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Stumped!

cnerd123

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Do it. New season about to start in-game, ideal time to join as a new team. Will make the CWC an even 8 teams again, with 4 of you pretty new and around the same level. Should be a lot of fun.

Use my referral code to get an extra 2 weeks of membership too!
 

cnerd123

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So Jan will be sitting this season of the CWC out due to the birth of his new child. Completely understandable, wish him the best and hope he joins us for the next edition.

HB and MG have signed up. Magz actually has an affiliate team now, Dynamo Schmaltzberg, which means we have hit the magical number of 8 teams for CWC Season 2! Hype.

Final call for signups before I generate fixtures - @Marcuss want to be our 9th?
 

cnerd123

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ZCC vs Winton CC in a friendly match later today. Pitch has 99 moisture, 83 speed and there is 95 cloud covering. Yikes. New ball will be key, should easy up and be pretty good to bat on midway through each innings.

Going in full strength, which still requires me to field an 18 year old in my starting XI.
 

cnerd123

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Bit of a thumping this game. Winton CC got an early wicket - medium pacer Jayraj Chandrasekaran trapping 21 year old Shahbaz Furqan LBW in the 7th over - but that brought ZCC's two best batters together in the middle. 22-year old Sajith D Estandau (135 off 134) and 21-year old Bangladeshi international Raun Shkorer (131 off 115) weathered the new ball before stepping on the gas, adding 242 runs for the 2nd wicket in just 211 balls. Winton managed to pick up regular wickets once this partnership was broken, but ZCC still ended on a massive 322/6. New-ball specialist Bikswing Nouding then took 4/25 in 7 overs, tearing through the Winton CC top order. They are currently 131/8 in 35 overs.

Expert preview has ZCC rated 59K vs Winton's 50K, so they'll be a bit disappointed with this. Having said that, ZCC have picked up Friendly 50 over wins against sides rated 61K and 64K this past week. Always helps when your gun batsmen score runs.
 

JOJOXI

International Vice-Captain
Bit of a thumping this game. Winton CC got an early wicket - medium pacer Jayraj Chandrasekaran trapping 21 year old Shahbaz Furqan LBW in the 7th over - but that brought ZCC's two best batters together in the middle. 22-year old Sajith D Estandau (135 off 134) and 21-year old Bangladeshi international Raun Shkorer (131 off 115) weathered the new ball before stepping on the gas, adding 242 runs for the 2nd wicket in just 211 balls. Winton managed to pick up regular wickets once this partnership was broken, but ZCC still ended on a massive 322/6. New-ball specialist Bikswing Nouding then took 4/25 in 7 overs, tearing through the Winton CC top order. They are currently 131/8 in 35 overs.

Expert preview has ZCC rated 59K vs Winton's 50K, so they'll be a bit disappointed with this. Having said that, ZCC have picked up Friendly 50 over wins against sides rated 61K and 64K this past week. Always helps when your gun batsmen score runs.
Lessons learnt from that friendly at least, tried to go in with 3 main seamers and stack the batting, hoping Poltgeiter (who is solid with the ball) and Glenn who is less so as a frontline bowler but done okay at other times when he's bowled just a couple overs would do okay for me in conditions friendly to seamers.
 

cnerd123

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FHK have pulled off an upset win in a T20 friendly over at Treacle Mine Road today!

FHK actual rated slightly higher overall - 50k vs 49k - as Dynamo went it with a slightly young and experimental XI. Their bowling restricted FHK to 129/6, with Nathan Law (50* off 29) and Michael Spavor (40 off 34) scoring the bulk of the runs. Their batting was the real let down, bowled out for 120 in 19.4 overs. Spavor followed up his innings with a wicket first ball, dismissing the dangerous former-ZCC stalwart Gwong Long for a duck. Simbarashe Mthabela, Maurits Grobbelaar and Martijn van Heerdens all got starts, but none kicked on. Ghaffar Khan gave up the wicket-keeping gloves this game to bowl a few overs, and nabbed 4/7 in 2.4 overs to accelerate Dynamo's collapse. Every other FHK bowler chipped in with a wicket too, with skipper Tin Yau scoring a direct hit runout too.

Good win, no doubt the Dynamo's will be looking to avenge this come the CWC!
 

cnerd123

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The fixtures for the CWC have been generated!

But for some reason the first game isn't until April 24th!! Boooo.

FHK and ZCC will go on a little CWC tour and arrange friendly games with everyone in the leadup. Should be fun.

The brand new season kicks off today too! Monday = Dev matches. ZCC have got a tough game against KryptoKnights in EurAfrica Dev 1.1. I've set the strongest team I can, I want to win as many games as possible early on so that when my 21 year olds age out I can afford to lose a few and not get relegated. FHK will be bot bashing, not much to worry about there.

@morgieb I've challenged you to a friendly, check it out.
 
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cnerd123

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So we're three weeks into Season 27. How's it going for everyone so far?

ZCC are off to a rough start in Div 2, primarily due to not setting orders properly for two weeks. RL takes precedence sometimes. I'm lucky I didn't injure Raun Shkorer - he was playing all 3 formats + the cup, and his condition dropped as low as 36%! Thankfully he's still fit, and got the added bonus of a skill pop from all the IGT.

But the losses early in the season will sting. I managed to pulled back a bit this week, but my Dev side is in for a world of pain in Div 1. Best XI has 3*21 year olds, 4*18 year olds, 1*17 year olds, and the rest filled with high-pot low-skill 16 year olds. I really do not manage transitions well! Expecting relegation, but the talent in the squad is good. Hopefully next season they can hang in there in Div 2 and not drop any further.

The SOD and T20 sides are in serious danger of dropping to Div 3 now tho. Lost everything in the opening two weeks, and only just picked up my first win in each league this past week. Ratings are consistently under 60k, experience level across the squad are low (only 9 players with 10 exp or more), and I've been struggling with managing fitness levels of my key batters. Now that Zack has turned 22 he'll be able to focus on Senior stuff more, so that will help, but Raun is still needed to carry my ailing Dev side.

Gotta get a bit smarter and sharper with my orders - being able to actually set them and tinker with them on match day will help. Fielding levels are low but that can only be addressed when my next gen comes of age. Won my first cup game, which was great. Goal now is to get my best XI on the park for Round 2, which could mean trouble when it comes to this week's league matches.

All in all it's been challenging stuff. Hope ZCC manage to avoid relegation. We'll be in much better place next season to challenge for a Div 1 spot again next season.
 

Magrat Garlick

Global Moderator
My DEV team has gone 3-0 in division 2, despite treading water in terms of ratings - I guess it helps that I'm paying a bit more attention to position requirements and don't bowl out my high variation bowlers early on for example. The one-day team is heading for 3rd in D3, gonna have to wait another year for the big promotion push as Sun Warriors really have a much stronger dev team coming through, and the Twenty20 team got the benefit of a really weak division (strongest opponent are 37k), so might promote straight back there.

The affiliate has mainly been playing bots, I've gone with a strategy of drafting 16yos with pretty low starting skills so it will take years before they're any cop (peak - the allrounder with 8 current/43 pot bat and 7/38 bowl) while shifting off some players that were bot bashers in earlier seasons for my main team to keep them half afloat in the important games.
 

JOJOXI

International Vice-Captain
Not been on much for a little bit but 2-1 in the ODI comp and 2-2 in T20s, T20s not properly set a default order whereas I have for ODIs but should be on more regularly with CWC Season 2 starting next week
 

cnerd123

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I'm really struggling with this transition period for ZCC lol. Played a friendly T20 game vs FHK today - ZCC rated 57K, while the home-grown affiliate clocked in at 52K!

Still won by 78 runs tho. Sajith D Estandau went beserk and scored a century, while the experiment of opening with Arif Jalal seems to be working. Scored a 100 a couple of innings ago and 40 off 16 here. Didn't click when it mattered in yesterday's league game tho -.-

Raun Shkorer has just turned 22, so my Dev team is going to be getting whipped and getting whipped hard this season. Hopefully Raun now being fully fit and available for senior cricket will help me hang around in Div 2 this season. Seriously facing relegation right now. Might need to sack my 19-skill coaches to save some $$$!
 

cnerd123

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FHK currently 85/0 in 15 overs batting first against @Magrat Garlick 's Dynamos at 5DNOL stadium. 50-over game.

Spinner friendly surface, usually lots of runs in it against the new ball. Having said that, the Dynamo's offie Van Heerdens as already gone for 20 in 3 overs. Left-arm wristspinner Nat Judge on for a trundle now.
 

Magrat Garlick

Global Moderator
This could be a brutal game unless my spinners get their act together.

FHK start as ratings favourites and are at home so I'm not surprised they've gone past me :)
 

cnerd123

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surprised FHK's ratings have broken 50K already. Half the starting XI not even close to their potentials yet, 6 of them are still U21. Good signs. Got some higher potential players coming through the ranks as well. Been lucky with Youth Pulls for this side.

Both openers dismissed shortly after getting their 50s and skipper/dangerman Tin Yau out for just 13 off 12. 130/3 in 25.2, Dynamo back in this.

We should start arranging some T20 friendlies in the build up to CWC Season 2.
 

cnerd123

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Yea the easiest time to bat at 5DNOL is when the ball is new. Gets harder as time wears on.

Around 200 should be defendable, if we can get there!

Nope, 192 a/o. Openers Kovrig (53) and Chung (55) the top scorers. Useful 25 from Spavor to the end to try and get us close as the tail folded. 3/33 for Nat Judge, and new seamer Saleem Saleem with 2/26 in 10!
 
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cnerd123

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Surprised we didn't see Anthony McGrath or Gwong Long bowl a few overs there @Magrat Garlick. Perfect conditions for a part-time offie, if they're not bowling here then they're never bowling!

Kovrig is set to roll his arm over for a short spell later this game, but hopefully he won't have to. Lam gets Mthabela LBW in the 1st over! New ball wickets always such a bonus here.

Pong Nam continues the excellent work with the new ball - McGrath nicks behind, it's now 8/2 in 3.1!
 

cnerd123

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Unlike the Dynamos, FHK have wasted no time getting spin into the attack. Wristspinner Lai O Yin comes on to bowl the 9th over. He was "keeping cool under intense pressure", bowled three 10/10 deliveries, induced 2 poorly-timed shots, didn't get hit for a boundary but still went for 8 runs overall.

41/2 in 9.
 

Magrat Garlick

Global Moderator
Tense.

And yeah the seamers got their full quota because I wanted to see how they do throughout the innings on a wicket like this. Not surprised the guys who got tap got it and tbf with a pretty new ball Van Heerdens got blasted too
 

cnerd123

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They did alright all considering. There is plenty of pace in the wicket so they'll always be in the game.

This partnership starting to hurt. 65 off 77 balls, already the 2nd highest of the game. Lai O Yin bowling well but still wicketless, lets see if Lester Shum can break this pairing.

Ghaffar Khan dropping a 'preposterous' chance behind the sticks off Rowan on 11.2 might be key.

I find it interesting how Lester bowls at around 90 kmph while Lai O Yin is in the 60 kmph range. Wonder how much of an effect that has.
 

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