Coronavirus Cricket Auction Draft (Test)

[crappycraperson]

I will take it!

 

[crappycraperson]

Would people be interested in an ODI auction draft after this end?

 

[Skills]

Would people be interested in an ODI auction draft after this end?

I was thinking T20. How about we adjust the auction rules a bit and give everyone a maximum number of bids? Say you're only allowed to bid 30 times?

Sheep draft would also be fun

 

[anant]

Maybe blind auction? And wouldn't mind running a T20 draft as my T20 knowledge is very poor

 

[Skills]

Maybe blind auction? And wouldn't mind running a T20 draft as my T20 knowledge is very poor

A blind auction would be fun, but again it will need a limit on the number of bids I think. Just to make it manageable for the mod

 

[2mufc0]

Would people be interested in an ODI auction draft after this end?

In.

 

[Norris]

Yeah, I'm in too. There is no way I am beating Crappy after that de Kock Fiasco. Might as well prep for the next drafts.

 

[crappycraperson]

Yeah, I'm in too. There is no way I am beating Crappy after that de Kock Fiasco. Might as well prep for the next drafts.

Haha.. nah you got too many bargains last round so it should be a tough match up.

Think I will run an ODI auction draft only. Will tweak the nomination process a bit and I have run these before so will set up all rules beforehand. ODI pool is deeper than T20 plus we have never had an ODI auction draft

 

[Mani]

H

Would people be interested in an ODI auction draft after this end?

How about ODI sheep draft crappy ?

 

[Mani]

Whatever let’s keep playing guy,I’m in

 

[harshad]

Would people be interested in an ODI auction draft after this end?

In

 

[2mufc0]

Haha.. nah you got too many bargains last round so it should be a tough match up.

Think I will run an ODI auction draft only. Will tweak the nomination process a bit and I have run these before so will set up all rules beforehand. ODI pool is deeper than T20 plus we have never had an ODI auction draft

ODI auction would be best.

 

[crappycraperson]

Whatever let’s keep playing guy,I’m in

Will start sign up after the final of this one.

 

[Himannv]

Interested in an ODI auction draft.

 

[Mani]

Will start sign up after the final of this one.

That should be fine, tag me once the thread is up.

 

[Himannv]

Will start sign up after the final of this one.

Why not start now so that everything is all set once the finals of this one are over.

 

[Samid]

Please vote for one of the teams that you believe would win on a green track.

Discussions encouraged. Write ups to follow.

Team @Skills / @anant

1. Jack Hobbs
2. Graeme Smith
3. Ken Barrington
4. Steve Smith
5. Graeme Pollock
6. Tony Greig
7. BJ Watling (wk)
8. Imran Khan (c)
9. Alan Keith Davidson
10. Andy Roberts
11. Glenn McGrath

Team @Edgar Allan Pillow / @The Man Himself

1. Matthew Hayden
2. Geoffrey Boycott
3. Rahul Dravid
4. Greg Chappell
5. Joe Root
6. Les Ames (wk)
7. Keith Miller
8. Wasim Akram
9. Malcolm Marshall
10. Morne Morkel
11. Lance Gibbs

 

[Samid]

Team @Skills / @anant

Opening the batting we have, in @Moby's words, the greatest opener of all time - Jack Hobbs. Named as one of the XI Wisden Crickets of the 20th century & has racked up runs in a long-ass career that was disrupted by WWI. Partnering him is one of the modern greats & one the very best openers post Gavaskar. Graeme Smith is tough bastard & was the leader of the SA team that eventually became the best team team in the world. A 4th innings average of 51 tells you everything you need to know about Smithy.

Following them you have Ken Barrington who has the 3rd highest career batting average of anyone with more than 6000 runs. His lowest average in any country he played in was 44. You'd think his overall career batting of 58 is freakish but the man averages 74 at no. 3 along 13 of his 20 centuries coming at 1 down. Following that you have Steve Smith at 4 - the sandpaper man. A modern great and a statistical outlier in current cricket with his average of 62. Smith can and has carried limp middle orders for the last decade for Australia, now imagine what he can do with the support he has in my team. Then we have following them another freakish outlier statistical outlier in cricket - Graeme Pollock. Another 60+ averaging batsman in this team. What I've assembled here is a team of statistical outliers. Go to cricinfo, sort all time batsman by averages and my lads feature among them.

The lower middle order is a madness. Greig, Watling & Imran Khan come in at 6,7 & 8 with excellent averages of around 40 each - considering they've batted their careers in positions where you could be required to see off the new ball, shepherd the tale or do a full on recovery mission.

Davidson himself is a very solid lower order batsman averaging 24.59 with 5 half centuries. Andy Roberts also knew his way around at a bat too, with 3 test half centuries. We're DEEP.

The bowlers

Do I really need to say much here? I have Glenn McGrath & Imran Khan opening the bowling for me, followed up by another legend in Andy Roberts. Completing the attack we have a left-hander. Davidson took 186 wickets in 44 Tests, at the excellent average of 20.53 - 2nd best of anyone with more than 100 wickets who played after the First World War.

Then if that's not enough, Tony will also help keep us ticking along with either his off-spin or his medium pace depending on what's required. The versatility he offers is key. Tony is a genuine bowling option - you don't get 141 wicket sin 58 matches with 6 5-fers if you don't know how to bowl. Perfect 5th bowling option.

Why we win?

• Top 5 are all studs. Nothing else to be said.
• Deep as feck lower order just got deeper, means the top order can bat without any worries. We have Imran Khan batting at 8. It's going to be a huge job for anyone to bowl us out.
• 4 genuine pace bowlers on a green pitch is devastating & gives us the maximum opportunity to get the wickets we need to win.
• Tony switching between Off-spin & Medium pace adds versatility to the bowling attack.

Why Pillow doesn't win?

• Hayden would not be my preferred choice opener on a seaming pitch. Unfortunately, his record just stack up in places with swinging pitches. Fantastic against spin & especially on flatter decks where he was a true match winner. See below his record in England, NZ & SA.

• In contrast, this is Graeme Smithy's record in those countries :

Apart from that good team, but I expect I'll get my 20 wickets quicker and for fewer runs. And our batting will dig in deeper to get us more runs to win this match.

---

Team @Edgar Allan Pillow / @The Man Himself
OP - Matthew Hayden - Batting Avg: 50.74
OP - Geoffrey Boycott - Batting Avg: 47.73
#03 - Rahul Dravid - Batting Avg: 52.31
#04 - Greg Chappell - Batting Age: 53.86
#05 - Joe Root - Batting Avg: 48.40
#06 - Les Ames (WK) - Batting Avg: 40.57
#07 - Keith Miller - Batting Avg: 36.98 | Bowling Avg: 22.98, Econ: 2.24
#08 - Wasim Akram - Batting Avg: 22.64 | Bowling Avg: 23.62, Econ: 2.59
#09 - Malcolm Marshall - Batting Avg: 18.85 | Bowling Avg: 20.94, Econ: 2.68
#10 - Morne Morkel - Batting Avg: 11.65 | Bowling Avg: 27.67, Econ: 3.11
#11 - Lance Gibbs - Batting Avg: 6.97 | Bowling Avg: 29.09, Econ: 1.98

Why we'll win:

Batting:

We have almost on par opening duo, maybe slightly lesser but have an edge in middle order with Dravid and Chappell. Given we are talking about an all-time draft, on pace friendly pitch, the technique needs to be impeccable and our middle order has advantage here. We have a small but significant advantage in lower middle order too too with Miller and Ames having a minor edge over opponent duo. We also like having combo of strong technique and big hitters in our lineup to get the minor advantage of runs which will be all that will matter in this match up.

Bowling:

Opening bowling pair are almost even, with almost nothing to choose but we have a slight edge and our opening due of Marshall-Akram is best in the draft. The variation these two provide in these conditions added with with right arm-left arm combo, it is the most lethal of opening pace attack. Miller and Morrne are very very good bowlers for such conditions. The bounce Miller and Morne will be able to generate will again provide additional weapons. Our sole spinner Gibbs has lot of experience in plying his trade in non-spin friendly pitches and his stunning econ rate of less than 2 makes him a strong support 5th bowler for this condition to keep things tight if/when pacers need breather.

 

[Skills]

@Edgar Allan Pillow @The Man Himself @anant we okay for everyone to post in the game?

 

[The Man Himself]

@Edgar Allan Pillow @The Man Himself @anant we okay for everyone to post in the game?

Sure although don't expect much posting from me . Maybe one of you can engage with Pillow when he is available.

 

[anant]

Sure although don't expect much posting from me . Maybe one of you can engage with Pillow when he is available.

Yeah, even I'm not expecting to be able to find the time to post a lot - busy day today

 

[The Man Himself]

Yeah, even I'm not expecting to be able to find the time to post a lot - busy day today

Same. Need to get some work done which I am postponing for a week.

Just want to add one clarification, the 'edge' which we gave to your openers was assuming Hobbs-Barrington would open (guess that was opening pair last round for you guys?). If it is Smith, we fancy ours. Although that will mean the middle order will be at same level now.
Else, even with those stats you guys gave, in this all-time draft, Hayden is likely to fair better.You guys conveniently ignored Australia stats when comparing those two . Smith's weakness vs Zaheer is well known so we expect Akram to get better of him.

Overall I personally see the two teams quite equal all things considered, and in reality this will come down to which set has better day/better session. So I will leave to voters to decide per their choice and @Edgar Allan Pillow to debate more if needed

 

[crappycraperson]

Ooops, I voted by mistake. @Norris can you vote also so that our cancels each other out.

 

[2mufc0]

Close game, but edging towards TMH/EAP as Marshall and Wasim had that bit more variation to their bowling than McGrath and Roberts. The batting is pretty much equal imo.

 

[The Man Himself]

Close game, but edging towards skills/anant as Marshall and Wasim had that bit more variation to their bowling than McGrath and Roberts. The batting is pretty much equal imo.

Marshall and Wasim are in opposite team of Skills/Anant

 

[2mufc0]

Marshall and Wasim are in opposite team of Skills/Anant

Yeah i mixed it up, sorted now!

 

[Skills]

Close game, but edging towards TMH/EAP as Marshall and Wasim had that bit more variation to their bowling than McGrath and Roberts. The batting is pretty much equal imo.

Is Imran Khan just irrelevant in this contest?

 

[Skills]

Same. Need to get some work done which I am postponing for a week.

Just want to add one clarification, the 'edge' which we gave to your openers was assuming Hobbs-Barrington would open (guess that was opening pair last round for you guys?). If it is Smith, we fancy ours. Although that will mean the middle order will be at same level now.
Else, even with those stats you guys gave, in this all-time draft, Hayden is likely to fair better.You guys conveniently ignored Australia stats when comparing those two . Smith's weakness vs Zaheer is well known so we expect Akram to get better of him.

Overall I personally see the two teams quite equal all things considered, and in reality this will come down to which set has better day/better session. So I will leave to voters to decide per their choice and @Edgar Allan Pillow to debate more if needed

Australia is literally a dessert. A ball doesn't swing there - the pitches are either quick/bouncy or flat.

 

[Himannv]

Smith at 3, Pollock at 4, and Barrington at 5 just looks like a much better batting order. Mostly becauseI always feel those gritty stonewalling run machines are better at 4 or 5, while stars like Smith are just perfect for that number 3 slot even though they don't often bat there in reality. The biggest problem i see is that Greig and Watling are really underwhelming at this level.

However, Morne Morkel and Lance Gibbs are even more underwhelming at this level so there is a clear winner to me. Love the lineup from 6 to 9 though.

 

[anant]

Same. Need to get some work done which I am postponing for a week.

Just want to add one clarification, the 'edge' which we gave to your openers was assuming Hobbs-Barrington would open (guess that was opening pair last round for you guys?). If it is Smith, we fancy ours. Although that will mean the middle order will be at same level now.
Else, even with those stats you guys gave, in this all-time draft, Hayden is likely to fair better.You guys conveniently ignored Australia stats when comparing those two . Smith's weakness vs Zaheer is well known so we expect Akram to get better of him.

Overall I personally see the two teams quite equal all things considered, and in reality this will come down to which set has better day/better session. So I will leave to voters to decide per their choice and @Edgar Allan Pillow to debate more if needed

If you are to rate the 4 openers, it would go something like this:

Hobbs
..
..
..
Hayden
Smith
Boycott - although the last 3 belong to the same tier

And I'm giving Hayden a slight advantage because he became a bigger legend, although Smithy was much more a stable and a patient batsman who one can rely on, something I believe is much more valuable on a pitch like this.
If you include Dravid vs Barrington - basically the top order we have the clear advantage
Same in MO - Pollock, Smith, Greig, Watling, Khan is better - I'm pretty sure deep down you know that's true. two of these guys average 60+!

Pacers, I'd say - Akram, Marshall are similar to McGrath, Roberts- Hell, I'd even give you a slight advantage, but are we going to ignore the 3rd and 4th pacer, where we are comfortably better?

 

[Mani]

Surprised with the voting so far, I think skills/Anant got edge with pitch in mind, I don't think any team would survive that bowling lineup, Imran,McGrath,Davidson and Roberts is sweet as it can get.On otherside EAP/TMH going with L.Gibbs who would've limited impact considering the pitch which favours the pace bowlers.

 

[2mufc0]

Is Imran Khan just irrelevant in this contest?

In terms of variation he is comparable to Wasim and Marshall, but the other two aren't, plus Robert's was a great bowler but i don't think he makes the all time 11 conversion. Marshall is the no.1 test pacer of all time and i like Wasim more on a swinging pitch than McGrath, this sways it in their favour on a green track. Don't get me wrong i love the Imran - McGrath combo i just rate the Marshall - Wasim combination slightly better in these conditions.

The rest of the attack is comparable but Tony Greig is pointless in your bowling attack.

 

[12OunceEpilogue]

I'm going Skills, just about. Wasim and Marshall is great but McGrath and Imran is too. Skills has just about the better unit and I prefer his batting.

 

[Skills]

Smith at 3, Pollock at 4, and Barrington at 5 just looks like a much better batting order. Mostly becauseI always feel those gritty stonewalling run machines are better at 4 or 5, while stars like Smith are just perfect for that number 3 slot even though they don't often bat there in reality. The biggest problem i see is that Greig and Watling are really underwhelming at this level.

However, Morne Morkel and Lance Gibbs are even more underwhelming at this level so there is a clear winner to me. Love the lineup from 6 to 9 though.

I see it the other way around personally. If Akram or Marshall blow out one of my openers, I'd rather have a bat like Barrington coming into battle it through and take us through to the 2nd session. Obviously, situation changes if my openers put up a good first wicket then it's better to have Smith coming in after.

 

[The Man Himself]

Australia is literally a dessert. A ball doesn't swing there - the pitches are either quick/bouncy or flat.

My understanding is this is just for name green, overall it is mixture of green+bounce so all countries assisting either swing or pace matter.

 

[Himannv]

In terms of variation he is comparable to Wasim and Marshall, but the other two aren't, plus Robert's was a great bowler but i don't think he makes the all time 11 conversion. Marshall is the no.1 test pacer of all time and i like Wasim more on a swinging pitch than McGrath, this sways it in their favour on a green track. Don't get me wrong i love the Imran - McGrath combo i just rate the Marshall - Wasim combination slightly better in these conditions.

The rest of the attack is comparable but Tony Greig is pointless in your bowling attack.

Davidson and Roberts were both much better bowlers than Morkel and Gibbs. Davidson is one of the best left arm seamers of all time and this is Andy Roberts we're talking about here. I feel Roberts gets talked down a bit because he wasn't as good as Marshall, Ambrose, Holding, and Garner. Doesn't mean he wasn't a deadly bowler in his own right.

 

[The Man Himself]

Davidson and Roberts were both much better bowlers than Morkel and Gibbs. Davidson is one of the best left arm seamers of all time and this is Andy Roberts we're talking about here. I feel Roberts gets talked down a bit because he wasn't as good as Marshall, Ambrose, Holding, and Garner. Doesn't mean he wasn't a deadly bowler in his own right.

You are missing presence of Miller in our lineup, who averages 22. So it is Miller and Morne vs Davidson and Roberts. Gibbs is 5th choice, we kept him due to his very good econ rate so he can keep things tight. Compare him with Greig in bowling if needed.
Also, our understanding is, green isn't exactly lush green, it has bounce etc, basically hybrid of all the characteristics of pace/swing friendly countries' pitches. So we kept Gibbs as spinner able to generate bounce can trouble batsmen. Else we could have kept Brian McMillan who would have strengthened batting as well as added one more pace option. but we wanted as much variety as possible since margins are thin.

 

[Norris]

Ooops, I voted by mistake. @Norris can you vote also so that our cancels each other out.

Done.

 

[Skills]

Done.

<3

 

[Himannv]

You are missing presence of Miller in our lineup, who averages 22. So it is Miller and Morne vs Davidson and Roberts.

Yes, that's fair. Marshall, Akram, Miller, and Morne vs McGrath, Imran, Davo, and Roberts is close.