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The Shakespearean Animals CC
- Thread starter Dan
- Start date
Usman Salahuddin
Draft Round: 7
Playing Role: Batsman
Usman Salahuddin idolises Mohammad Yousuf, and the similarities are endless. Both bat at number 4, both are prolific scorers, both were identified as hugely talented at a young age, and Salahuddin appears set to play a major role within Pakistani cricket for years to come, as Yousuf did a generation prior.
His First Class and List A strike rates do not suggest a strokeplayer, however he is more than capable of attacking when necessary, and he is difficult to dislodge once at the crease - at U/19 level he remained undefeated throughout a 3 match limited overs series against Australia, and his average in Pakistani domestic cricket hovers above the 50 mark.
He made his international debut in 2011, directly opposite his Shakespearean Animals CC teammate Darren Bravo, and didn't exactly light the world on fire, however he was not helped by a decidedly average LBW decision and a nonsensical run out leading to his dismissals in both matches.
Regardless of this unfortunate introduction to the international scene, Salahuddin appears to be readying himself to take another chance, should it arise. In his recent Pentangular Tournament in Pakistan, runs were abundant for the young right hander, as he made 3 centuries in as many matches to help Punjab to the title.
The Shakespearean Animals CC is glad to announce that Usman Salahuddin has joined the club, adding another promising young player to an increasingly powerful line-up.
Current Shakespearean Animals CC Contract Listing said:
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Ben Stokes
Draft Round: 8
Playing Role: All Rounder
Ben Stokes is another one of world cricket's brightest young talents, and looks set to have a long international career ahead of him. He debuted for Durham in May 2009, picking up the wicket of county stalwart and CWPL opponent Mark Ramprakash with his third delivery. He was contracted in December of that year, and had a productive run through the Under-19 World Cup in 2010.
From then, however, he has gone from strength to strength. After making a 50 on debut against the MCC XI in Abu Dhabi, he made 740 Championship runs at 46 in 2010, but the following year was when his career began to explode.
He began with 6/68 and an explosive hundred against Hampshire, including 5 sixes in an over, notched up 150 against Warwickshire in the Pro40, and was selected for England to play ODIs against Ireland and India, as well as T20is against the West Indies.
His rise has been rapid, but Stokes deserves the attention he is getting from the international selectors - his First Class batting average is over 45, his bowling figure a shade over 30, and while his List A batting is not quite as impressive, his bowling in the shorter format has been spectacular.
The only issue for Stokes thus far has been a serious finger injury that forced him into playing as a specialist batsman for much of 2011, but he has since recovered and took 4/3 in a demolition of Durham MCCU, bowling them out for 18 in the 2012 opener. He added those incredible figures to scores of 93 and 65, both made at a strike rate of 130, and a wicket in the first innings. The continuation of his form, both in County Cricket and the CWPL, makes Stokes a mouth-watering prospect for any side.
The Shakespearean Animals CC is glad to announce a major coup, having picked up Stokes in Round 8 of the CWPL Draft. He will play an integral role in the side, and will continue to develop throughout the season.
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Prince EWS
Global Moderator
You may be interested to learn that in Season 1 of CPL (CricSim's version of this with the same database, although it was a while ago now), Botha was quite successful as an opening batsman. Averaged nearly 40 in that role, I believe.
Extremely interested to hear that actually. May not bother drafting a back-up specialist opener then. Risky, but ideally the first choice openers will play every game anyway.
Would Botha's success be an outlier, or does the sim not take batting position into account?
Prince EWS
Global Moderator
He's opened a bit at First Class level and actually went on record at one point saying he preferred it, so that was taken into account.
That makes a bit more sense then. May have to try it out if another opener fails.
Neil Wagner
Draft Round: 9
Playing Role: Fast Bowler
Very rarely does a man averaging 23 with the ball in first class cricket not have an international cap. Neil Wagner, unfortunately for him, is an exception to this rule.
Wagner was born in Pretoria, South Africa, and moved to his current home in New Zealand in 2008, looking to qualify to play for New Zealand. As of late, he is currently unsure as to whether he is now eligible to play for his new country, but his bowling is as prolific as ever.
In the 2010/11 season he took a record 5 wickets in an over, on his way to 51 scalps overall in the 10-match Plunket Shield. He was named the competition's most valuable player for that summer. The sharp left-armer then followed it up in 2011/12 with 46 wickets in the competition, to once again top the list of wicket takers.
He has far and away been the best bowler in New Zealand over the past two seasons, and is an unfortunate victim of circumstance and ICC eligibility rules preventing his Test debut. With a record of 235 First Class wickets in 54 matches - above 4 wickets a game - at an average of 23.45, he is expected to step up to the next level when his chance arises.
He is also a handy batsman in the lower order, capable of making contributions with the blade - he has opened for Otago in T20 cricket. He averages around 20 as a batsman, although has yet to pass the century mark in first class cricket.
The Shakespearean Animals CC is proud to announce the acquisition of Neil Wagner to join the pace bowling stocks of the club.
Averaged 26 last season in the Plunket Shield, and 18 the year before that. Willing to assume playing that Second XI probably takes 3 runs or so off his average.
I'm holding South African bowlers to a slightly higher standard to try and compensate for the whole 'Second XI is still FC' thing.
Prince EWS
Global Moderator
I refuse to count that three day amateur stuff at all in the database as I feel I'd then be compelled to include the Futures League, county university games and various other things. His Plunket Shield performances have been good though so he'll be fine.
Nick Compton
Draft Round: 10
Playing Role: Batsman
There are very few men in world cricket who can claim to have a biological reason for their success, however Nick Compton is one of them. His grandfather, England great Denis, was a Middlesex stalwart, as was his great-uncle Leslie, the wicketkeeper for the same club. His father, Richard, and uncle, Patrick, also played first-class cricket in South Africa during the 1980s.
He followed the Compton tradition, also succeeding in football, tennis and hockey - representing Natal in all three - and being a decent 6-handicap golfer. Like his family, he is an all-round talented sportsman.
Compton played for England's U/19 side in 2000/01, however took some time to find a first-team place at his family's traditional club, Middlesex. He was in and out of the side and only got an extended run in 2006, starting with a century in a University game, and following it up with another ton against Kent in the opening Championship game of the summer. 4 seasons later, however, and fed up with a lack of opportunities, he moved to Somerset.
His career took off after he moved, passing 1000 runs for Somerset in 2011 - the only Somerset batsman other than Marcus Trescothick to achieve the feat - at an average above 50. He continued his form into the beginning of the 2012 summer, thus far striking 100* against Glamorgan and 236 against Cardiff MCCU in warm-up matches. He then started the season-proper by making an obdurate 99 against Middlesex, and 133 against Warwickshire, to dig his side out from a 100-run deficit to set them 259 for victory.
At his county, he is not as prolific as Trescothick, as powerful as Trego, as innovative as Buttler or as classy as Hildreth, but he is stoic; his role at number 3 shows how important a cog he is in the Somerset system. His contribution is not shown by his career figures of 5103 at 39.55.
The Shakespearean Animals CC is glad to welcome Nick Compton to the side, as the club's tenth draft pick for the second season of CWPL.
Sam Robson
Draft Round: 11
Playing Role: Opening Batsman
Middlesex's Australian-born opening batsman, Sam Robson, has been impressive in his short career at county level. He is busy at the crease, and is strong both through cover and off his legs - attacking but not overly aggressive.
He was prolific in Second XI cricket in early 2011, averaging 93 for his 740 runs, before being recalled to the First XI, being asked to open, and making the spot his own. Often he has been the shining light for Middlesex, most notably in the recent game against Surrey, where his second-innings 43 on a difficult batting track allowed his side to pull off a three-run victory. Only Robson, Dawid Malan and extras broke double figures in that second innings.
He holds the record as the man to have struck the earliest First Class hundred in a UK season, scoring 117 in a warm-up fixture against Durham MCCU. He has also impressed during the start of the season-proper, taking to Division One cricket extremely well.
The Shakespearean Animals CC is glad to welcome this talented 22-year-old, Sam Robson, to the squad. In what could be a sign of things to come for this young man, he will join Alastair Cook in opening the batting.
Shakespearean Animals CC First XI said:
Shane Bond
Draft Round: 12
Playing Role: Fast Bowler
Any cricket team needs strength in its fast bowling department, and it is no coincidence that England's rise to the top of the ICC Test rankings came along at a time of them having at least 6 quality fast bowlers capable of representing their country. The Shakespearean Animals CC is a firm believer in the school of thought that theorises success is based on fast bowling depth.
Shane Bond is generally regarded as the best fast bowler New Zealand has produced in the post-Hadlee era. In equal measure, he is also infamous for his injury record, to the degree where it appeared cricket disrupted his injuries, not the other way around. However, his 18 match long Test career brought about 87 wickets at 22 runs apiece, and his first class record is strong as well, averaging 24 for his 225 wickets.
It is telling that over a 13 year career he only played in 60 First Class matches, a statistic made even more remarkable by his stints at two counties. His talent, however, was undoubtable, as he bowled with ferocious, sustained pace, steep bounce and manipulated inswing and leg cut to prove a challenge for any batsman he came up against, however by the end of a series he had undoubtedly injured himself yet again.
His final charge in New Zealand's whites came against Pakistan in 2009, as he produced a match-winning performance, taking 8 wickets for the match. By the end, however, he had torn an abdominal muscle and was ruled out of the series. He phased his way out of cricket on a steady diet of Twenty/20, eventually bowing out after the 2010 T20 World Cup.
The Shakespearean Animals CC has called Bond back for one last opportunity, however, giving him the chance to relive a career of shattered stumps and dented helmets. Even at 36, he will still be a difficult test for batsmen of any calibre to negotiate, and can mentor the younger fast bowlers in the side - Wagner, Boult and de Lange.
Also being added to the Shakespearean Animals CC are our physiotherapy and injury prevention team, led by former Australia physio Errol Alcott.
Dane Vilas
Draft Round: 13
Playing Role: Wicketkeeper Batsman
Very few professional cricketers can lay claim to have appeared in a feature film, and even fewer can claim to have played greats of the game. Dane Vilas is one such exception. He played South African fast bowler Allan Donald in the 2008 film Hansie, a film focussing around Cronje's involvement in match-fixing.
He idolised the former captain, and was shocked when he was banned for life in 2000 for match-fixing, however the scandal did not put him off his cricket, and in 2006, aged 21, he debuted for Gauteng in the South African amateur First Class competition. He made a half-century on debut, playing as a specialist batsman, and never looked back.
He progressed through the ranks, first breaking into the Lions side in Franchise cricket, performing modestly, before transferring across to the Cape Cobras. He currently averages 48 for the latter, with his overall Franchise average slightly below 40.
He has been spoken of as a South African prospect, and made his debut for his country against India in a one-off Twenty/20, however he was overlooked as Mark Boucher's successor, the selectors instead preferring to contract the more finished article, Thami Tsolekile.
The Shakespearean Animals CC is glad to welcome Dane Vilas to the side, to serve as both batting cover and reserve wicketkeeper, behind Peter Nevill. He is an aggressive, exciting talent to have in the squad.
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Yeah, unfortunately there aren't many of them around, and my first round pick, in hindsight, was pretty poor.
In fairness too, all the real 'spearheads' were gone before my first pick came anyway - Steyn, Anderson, Philander, Siddle, Broad, Tremlett, Harris et al. retained, and Pattinson, Hilfenhaus & Morkel all went really early.
Hopefully my batting holds up though.
morgieb
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Boult & Wagner will be OK, but Botha and de Lange will probably flop.
Nathan Rimmington
Draft Round: 14
Playing Role: Fast Bowler
Nathan Rimmington has long been seen as a Limited Overs specialist, however, now that term is more a testament to his incredible short-form bowling than a criticism of his First Class record, after a highly successful 2011/12 summer.
Rimmington had big shoes to fill when he first debuted, replacing Michael Kasprowicz, who was away with the National side, in 2005/06. On New Years Day 2007, he became the first person to take a hat-trick in what is now known as the Twenty/20 Big Bash, and was the overall leading wicket-taker for the Queensland Bulls. His next season, however, was a total write-off due to a hip complaint.
His limited overs form continued to be strong, but he was never given an extended run in the Sheffield Shield side whilst at Queensland, prompting a change of scenery to Western Australia for the 2011/12 season. It was hugely successful, as Rimmington took 34 wickets at just under 20 in his first year at his new home.
His batting came along as well, making his maiden First Class hundred against New South Wales, and pushing his average above 20. He is highly economical and always dangerous with the ball.
The Shakespearean Animals CC is glad to welcome Nathan Rimmington to round out the fast bowling unit - a mix of youth, promise and experience.
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ShakespeareanAnimalsCC.com said:
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