ICC Emerging Nations Trophy (Sim League X)

[jimmy101]

14 wickets from Rashid seals the deal! Congrats to Teuton for taking out the 10th version of the ICC Sim League.

Also, massive, massive thanks to everyone who participated in this comp. For one reason or another, this has been my very favourite edition of the Sim League, the whole thing was brought alive by all of you providing some great banter! Cheers for some good fun.

 

[_Ed_]

Two great finals, a fitting end to a fun comp. Thanks for running it, Jimmy!

 

[jimmy101]

My pleasure!

 

[AndrewB]

14 wickets for Rashid. Legend.

Out with one run needed, though - I reckon he tried to finish the match in style, had a big swing and missed a straight one...

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Absolute manic tournament from Rashid.

Congrats to andruid's Kenyans too, a classic match

 

[morgieb]

Great effort running it, I too enjoyed it an awful lot.

Surprised at those two results. One of the GOAT performances from Rashid.

 

[honestbharani]

Great effort by Kenya... And a greater effort by Afghanistan. Awesome competition, Jimmy. Loved it.

 

[andruid]

Ravindu Shah really repaid the faith I put in him with that century in the final. Really enjoyed this tournament.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

massaging my completeness nerve

 

[honestbharani]

Congrats to both winners!!! Well played, everyone.. this was good fun

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

Afghanistan toppling the much fancied Bangladesh team. Great game.

And to Kenya, good work on winning the plate against those trinis.

 

[Teuton]

What an awesome final by my Afghans. Rashid the obvious star of the final but his stats across the league were amazing with 46 wickets @ 16 in 6 games (plus averaging 24 with the bat), ably supported by MoNab with 27@27.

Best with bat were Nawroz (580@52) & Hashmatullah (488@48) who i honestly know very little about.

Well done to Kraken for dominating the rest of the league with Bangladesh, and to andruid for taking out the plate. Kenya were the only team Afg beat in the group stage, and that was literally by 1 run to scrape into the Quarter finals. So the Afghans were obviously just trying to peak at the right time.

Thanks to jimmy for running it so well. Always a pleasure to be involved. And taking charge of a team i dont know many of the players for was enlightening and fun. Thanks to all for taking part, and to Magrat for the diagrams.

Cheers

 

[jimmy101]

You certainly did a good job at selecting your squad then considering you didn't know all that much about a few of the Afghani players. I think you did a very good job at identifying which was your strongest XI as the comp progressed. Bad luck to Kraken in the final, who didn't really put a foot wrong all game.

Interesting to look back at Kenya's tournament too, considering they beat the eventual champions & took out the Plate, had they managed to progress out of the group stage who knows how far they could have made it!

 

[GoodAreasShane]

Wondering if I missed a trick or two selection wise. Was especially wondering about Viljoen, his Namibia stats are gun but I was concerned his time being kinda meh for Otago may have been a dead weight on him stats wise?

 

[jimmy101]

I'll have to take a look at Viljoen's rating when I get home & let you know how good he was in comparison to your other players. All things considered, I thought Namibia was one of the standout teams in the comp. They were always going to have it tough, but pulling off wins against the Combined Islands & a strong USA team is nothing to scoff at.

I was quite surprised you didn't select the human tank himself, Rudie van Vuuren tbh!

 

[Kraken]

Congrats Teuton and Afghanistan! Worthy winners in the end - and of course an ATG performance from the oldest looking 22 yr old in world cricket, Rashid Khan. Thought I would go okay, but not go as far as making the final, so I've subverted my own expectations! The only time I ever even tussled over selections was for the final (I was tossing up between dropping the third spinner who rarely bowled, for a bat.) Probably should've gone that way in hindsight, but generally my gut and instinct gets me pretty far, so I'll always trust that anyway!

Great comp Jimmy, I will absolutely be wanting to be in the next one!