Archived [10/08/07] Battrick

[mikeW]

Mcfadden listed for 2million if anyones interested...

 

[Scaly piscine]

Mcfadden listed for 2million if anyones interested...

Hmm, might be a backup buy for me if I can't get some other guys I'm looking at.

 

[Mahindinho]

Seems that I didn't actually list Curtis and Danvers at all, which explains the distinct lack of bids. I've decided to train Danvers up to Prof WK first, but Curtis will be re-listed for nowt in an hour or two:

Tristan Curtis - 27yo - cautious
BTR 9,258
Wages £1,342pw
RH bat - Prof/Feeb
RH spin - Med/Resp
Feeble stamina

Clancy's also up for sale - he's a 23yo destructive bat, but only Resp/Feeb with Abysmal stamina and fielding. I doubt anyone in here would want him.

 

[Mahindinho]

Bugger - that's why I couldn't sell him - it'd leave me with 13 players.

*pulls yoof with 0 ITS*

Horace Challis. Worthless all over the shop, despite his public school background. Nice hat though.

*lists Curtis for £0*

 

[trevor_vayro]

Jamie, you've got the exact opposite problem to me, with your tidy bowling attack and comparatively weak batting, which should make our friendly even more interesting.

I'd drop Kealey down to No.7/8 for the time being, as currently he's not that much better than the bats immediately behind him, and he's already down to Invigorated with his training. So if you want to get the best out of his bowling, you really want him to bat as infrequently as possible.

I don't know what your financial situation's like, but I'd really think about getting a No.3 rock in. around whom to base the rest of the batting. How about that O'Brien guy Scaly's got on the market - £1.3M sound's like a bargain to me, I'd bid myself if I had the money.

With regards to the opening situation, I'd persist with Kerwin for the time being, although he's not a long-term answer. You could partner him with Gowshall with his Prof Conc, but if you were worried about the defensive temperament, (which I don't necessarily think is a problem), you could recall Sugden, and take the bowling duties away from Aldred, allowing him to open. I'd certainly do this on more benign pitches, as you want Attacking Aldred to fill his boots at the top of the order, and because the pitch is more batter-friendly, you're not really going to get the most out of his two levels of Cons over Sugden in any case. Plus I think that Mccammon is pretty much just making up the numbers at No.8. He's not really good enough to bat any higher, and he's not really going to do all that much more than Sugden with the bat from No.8.

So In brief, I'd try and do something like the following:

1. Dom Kerwin
2. Maurice Aldred
3. Steven O'Brien (Or Similar)
4. Hamid Gowshall
5. Andrew Lea *
6. Dirk Wanless+
7. Dwight Kealey (b3)
8. Kevin Sugden (B4)
9. Anthony Fitzpatrick (b2)
10. Gareth Bardle (b1)
11. Daniel Laws (b5)

Obviously Kealey will move up the order in time, and on tougher batting strips I'd bowl Aldred, drop Sugden, and recall either Jlloyd Ndah* or Dom Mccammon (Though I'd be inclined to flog Mccammon while he's still young enough to fetch some cash for you to put towards your O'Brien-style No.3.

Hope this helps, Trev

 

[trevor_vayro]

Right! I have a dilemma of my own now. My last two matches are against the top two in the league, (I'm third), and I lost to both last time out. Neither match particularly matters, I'm already safe, but I do still have a theoretical chance of winning the league, and obviously I'd like to finish as high up as possible.

The thing is, I'm not sure I can win tomorrow against league leaders Potatoheads, whatever I do. Their PAN ratings are, from what I can make out: Qual/Comp/Abs - Resp/Prof/Med. They appear to have GFId against 2nd place last week, giving them ratings of Rem/Resp/Abs - Prof/Prof/Med, but by their Sunday friendly they were back to normal.

So, assuming that they PAN against me, and I were to GFI, would I stand the slightest chance of winning? My PAN ratings are Prof/Comp/Abs - Resp/Prof/Feeb, and we're playing on a cracked pitch.

Or would it be more sensible to TIE, curl up in the foetal position, take the kicking off Potatoheads, and conserve fitness for a GFI assault on 2nd place Rehtakul Veets CC&FC next week? One would assume that I'd have a much better chance of beating them, as their ratings last week were Strong/Med/Abs - Comp/Strong/Feeb.

But the only thing is that if I lose tomorrow I'll hand Potatoheads the title, and effectively surrender 2nd as well, as my NRR is about ten points worse than Rehtakul Veets CC&FC. But then again, I could go down in a blaze of glory tomorrow, and end up winning neither game.

So, distilled into a meaningful question - Pragmatism Vs Death or Glory?

Later, Trev

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

No guts, no glory. Go for it, IMO.

 

[cricketboy29]

No guts, no glory. Go for it, IMO.

I couldnt have said it better. Carpe Diem.

 

[Mahindinho]

So, distilled into a meaningful question - Pragmatism Vs Death or Glory?

Release Brian! Oh, wrong one.

If you win both matches, will you definitely win the league? Actually, that doesn't matter.

Ratings, schmatings. They don't matter.

Do Potatoheads have one or two star batsmen, or a number of reasonably-skilled ones? If the former, the cracked pitch could really help you. Does he try to batter his opponents with his good bowlers dominating the start of the innings, or does he go for the "keep one good bowler at an end all the time" approach?

Why don't you PAN tomorrow? TIEing would be rubbish and meek, while GFIing means that you'd be unlikely to win next week.

I'd PAN and try my hardest to come up with a (probably high-risk) strategy that plays to my strengths and attacks my opponent's weaknesses.

 

[cricketboy29]

Yp Pull:

Vimesh Dangasela (1025936)
RH Batsman, RF Bowler, respectable batting form, respectable bowling form, fresh
A cautious player with woeful leadership skills and abysmal experience.

Plays For: Sad Decadent XI
Nationality: India
Age: 17 Years Old
Battrick Rating: 5,786
Wages: £571 p/w
Stamina: feeble Wicket Keeping: worthless
Batting: competent Concentration: mediocre
Bowling: worthless Consistency: respectable
Fielding: abysmal

On the TM for 50K

 

[trevor_vayro]

Okay Baldrickinho! Pick me a cunning plan out of this lot! Thinking of Bowling Bewers out from the start on Def, in hope that I can bottle up their Gun openers. If I could get a breakthrough, reckon I *might* be in the match. Batting wise, think I'm going to put a few sacrificial lambs on Def up the order, and hope that Staveley and Greening can attack the weaker bowlers in the middle overs. Though that's always dangerous, as collapses seem to gather momentum in BT.

What you reckon? Trev

POTATOHEADS TOP SIX:
1. Lovers - Sup/Sup/Sub. 21YO Steady RH. £13K P/W. BTR 37,562. Wages Suggest a low/mid Rem. Young enough to still be trained, but Sub fitness suggests not heavily, could be Wand by now? Healthy enough BTR, so prob no real secondary deficiencies. Has a season's conversion rate of 3:3, and a career of 17:21, so no obvious Stam issues either.

2. Sura - 20YO LH ATT. Sup/Sup/Sub. £6.5K P/W. BTR 36,484. Started season as lowish Qual, but could be Rem by now, prob no higher as not being trained heavily. Strong BTR, (Esp compared to Greening, (BTR23K) who started season with similar wages - So good secondaries? Conversion rate for season: 6:2, Career: 14:4 - Perhaps a Stam issue? Or maybe Att temperament makes him chance his arm a bit much?

3. Ricketts - 22YO Dest RH. Sup/Sup/Sub. £2K P/W. BTR 14,493. Bog standard Strong - Solid but nowt to lose sleep over. Conversion rate lousy, 4:1 and 15:4.

4. Summer (+) - 22YO ATT Rh. Sup/Sup/Sub. £3.8K P/W. BTR 27,096. Makes it difficult to tell when he's a keeper too, but going on both where he bats, and his keeping record, (which is about the same as my Resp WK), I'd say he's more of a Bat than a WK. Perhaps low Sup Bat/Resp WK? Scores quick, Career S/R 102-ish, but doesn't go on to post big scores, 15:4.

5. Flower. 18YO DEF RH. Sup/Sup/Sub. £1.1K P/W. BTR 21,421. BTR suggests that he's now much higher than start of season, perhaps mid Sup by now? Prob has good Conc, judging by BTR, and pretty consistent. Only scored 2 50s, but averages 54 for season.

6. Oak. (B5) - 17YO Steady RH/RM. Sup/Sup/Sub. £1K P/W. BTR 22,457. Your guess is as good as mine with him, given that A, he's an all-rounder, and B, he's obviously been trained up since start of season. Stats would suggest he leans towards bowling. 81 runs at 27 with the bat, 9 WKTS at 15 with the ball - Though you can get after him a bit, Econ of 4.6. Looking at where he bats, Sup above him, Comp below, I'd hazard a guess he's about Resp, which might make him about Prof Bowl by now?

POTATOHEADS BOWLING - (Sets of Five)
B1 Jagielka - 22YO DEST RFM. Sup/Sup/Sub. £7K P/W. BTR 25,178. Solid middling Qual, unlikely to be too much higher than that by now. Obviously dangerous customer, 46 WKTS at just over 10 for the season.

B2 Sidwell - 22YO ATT LF. Sup/Sup/Sub. £2K P/W. BTR 14,318. Think I can get after him. No more than low Strong. Opens bowling, and has taken 28 wickets at 18, but only one fivefer, and goes for over 4 Econ.

B3 Sutton. 21YO Dest RHS. Sup/Sup/Sub. £3.5K P/W. BTR 27,588. Decent Sup spinner, but bit pricey at 3.9, and S/R not V.Good for Dest, at around 30, with best of 3/4 against a Bot. Don't think he'll cause *That* much trouble, but will be tough.

B4 Skuse. 18YO Steady RF. Sup/Sup/Invig. £1.1K P/W. BTR 11828. Obviously trained hard, prob Sup by now. But not V.Impressive BTR for Sup bowler, suggesting lagging in secondaries. InVIG fittness might point to suspect Stam, struggling to recover from training. OK record, 21 at 23, Econ 4.3 - Reckon we can do a number on him.

B5 Oak (As above)

 

[superkingdave]

could do with a friendly

 

[Mahindinho]

Sod. Now I've actually got to think...

Their team

Lovers won't be Wonderful - his BTR's significantly lower than my Reed, who's a Rem+/Rem bat with not much else.

Sura might be being played too attacking, or might have an imbalance between primaries and secondaries - could even be Rem/Med, in which case he'd regularly do a Pietersen.

Reckon Summer, Ricketts and Flower are standard middle-order players. I agree that Oak's probably a better bowler than a batsman, but he's not going to be great in either.

Bowling-wise, spot on. Hopefully the pitch will negate Sutton the spinner, while Jagielka's definitely the danger man.

Your bowling

If you get the openers cheaply, you've got a chance. If they're still there after 10 overs, you're in big trouble.

So, death or glory! I'd go in hard with Bewers, possibly played normal/attacking - I can't remember his natural tendency, though. If going sets-of-5, put him #1 so he gets a go again not too much later. Any other bowlers want to be played on the defensive side - you're aiming to contain, which should be possible on that pitch.

Your batting

I agree again - put a couple of batsmen in with decent conc (Cash and Noon?), to last out the first few overs, then Staveley and Greening, and with one or two who can stick around after.

So:

1. Sacrificial lamb played normal/def.
2/3. Two from Cash/Noon/Patel/Bennett*
4/5. Staveley/Greening**
6. Two from Cash/Noon/Patel/Bennett***
7-11. All played v.def in the hope that they stick around.

* I'd look for a defensive one, then an attacking one. Pick the two (out of the four) that tend to score the most runs.
** The more defensive first.
*** Again, one defensive then one attacking.

I'm assuming that you've no decent batsmen other than those I've mentioned.


Not quite as cunning as a fox with a degree in cunning from Oxford university, unfortunately.

If it works, great, but you're going to get a kicking if it doesn't - if Lovers and Sura don't get knocked over, you're going to face a large total while, if Staveley and Greening get exposed early and taken out, you're going to get skittled.

 

[trevor_vayro]

OK, I've gone Bowl first, B1 Through, PAN.


1. Joe Noon, DEF (+)
2. Steve Cash, V.DEF, (B4 V.Def)
3. Neale Patel, DEF (*)
4. Alton Staveley, ATT
5. Doug Greening, ATT
6. Jordan Bennett, NORM
7. Anton Carey, V.DEF
8. Gene Bewers, V.DEF, (B1, NORM)
9. Brad Edworthy, V.DEF, (B2, V.DEF)
10. Theo Bent, V.DEF, (B5, V.DEF)
11. Shaun Bridges M, V.DEF, (B3, NORM)

As you say, it's pretty much Cardiff or bust. Didn't know whether to bat or bowl first, but figured my best chance would come if Bewers and Bridges M could nip out Lovers and/or Sura, and the rest can restrict them to under 230. Then I might have a chance if the top three can see off the openers and make way sharpish for Staveley and Greening. More worried about the Def bats at the top of the order than at the end. The bats at the end tend to bat according to the situation regardless of orders, but at the start of the innings the whole plan could come off the rails if Noon and Cash do their job too well. I guess there's an even bigger risk of that with them both being all-rounders - They could hit the Stam wall and gum things up for ages. But there's nothing I can do about that, this is pretty much the only way I can see of pulling off an upset.

Off home for toad in the Hole now, talk tomorrow and tar for all the help, Trev

 

[Jungle Jumbo]

could do with a friendly

Challenged. I'll play my full side, if that helps with team selection.

 

[Jungle Jumbo]

Am I right in thinking that you can change your team name at a set cost in the close season?

 

[Jamee999]

Yes

 

[Kweek]

friendly anyone?

 

[mikeW]

End of Over 1: 0-2, runrate=0.00
Hook 1-1-0-2
Purcell* 0 (0 balls)
Powell 0 (2 balls)

Last Wicket: Nevins c. Jantjes b. Hook 0 (FOW: 0/2)

 

[NZTailender]

Dull start in my match. Expecting to lose by 150 runs...