morgieb rates the hicks

CPL will probably start before morgie finishes. How humiliating.

 

You ask, you recieve.

Julian


Graeme Smith - poor bloke you are. Was a great pick when you went for him, but since then he retired after a stinker of a series against Australia. Still up there with the best openers in the game but he doesn't really feel like Rd 1 material. 0

Ravindra Jadeja - IMO is in the Top 5 most valuable all-rounders in cricket today. Mindboggling averages in domestic cricket (although it is Indian domestic....) and his Test bowling record is so far pretty good. This along with your next pick really helped shaped your side. +1

Chris Woakes - like Jadeja, is in the top 5 most valuable all-rounders. His recent form has been very good with both bat and ball. +1

Luke Butterworth - similar to Copeland I guess in that they're both Australian bowling all-rounders who lack 'cutting edge' but have produced largely very good FC performances for a long period of time. I think he was a slightly better pick than Copeland, as his batting is quite a bit better and his recent form is slightly better. +1

Umar Akmal - like Alam am seriously surprised he's not playing Test cricket, his FC stats are excellent in tricky conditions. Can also keep and is still fairly young. Nice pick. +1

Phil Jaques - his performances have generally been pretty ordinary for quite some time IMO. I suppose the fact that he plays in high-profile competitions allows him to be picked this early, and I don't think the pick is an absolute shocker, but it was one of the weaker ones in the draft. -1

Sohail Tanvir - early. This isn't T20 we're drafting for, he isn't a bad player but for R7 this is pretty poor. -1

Shoaib Malik - along with Hall a great example of a utility player. However given we're drafting a FC lineup, this was a reach personally. -1

Suraj Randiv - fairly decent pick. FC record is meh compared to his contemporaries, but unlike most Sri Lankans he has a strong WPM and has an OK-ish Test record. +1

Darren Sammy - good pick. Yeah his recent Test record is pretty dire, but he has had some success there in the past and gives you a decent lower-order option. +1

Gary Putland - hmm. I really rate Putland and he does have a strong record, but due to injuries he can never seem to play regular Shield cricket. Decent pick all the same. +1

Vaughan Van Jaarsveld - OK pick, but he is coming off a shocking season and with VVS still available it's not a particularly inspiring one. 0

Dinesh Karthik - good pick. Good recent FC record and has some higher level experience. +1

Dean Brownlie - again a good pick. Has played some fine innings for New Zealand in the past. Better hope that he doesn't play on turning tracks much though. +1

Anamul Haque - lots of promise. It's definitely a punt given I dunno how good he'd be for the purposes of this, but it still says a bit that Bangladesh are willing to play him as a specialist batsman despite being a regular keeper at the domestic level. +1

Colin de Grandhomme - fantastic recent form, and gives you some extra depth. Good pick. +1

Faiz Fazal - meh. Good couple of years, but his overall record is pretty meh by the standards of his country. 0

Rory Burns - is fairly promising, but still he's little better than a depth option at this stage. It's only a R18 pick though so meh. 0

Overall:

Interesting side. It's lacking in real standouts which may make them prone to upsets, but the amount of all-rounders will make the side tough for most sides to beat. The squad is well suited to CPL, and I think it'll go far if properly selected.

 

I'll do yours next, but I've got work tomorrow and it's late so unfortunately for you you've gotta wait.

What I meant was that he'd just looks slightly out of place in Rd 1 if we were doing a draft today. Obviously he's far from a shocker for R1....but it just feels like it lacks the poise.

And yes I am aware that he does still play for Surrey. His international retirement won't affect him....but his stinker against us might.

 

Hunter


Alastair Cook - not the best batsman left at this stage, but was picked largely because he was an opener and there seems to be a paucity of good openers today. Still, there's one at the time that was better, and another one that might have overtaken him, so I think this was early. -1

Jackson Bird - it's hard to say. He doesn't have much of a Test record behind him, and his FC average while impressive is inflated by bowling on some pretty ordinary wickets/against average batting lineups. Despite this he does look class. Probably a little early, but there aren't too many bowlers you can say are clearly better so a pretty decent pick. +1

Ajinkya Rahane - although his FC average has faded in recent times, it is still extremely impressive, and he has showed signs of talent in his brief Test career. Nice pick. +1

Albie Morkel - I think this is up there with the picks of the draft. Yes, he hasn't played a lot of FC cricket recently so he might be a bit of a risk, but I doubt there are many cricketers better suited to that #6/5th bowler role. Great pick. +2

Sachithra Senanayake - not sure on this pick. On paper it's very good, but Sri Lanka isn't a hard place to bowl in. Yeah he can bat, but he's not gonna bat any higher than 8 you'd assume. This selection was too early for mine, very surprised you didn't go Miller here, for example. -1

Rilee Rossouw - although he hasn't kicked on as well as many people would've suspected/hoped, his record is still pretty solid in a tricky competition. He also can bat anywhere in the order. Rate this selection. +1

Andre Adams - great pick. Does really well in county cricket and will give your batting some extra depth. +2

Brendan Nash - pretty decent pick. Solid enough Test record and has had good domestic form lately. +1

Johann Louw - I really rate this pick. Gun recent record in domestic cricket. +1

Tom Latham - hard to say. This pick isn't that great right now, but Latham does have a lot of promise, he can bat everywhere in the order and he gives you a keeping option, so I can see where it came from. 0

Niall O'Brien - early. Did deserve to be picked, but there were better options available. -1

Andrew Strauss - hasn't played cricket at all since retiring from international cricket. Therefore a bit more risky than other retired bats, and was in pretty shitty form even before retiring. Very early and I don't like this pick. -1

Luke Feldman - nice pick. Should give your bowling some good depth. +1

Doug Bracewell - interesting pick. A lot of potential, but right now I think he'd be pretty dire in the database. He's unproven even at the domestic level and he's a major loose cannon. Risky, but it could pay off and unlike say de Lange or Cummins you didn't waste an early pick on him. 0

Kieran Powell - meh. Typical sort of West Indian with an average record but does have some potential. IMO for R15 this is a solid pick, as would most players with international exposure being picked. +1

Parvez Rasool - has had only one really good season. Hard to say whether that would be the norm or just a one-off fluke in terms of his career at this stage, and he didn't have a fantastic last season. Might add decent depth but other than that this is a pretty ordinary pick. -1

George Dockrell - hard to say. His record is boosted quite significantly by the Intercontinental Cup, however he does have to bowl on one of the flattest pitches in the world and he still is very young. Given the potential to improve I think this was a pretty decent pick this late. +1

Miguel Cummins - a lot of what I wrote about Jason Holder applies here. A pretty decent pick right now and could be a real steal with time. +1

Overall:

Should be fairly solid throughout. I think it lacks a true star though which might see him prone to upsets, and some of his depth players feel slightly iffy. Will probably be around the fringes of the 8.

 

Baxter



Shivnarine Chanderpaul - great pick on paper. The only risk is that he's batted lower middle-order for the whole of his Test career which may lower his value at this level. Still he probably should've gone earlier. +1

Junaid Khan - his Test record is hard to judge given he's mainly bowled well against only one side, but it's hard to blame him entirely for that fact, as Pakistan don't seem to schedule many Test series. You can only really bowl at what's in front of you, and he's passed that test well. Good pick. +1

Kyle Abbott - he had only played one Test at the time of selection, but he bowled excellently in his only Test, and his FC average is not particularly boosted by cheap wickets in second division South African domestic. Can't find much to fault about this pick. Could be the next Philander of CPL. +2

Kane Williamson - is starting to come into his own at Test level and is only getting better. He probably should've gone a round earlier, Baxter did very well to see Williamson slide to him. +2

Andrew McDonald - similar to the Morkel pick earlier. On paper they're really good picks, but they haven't played much recently. They even represent similar playing roles. Really rate the selection. +2

Wasim Jaffer - not many better batsman left, particularly out of those who are openers. Yeah there are a lot of Indians with really h4x stats, but Jaffer is probably a bit more proven than the rest of them. Good selection. +1

Subramaniam Badrinath - a bona-fide freak. Possibly a declining force, but it's still a very fine pick this late. +1

Mark Davies - good pick. Injury risk a BIG worry, but he's good enough when fit to justify a R8 pick. +1

Seekkuge Prasanna - one of your few weak picks. Think you got a little Lankan0wnd here. Probably not as much however as say a Dilhara or a Saman, as Prassana still has a quality WPM. -1

Prasanna Jayawardene - IMO the best pure keeper in the world, and has a good enough record with the bat. Great pick. +2

Angelo Perera - goes pretty well in a notoriously tough competition for batting. Reasonable pick for R11. +1

Jordan Silk - very risky. I do rate Silk quite highly and think he has a long future for Australia, but his record right now isn't that great. One for the future. 0

Ishwar Pandey - interesting one. Wouldn't be that good of a pick on domestic figures alone, but with a strong A-team record there's a lot to say for Pandey going R13. Still think there were a couple of better options, but the pick isn't terrible by any means. 0

Hanuma Vihari - definitely a risk of getting Indian0wnd. Hasn't played a lot either so there's always a chance that his recent run of form might run out. Is still young so this season may well be a breakout. 0

Mark Wood - not much first class experience, but he does have a lot of potential and has a very good FC record. Obviously Durham does lead to red flags, but he did take a 5-fer for the Lions, so I think this was a good pick. +1

Mahmudullah - gun depth option. Yeah he's been a bit of a no-rounder at Test level, but CPL isn't Test cricket and he's only on the bench anyway. +1

Jos Butler - not that great right now, but he does have a lot of potential and fans. Value could increase dramatically with the mid-season update too. Definitely worth the pick although there is some risk. +1

David Willey - eh...should add some good depth. Still young-ish so his domestic record may improve. 0

Overall:

Will be hard to stop. Will make the Top 8 and is one of the favourites for CPL. Openers are a little iffy, and the spinning depth is worrying, but other than that the side is gun.

 

Haha if Morkel/McDonald are +2s then Hall should have been +4

 

!!!