to the top after everyone made their J/K/L picks. And you just don't pass Marshall in a draft. Roberts I snatched because most had their eyes set on Steyn and Trueman and by the time I got to W, everyone had picked their spinners. In a way not getting O'Reilly worked. I thought Wardle/Valentine were relatively safe picks even if I hadn't gotten Warne.

 

[stephen]

Nobody got Greenidge, which is possibly the first time I've seen him skipped in an unrestricted draft. People usually seem to rate him as the second best post WWII opener despite his low average and lack of record against the West Indies (for obvious reasons).

 

[stephen]

Chanderpaul, Greenidge and Underwood are probably the three greatest players who didn't get picked this draft.

 

[honestbharani]

Armstrong tied my hands wrt the all rounder slot right at the start. I did the slingshot fairly early in the draft so wasn't sure how much value would be placed on what players. Should've taken Greenidge or an H probably. I skipped a few letters to take Imran and given I didn't have the greatest of riches, I got bumped to the top after everyone made their J/K/L picks. And you just don't pass Marshall in a draft. Roberts I snatched because most had their eyes set on Steyn and Trueman and by the time I got to W, everyone had picked their spinners. In a way not getting O'Reilly worked. I thought Wardle/Valentine were relatively safe picks even if I hadn't gotten Warne.

You getting Warne was really my mistake though. I literally picked Verity when I had the option of Warne. Just so stupid. lol.

 

[honestbharani]

Chanderpaul, Greenidge and Underwood are probably the three greatest players who didn't get picked this draft.

Younis Khan too.

 

[stephen]

The game isn't over.

 

[ataraxia]

For me, the tightest thing in this draft felt like openers. After S there are no more ATG openers (Warner is closest), while there's tons for other positions. You do have a hail Mary with a couple of good openers in the Ts (Taylor, Trescothick and one or two more) but you don't really want to be stuck with Taylor when someone else had Sutcliffe do you?

Anyway I liked that this involved current levels of strategy and planning and made you pay attention to others. O hope everyone got as much fun out of this draft as I did.

Yeah, I feel good that I got Gavaskar and B Richards to fill in the opening spots.

 

[trundler]

Yeah but do you guys know I've got Marshall, Imran, Roberts and Warne?

 

[Red]

Younis Khan

 

[stephen]

Azh with one to go and that's everyone.

 

[Red]

Younis Khan lets me drop Walcott down to #5 and solidifies my batting a lot.


Bill Ponsford /
Michael Slater /
Younis Khan
Ross Taylor /
Clyde Walcott /
Monty Noble /o *
Adam Gilchrist / +
Ian Botham /o
Wilfred Rhodes /o
Wes Hall o
Glenn McGrath o


Probably not gonna win this draft with this team, but I quite like it. Covers all the bases and would be very difficult to defeat.

Thanks for running this, Stephen.

 

[stephen]

No worries. Strong team with a couple of weaker players. We can't all be trundler or Andrew.

 

[AndyZaltzHair]

Zaheer Abbas opened in four innings so he’s my last pick

1 Herbie Taylor
2 Zaheer Abbas
3 Don Bradman
4 Polly Umrigar
5 Dudley Nourse
6 Mahmudullah
7 Matt Prior
8 Chaminda Vaas
9 Dale Steyn
10 Courtney Walsh
11 Sonny Ramadhin

 

[trundler]

A leftovers XI

Sehwag
Greenidge
Williamson
Hazare
Chanderpaul
Lloyd
Boucher
Turner
Statham
Mahmood
Underwood

 

[AndyZaltzHair]

A leftovers XI

Sehwag
Greenidge
Williamson
Hazare
Chanderpaul
Lloyd
Boucher
Turner
Statham
Mahmood
Underwood

Atleast my team looks stronger than this

 

[trundler]

You've managed to select a decent attack somehow.

 

[stephen]

A leftovers XI

Sehwag
Greenidge
Williamson
Hazare
Chanderpaul
Lloyd
Boucher
Turner
Statham
Mahmood
Underwood

A decent side but not as strong as any of the picked ones, that's for sure.

 

[stephen]

Zaheer Abbas opened in four innings so he’s my last pick

1 Herbie Taylor
2 Zaheer Abbas
3 Don Bradman
4 Polly Umrigar
5 Dudley Nourse
6 Mahmudullah
7 Matt Prior
8 Chaminda Vaas
9 Dale Steyn
10 Courtney Walsh
11 Sonny Ramadhin

Your team is about as strong as I thought it would be, possibly a little weaker. I thought Mahmadullah would give you first pick after everyone selected M players. But alas, the Mc players all got to pick before you.

Did you enjoy the draft?

 

[honestbharani]

I wouldn't put it past AZH's team to beat a few of the sides in this draft with Bradman and Steyn in there. I think I have really enjoyed this draft and some amazing sides have been picked. Gonna say it again, good job stephen.