Jeets was a great pick just for the Athlai tears, even if he spends the entire season carrying drinks.
Actually, make that *especially if* Especially if he carries them for Tastle, Ajaz, Craig or someone else Athlai hates. Make it happen Gazza.
Piedt is a perfectly fine pick at this point in the draft, has been very good at below Test level for a long time.
Verreyne was one I really wanted even though I already have QdK. He's gonna be super h4x in this and probably should have gone sooner given his stats.
Even that's an exaggeration. He did have a good 18/19 but otherwise his last 3-4 seasons have been pretty poor.
Round 8 1. Baxter - Mark Steketee (555853) Has been in lethal form lately, before that though seemed to be more of a white-ball specialist. The season he did best in was also rather bowler-friendly. Not a terrible pick by any means but I think it was a bit early. 2. MrPrez - Pieter Malan (277390) The wildcard is how well he does for the Test team with Markram out. He has done well at FC level recently but not amazingly, and he's struggled a bit for the A-team. Right now it's merely an OK pick IMO. 3. StephenZA - George Linde (481875) A big gamble even at this point. Linde has played very little "proper" cricket so far in his career. He did do OK in the Test he played and had an 11-fer recently, but yeah I would've waited. 4. HeathDavisSpeed - Dominic Bess (646847) My big issue here is that Taunton in his time has been the mother of all minefields. He can bat I guess but I think there were better options left over. 5. Gazza - Cam Bancroft (501011) Pretty decent pick. Not an amazing one but has at least some form of Test pedigree and does reasonably well at Shield level. 6. Dhokchau - Jake Weatherald (781285) Yikes. It's bad enough to be picking a batsman averaging early 30's at this point in the draft, it's even worse when you consider how many openers you already have too. Terrible pick. 7. Magrat Garlick - Wasim Jaffer (29646) Good pick on paper, but he's had a poor start to the most recent Ranji season which leaves me a bit concerned. Still a fair enough pick at this point. 8. Number 11 - Kusal Perera (300631) Strong selection. Has a decent international record that should hold him in good stead. 9. Howe and Dan - Nick Larkin (533870) This pick looks pretty bad on paper too, but having said that he was randomly rather good in CWPL so maybe there's bits to his non-FC record that is counted under the database that are dominant. Still this was early. 10. Julian - Glenn Maxwell (325026) My main worry is that his ODI performances in recent times has been pretty patchy, which means the effect of him missing lots of FC cricket to the ODI team is nullified to some degree. Has done pretty well at Shield level though in the few matches he's been able to play, so in that sense it's an OK pick. 11. morgieb - Pathum Nissanka (1028655) Good pick. Fine expolitation of h4x and probably has realistic hopes of making the Test side at some point. 12. Chewie - Tom Blundell (440516) Another nice pick. Two Test centuries should hold him in good stead, especially given he keeps too. 13. Phlegm - Ajaz Patel (595783) A good pick. My main concern is that picking him now means that one of your early picks would be wasted, but in terms of working out where he should go this is the right kind of range for him 14. Captain - Keegan Petersen (485676) A lauded pick in the main thread, I'm a little less convinced. He did just score an A-team century though I guess, and he is coming off a great season. Fair enough pick. 15. Athlai - Martin Guptill (226492) Good selection. Whenever he's played domestic FC cricket he's always done well and his ODI record has long been excellent. 16. spark!ptz - Abhimanyu Easwaran (699491) Unsure what to make of this pick - he's had one hot season, but otherwise has been a bit meh. I guess his A-team record will help though, but perhaps not as much as Panchal or Siraj. 17. Cabinet96 - Manish Pandey (290630) The only real risk here is that T20's don't count, his ODI record in contrast isn't all that special. Still, he's done very well whenever he's played FC cricket recently and at this point in the draft it's a win. 18. Skippos - Wriddhiman Saha (279810) Best pure keeper left over, and given you had Higgins it probably isn't crucial to grab a keeper that bats really well. Very good pick. 19. Alex - Kedar Jadhav (290716) At least he's a good ODI player, because if he wasn't this wouldn't be a flash pick. His recent Ranji record is nothing to write home about at all. 20. jimmy_c8 - Theunis de Bruyn Great pick. Should've gone a fair bit earlier than this even if he is a spud at Test level. 21. Hunter - Harry Conway Is his recent run of form a purple patch or is he genuinely a gun Shield bowler? Hard to call. I think there may be a few better options left over, but it's defintely a defensible pick at this point. 22. Boobidy - Callum Ferguson Good pick on paper, but I do worry slightly about his dodgy last couple of years. Might hurt the pick in practice. Still, hardly a stinker. 23. Benny - Chadd Sayers Similar case to Ferguson. If anything has been even worse in recent times, though was a better player in the past. 24. GoodAreasShane - Nikita Miller The main query is being a West Indian spinner, it's extremely easy to take wickets there. Still his record is the best of them, and while he's declined somewhat from the heady days of averaging 7, it's still a fair enough pick at this point. Best pick: de Bruyn and Saha the two standouts IMO. de Bruyn probably a better pick overall, but Saha is perfect for Skippos's squad. Worst pick: Weatherald. If Larkin didn't have a randomly good CWPL he'd be on this list too.
best picks were bancroft, kusal, de bruyn, blundell, ajaz, guptill and saha. i find it hard to rate younger indian players tbf though because i cbf sifting through who has done real stuff. ajaz should already have gone, as should have guptill given he'll be in his element in this competition. i suspect half the draft was sitting on blundell as soon as he got the test call up. his early returns as a specialist batsman during the ronchi era at wellington were modest but he has gunned it for nz a against strong touring sides and has two test tons. he's a great pick. fuck chewie.
morgie patting himself on the back for drafting the seventh-best opener of the round is pretty funny tbh.
I was sure someone would pick him after his century but he was still available by the time it got to me
Probably just people under-valuing keepers. Would've probably have plumped for him this round if someone didn't pick him in the interim (which I'm certain someone else would've if he did, lol)
chewie was right before me in the draft and i was going to nab blundell. not a disaster to miss out but he's a nice to have.
How about 189 and 129*? For bonus points cricinfo thinks he was keeping even though it clearly would have been Lenton. https://www.espncricinfo.com/series...es-under-23s-3rd-match-futures-league-2017-18
Unless I'm really over-rating Sri Lankan domestics I don't see why. Nissanka's FC average is 64, Easwaran's is 52 over the last 3 seasons. A-team wise Nissanka averages 55, Easwaran averages 41. Now Easwaran might have been playing better attacks, but it's a massive stretch to argue that he's a much better player than Nissanka.
