Your Teams chances

[Simon]

guys, im putting together a bit of info of each team.
we are seeing what blewy thinks of your team, i think everyone whould put a bit about their own team, e.g star players, your teams chances in each version of the game, which teams will be the hardest to beat in your division, etc......

[nibbs]

hmmmmmmmm

This season Warwickshire bring fourth a completely new team. Only three players retained from last season. We have brought into the team some very capable rookies, and some strong heads.


Well, in the one day comp I'm expecting, or at least hoping to be battling it out for second. I feel that Karnataka is too superior and they should run away with this division (3). Western Province, Hampshire and my team, Warwickshire, will fight it out for second and for a promotion relegation match. Batting is generally the concern here. Last season, the batting cost us big time especially in the one dayers. Hopefully the arrival of some fresh new talent will help us out. This new line up, bats down to 9. The bowling is ok, with no real stand outs. The strikes of Warwickshires bowlers range from 29-40.

In the four day comp, I've been looking at the teams stats in that superb little profiles thingy made by Sriram (good work Sriram ). My side has, or least I reckon, by far the best bowling line up, and we have some decent batsmen to back them up. We have four bowlers who have strike of under 50, including two under 40. They only decision at the moment to be made is whether to play Ealham and Masroor at number 7. We bat down to 7, and then the wheel will fall off. But before them we have the like of rookie Daniel Howarth and S.Sriram (both average over 50). Before they arrive at the crease we have our fine pair of openers. Ghulam Ali, aquired from Karachi and Derick Anderson, aquired from Auckland. Although these too aren't the best openers going, they are solid enough, and I suspect they'll get their fair share of runs.

[age_master]

colts are a good chance of winning div 2 OD and div 4 4d, with the only real comptition to come from the might of WP in the 4 day comp

Star Players will be
S Sharath
V Sehwag
S Katich
W Anderson
Y Singh
M Beasley
M Hoggard
K Vaas
G Shaw
M Boucher

[Simon]

ACT COMETS

We should start favourites in division 5, some good form in the pre season, beating Mumbai in a 4 day game being the highlight. the batting the 4 day seems to be our strong point, but hopefully we can win both titles, and dont count us out of the VB cup if the draw falls our way.
I expect Free State to be our major competition, they look to have a good batting line up and i hope i dont play them on a good day. mashonaland will string a few upsets and finish 3rd in both 1d and 4d i think.
Michael "Cracker" Dawn will be our star, hes awesome in both forms and makes a formidable opening combination with Tuggeranong captain David Jeffrey. Trescothick is expected to bat down the order, but may get a chance at the top early in the season. Ben Southam and Sean Maxwell have looked the good in the batting department in pre season, with Matt Ramage and Simon Mann Taking plenty of wickets as expected. Mann taking 11 for the match against 4th division Auckland.
Anything less than promotion in at least 1 competition will be un accpetable.

[marc71178]

If Colts think Division 2 in One day is going to be a walkover, they'd better think again!

[Rik]

Mashonaland

Chances:

I think we will finish at least 3rd in the 4D league but most probably 2nd, you never know, we might even win it

Free State and Guyana I think will be fighting for the wooden spoon with Free State edging it due to having a Pretorius. Jamaica will be just above them with Karachi joining the fight for the title between myself and ACT.

In the OD I think we will probably finish at at max of 3rd place because although we have some talented batsmen we suffer from lack of depth in the batting and no real replacement bowlers if one gets injured. ACT, Jamaica, Free State, Guyana, Karachi or even myself can win...it's hard to pick a winner.

In a few sims with Division 2 High Fliers, Kent, who I matched quite well until I slipped up near the end of the series.

Star Players:

Watch out for:

Tim Petal (good batsman and a fine spinner, strong in both forms of the game)

Andy Petal (the keeper, fine OD opener and critical number 7 batsman in 4D)

Mike Burns (Gritty 4D player who can hold the innings together but a fine free-scoring opener in OD)

Ryan Cunningham (Fine spinner in both OD and 4D, econ is a speciallity)

Barney Rogers (Match-winning number 3 and handy spinner in 4D, Lower order batsman who chips in with the ball in OD)

Gus Mackay (Niggly new ball bowler with fine strike rate and econ)

Oh and the Fulton and Smith opening partnership as well as our 4 pronged spin attack in both forms.

Out of the other teams...well ACT have Mann who's allways a tricky customer, Karachi have Bin Nasir who looks a fine batsman, Free State have Pretorius who is a quality bowler, Jamaica have Mike Di Venuto, a batsman with a fine record and Guyana had Tendulkar but now are left with Sarwan as one of only 2 batsman who average over 30 in 4D...

To Sum Up:

Some good recruiting has given us some ability in the OD side of things, but watch out in 4D!!!

[Rich2001]

To be honest I haven't a clue, I have built the Kent side towards the FD side of things and although it's a top side I feel we lack that 1 top batsman / bowler, we have 3 or 4 that avg around that 38 mark making deciding who will play very tough indeed, unfortuntly a few players that we signed had a poor end to the season and their avg were hit hard.... and some very stupid trading by myself that iam not sure why I did it . The releases at the end of the season also hit Kent hard being forced to release at least 3/4 first team regulars.... the draft wasn't helped by being so, but we were able to pick a few class players up at the start.

Overall I feel we have a better chance in FD but others in the division are very strong indeed, OD was never really a thought even having gained promotion to D1, however some of the FD players have some nice OD avg imarticular the bowling department, so advioding demotion would be nice.

Players

A.Flower - (Bat Avg - 37 OD / 48 FC)

The main Kent WK and a fantastic batsman on his day, he had a very poor OD season by his standards and will hopefull do better than a avg in the low 20's this season, dropping slightly down the order with the signings of regular openers might help. Four was a different story altogeter avg 80+ until the last few games, will hope to carry that fantastic form through the season.

A.Sheriyar - (Bat Avg - 11 OD / 9 FC -- Bowl S/R 32 OD / 51 FC)

A.Sheriyar was a late draft pick, who was basicaly one of the best left at the time... A.Sheriyar could be very hit or miss he has a simalar figures as about 2 others so basically needs to prove himself in training, he could play the whole season or none at all, but there is no doubt that he is a very fine back up bowler.

B.Allen - (Bat Avg - 52 OD / 55 FC)

The club are investigating Allen's avg as he avg over 70 in the OD'ers yet his avg only went up by a single point and somehow managed to drop in the FD format :O

But playing wise the young rookie has the wait of the club on his head, if he hits form then you better watch out.. if he has a bad year or is injuired then Kent face a very very tough year and could result in failure in both forms. A certain starter!

C.Liptrott - (Bat Avg - 27 OD / 13 FC -- Bowl 32 OD / 57 FC)

C.Liptrott another draft pick is the same as A.Sheriyar but his handy batting in OD along with a fine SR could see him leapfrog the others, FD though will be a long wait and only alot of injuries will see him make the team.

D.Marsh - (Bat Avg - 37 OD / 37 FC -- Bowl 85 FC)

D.Marsh a late addition to the side for season 2 after a lot! of travling around, but he felt at home stright away at Canterbury and hit some of the best form of his life, in the OD the guy was simply awesome with a peak avg hitting 121 at the end of the season, and also doing well in the FC game. He also has a very cunning SR in which looks very bad yet took alot of wickets and kept things very tight throughout the season.

H.Gibbs - (Bat Avg - 32 OD / 40 FC)

H.Gibbs arrives from WP after a dissapointing season that picked up towards the end, with 3 openers leaving Kent last season Gibbs is eger to slot right in there and prove the manager faith in him.

H.Singh - (Bat Avg - 14 OD / 24 FC -- Bowl 38 OD / 58 FC)

H.Singh was a key member of the side last year, and was backed by his manager being the one spinner kept out of the 3, however with the young rookie now on the books, H.Singh will be forced to take a back seat and let the young lad take the spotlight, his OD figures could be just enough to brake into the side if a extra bowler is played.

M.McCague - (Bat Avg - 11 OD / 17 FC -- Bowl 31 OD / 51 FC)

M.McCague the silent star, he never had the avgerages but the manager kept faith in him and he turned in the goods, and the figures have been dropping rapily... His batting has improved over time and help bail Kent out on a few occasions. M.McCague had a steady season last year and a few more wickets in the FD to help the Strike Bowlers out would come in very handy.

M.Saggers - (Bat Avg - 11 OD / 9 FC -- Bowl 30 OD / 47 FC)

The complete opposite to McCague, has the avgerages but hasn't delivered the goods in the last couple of years, this season will be better for him, being among a higher standard of bowlers, to keep the pressure on at the other end and the fact we can select bowling postions so he will bowl more than 3 overs a match!!!!

M.Wood - (Bat Avg - 27 OD / 39 FC)

Signed from Somerset in a poor move by myself, at the time he avg 41 and was going ok in the leauge, however 3 poor matches to end the season saw his avg tumble, whereas his counter part M.Butcher was hitting a purple patch that saw his avg fly up hopefully Wood will hit some form and is still will likly to make the side as Gibbs aid at the opener's postion.

N.McKenzie - (Bat Avg - 33 OD / 38 FC)

N.McKenzie was signed from Yorkshire in a deal that saw the young talent of G.Jones heading north. N.McKenzie is a bright youngster that will easily fit into the OD frame (told you it was bad!) but it will be close between N.McKenzie and D.Marsh to see who gets the FD call, or if a bowler is dropped and they both play.

P.Nixon - (Bat Avg - 23 OD / 33 FD)

Nico returns to his former club as the must have 2nd WK, he knows he is unliky to get a game while Andy Flower is around, however he is just happy to be backhome with the guys.

S.Hutton - (Bat Avg - 23 OD / 21 FC -- Bowl 37 OD / 46 FC)

S.Hutton has come onto the stage almost unoticed by anyone, even with his very impressive perfromances that made him Man Of Match on a number of occasions, S.Hutton has the ablity to offer some runs with the bat, but his main weapon is his leathal bowing that when he hits form regularly takes 5W hauls. Certain to start and one to watch.

T.Hawkins - (Bat Avg - 5 OD / 10 FC -- Bowl 27 OD / 42 FC)

T.Hawkins is a young rookie that is about to hit the big time in a big way, his FC S/R is quite fankly unheard of for a spinner and his OD one isn't to bad either ! Expect big thing from this guy.

T.Murtagh

A very talented bowler in both forms of the game, picked up in the 2nd round of the draft.

V.Laxman - (Bat Avg - 32 OD / 51 FC)

V.Laxman was Kent's 1st round draft pick and brings a lot to the Kent side, SA took a big gamble in releasing such a is a very quality player, but mad Kent very happy along the way . V.Laxman is talented batsman in the FD arena that is capble of some very special inngs.

[The Argonaut]

After taking the one day title last year it is expected that Queensland will be strong in this form of the game again. Bowling will be the key as a number of bowlers have good strike rates.

The four day game will be a problem though and I imagine that staying up in first division will be hard. Only time will tell. I have tried to bolster the 4d line up with my draft picks.

Players to look out for will be Hayden, Maher, Love, Hussain, Pothas, Bichel and Kasprowicz.

[bugssy]

nsw will be very keen to show the rue form in the od arena like they did 2 seasons ago winning the vb cup and finishing 2nd to qld by 2 points. the side has been changed around slightly but has alot of experience and some good rookies who will hopefully shine.
nsw will be amimng to get back into div 1 for the one day comp and stay up there for the 4day and hopefully take it out.

players to watch out for are
c cairns, m bevan (as always), j kallis, d ferguson, y mcdowell


not being to confident but time will tell

[Graham]

LANCASHIRE

My predictions last season weren’t a raging success, so with a revised calculation method I’ll see if I’m more accurate this season.

FC Division 2
I believe that Karnataka are favourites to take out Division 2 and that it will be a real dogfight amongst the other 5 teams (Lancashire, Kent, WA, TN and Hampshire).
My aim in the FC competition is therefore to avoid further relegation.
Players to watch are A.Schiller and M.Ramprakash in the batting and the sensational pace bowler S.Harwood. I’m hoping that R.Dravid will come back into form after a poor trot last season.

OD Division 1
I believe that SA have to be favoured to take the crown from QLD this season. Lancashire, Mumbai and QLD will fight it out for second spot. WA and Kent will be fighting to avoid the drop.
Lancashire batsmen to watch are J.Madanagopal, A.Schiller and O.Beasley, but the side’s real strength is in the bowling department with M.Mendis, M.Walker, C.Schofield, K.Sullivan and S.Harwood all dangerous.

[Rich2001]

Originally posted by Graham
LANCASHIRE

WA and Kent will be fighting to avoid the drop.

but the side’s real strength is in the bowling department with M.Mendis, M.Walker, C.Schofield, K.Sullivan and S.Harwood all dangerous.

1 - Thanks mate, I played a few games with my One Day side last night and they are so hit or miss it's incredible, in about 10 games I hit 300+ 3 times a few normal scores and then lets not even talk about it! however a bright point was that the bowling was very strong, inculding bowling Mumbai out for 63 and a number of times in the 120's

2 - M.Walker a bowler ?? :rolleyes: - Walks is a top order batsman and a part-time bowler at best (sorry Matt) In fact iam not even sure if he bowls at all in WCC but in real life he is a handy player.

[Sriram k]

Originally posted by Rich2001
however a bright point was that the bowling was very strong, inculding bowling Mumbai out for 63 and a number of times in the 120's

I agree!! Mumbais 1 day squad isnt impressive at all.Div 2 here I come!!


Sriram

[Rich2001]

Originally posted by Sriram k
I agree!! Mumbais 1 day squad isnt impressive at all.Div 2 here I come!!


Sriram

Well you still stuffed me a fair few times but hey iam not going to admit to that iam I..... Opps