Test Cricket Draft - Ordinary Edition

[The Speaker]

It's been a while since we've had a draft, and they're usually good fun, so I was thinking it's about time to have another one.

But this time, there's a twist. Rather than picking the best team we possibly can like usual (with the one exception who doesn't know what's going on and picks a fairly unimpressive team), this time there will be a series of restrictions so tight that no-one will be able to pick a quality outfit. The usual restrictions are just based on era and/or country, but we're adding in something crucial: statistics.

To make these sides truly ordinary, the following restrictions are in place:

All players must have played at least ten Tests.
Specialist batsmen cannot average over 35.00.
Specialist bowlers cannot average under 35.00.
All-rounders have the above restrictions.
Players must have a batting average at least ten runs less than their bowling, unless they took less than ten wickets in Tests.
Wicket-keepers have the same restriction as batsmen, but must also be regarded as poor with the gloves.
You must pick one player from the ten Test playing nations that have played at least ten Tests (ie. all but Afghanistan and Ireland), which will leave you with two 'wildcard' picks.

Sound good?

Round 1
1. Art Vandelay_ - Fidel Edwards (West Indies)
2. Van_Dyke - Darren Sammy (West Indies)
3. 11kgm - Dilruwan Perera (Sri Lanka)
4. reggie - Kamran Akmal (Pakistan)
5. akkaps - Matt Renshaw (Aus)
6. cricketnut14 - Mahmudullah (Bangladesh)
7. The Speaker - Ashley Giles (England)
8. big_e - Javed Omar (Bangladesh)

Round 2
9. big_e - Grant Flower (Zimbabwe)
10. The Speaker - Artie Dick (New Zealand)
11. cricketnut14 - Andy Blignaut (Zimbabwe)
12. akkaps - KL Rahul (India)
13. reggie - Eldine Baptiste (West Indies)
14. 11kgm - Sean Williams (Zimbabwe)
15. Van_Dyke - Suranga Lakmal (Sri Lanka)
16. Art Vandelay_ - Mansur Ali Khan, Nawab of Pataudi (India)

Round 3
17. Art Vandelay_ - Tatenda Taibu (Zimbabwe)
18. Van_Dyke - Ray Price (Zimbabwe)
19. 11kgm - Kraigg Brathwaite (West Indies)
20. reggie - Mashrafe Mortaza (Bangladesh)
21. akkaps - Martin Guptill (New Zealand)
22. cricketnut14 - Jimmy Neesham (New Zealand)
23. The Speaker - Trevor Franklin (New Zealand)
24. big_e - Geraint Jones (England)

Round 4
25. big_e - Mitchell Marsh (Australia)
26. The Speaker - George Bonnor (Australia)
27. cricketnut14 - Chetan Sharma (India)
28. akkaps - Imran Tahir (South Africa)
29. reggie - Devon Malcolm (England)
30. 11kgm - Mustifizur Rahim (Bangladesh)
31. Van_Dyke - Jonny Bairstow (England)
32. Art Vandelay_ - Paul Harris (South Africa)

Round 5
33. Art Vandelay_ - Matthew Wade (Australia)
34. Van_Dyke - Habibul Bashar (Bangladesh)
35. 11kgm - Dinesh Ramdin (West Indies)
36. reggie - Neil Johnson (Zimbabwe)
37. akkaps - Nuwan Pradeep (Sri Lanka)
38. cricketnut14 - Ravi Ratnayeke (Sri Lanka)
39. The Speaker - Henry Olonga (Zimbabwe)
40. big_e - Ken Rutherford (New Zealand)

Round 6
41. big_e - Kumar Dharmasena (Sri Lanka)
42. The Speaker - Mohammad Ashraful (Bangladesh)
43. cricketnut14 - Greg Blewett (Australia)
44. akkaps - Bryan Strang (Zimbabwe)
45. reggie - Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan (India)
46. 11kgm - Geoff Marsh (Australia)
47. Van_Dyke - Ramiz Raja (Pakistan)
48. Art Vandelay_ - Russel Arnold (Sri Lanka)

Round 7
49. Art Vandelay_ - Mark Butcher (England)
50. Van_Dyke - Pat Symcox (South Africa)
51. 11kgm - Ajit Wadekar (India)
52. reggie - Peter Kirsten (South Africa)
53. akkaps - Salman Butt (Pakistan)
54. cricketnut14 - Marlon Samuels (West Indies)
55. The Speaker - Rusi Surti (India)
56. big_e - Ajit Agarkar (India)

Round 8
57. big_e - Mohammad Sami (Pakistan)
58. The Speaker - Omari Banks (West Indies)
59. cricketnut14 - Alviro Petersen (South Africa)
60. akkaps - Liton Das (Bangladesh)
61. reggie - W.G. Grace (England)
62. 11kgm - Derek Randall (England)
63. Van_Dyke - Doug Bracewell (New Zealand)
64. Art Vandelay_ - John Bracewell (New Zealand)

Round 9
65. Art Vandelay_ - Imran Farhat (Pakistan)
66. Van_Dyke - Yuvraj Singh (India)
67. 11kgm - Gordon White (South Africa)
68. reggie - David Hookes (Australia)
69. akkaps - Liam Plunkett (England)
70. cricketnut14 - Yasir Hameed (Pakistan)
71. The Speaker - Graeme Hick (England)
72. big_e - Nixon McLean (West Indies)

Round 10
73. big_e - Temba Bavuma (South Africa)
74. The Speaker - Lahiru Thirimanne (Sri Lanka)
75. cricketnut14 - Kerry O'Keeffe (Australia)
76. akkaps - Shai Hope (West Indies)
77. reggie - Dean Brownlie (New Zealand)
78. 11kgm - Sikander Bakht (Pakistan)
79. Van_Dyke - Shaun Marsh (Australia)
80. Art Vandelay_ - Shahadat Hossain (Bangladesh)

Round 11
81. Art Vandelay_ - Peter Nevill (Australia)
82. Van_Dyke - Matthew Elliott (Australia)
83. 11kgm -
84. reggie -
85. Walt Kowalski -
86. cricketnut14 -
87. The Speaker -
88. big_e -

Round 12
89. big_e -
90. The Speaker -
91. cricketnut14 -
92. Walt Kowalski -
93. reggie -
94. 11kgm -
95. Van_Dyke -
96. Art Vandelay_ -

 

[Art Vandelay_]

Why not.
In

 

[Walt Kowalski]

I'll play

 

[Walt Kowalski]

Only ambiguous thing is the WK being regarded as "poor with the gloves". Not sure how you can decide that fairly.

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

Only ambiguous thing is the WK being regarded as "poor with the gloves". Not sure how you can decide that fairly.

Getting a metric or two for wicketkeepers is hard.
Less than x dismissals per match, and at least y byes per dismissal? I don't know what x and y would be off the top of my head, maybe someone does. It also takes some calculating as its not normally given in stats.

Oh, and no taking Glenn McGrath as a "specialist batsman" just because he averaged under 35 with the bat.

 

[Van_Dyke]

In

 

[11kgm]

I am in

 

[cricketnut14]

i'm in, sounds good.

*love the rules.

*what constitutes as a keeper?
eg. does wade count as he kept for 22 tests ? or do they just have to have kept in a test match?
are we just gonna go with the ones that averaged 30-35 with the bat ?
regarded as poor with the gloves is too grey. things like byes per dismissal, catches etc will only lead to someone picking a keeper that doesnt meet the criteria as an honest mistake and create further debate etc.
maybe we make everyone pick their keeper 1st (or pick 11 if you want) or at least in the same selection round.
that way if everyone picks wisely everyone should be fairly even.
maybe we could make it so that the keeper has a batting average under say 30 or 25 or even 20, as they would normally be considered a lesser player, purely because of their batting, and then we could select the keeper wherever we wanted in the draft.

*how many allrounders can you have in the side, mind you they gonna there aint gonna be many and they'd be questionable, not a fan of this rule, but will run with it if you decide to stick with it. end of the day the player would have to be a 25-/35+ ave or a 35/45+ ave, hardly what you'd classify as an allrounder.

*is there a need for a 12th man? having 11 makes further restrictions and makes you think tactically on your selections, giving everyone 1 wildcard selection.

*would rather a tradition 6 bats/keeper/4 bowlers set up.

*who decides the best team, is there a simulated final ?

can't wait to see who gets selected @ pick 1

 

[cricketnut14]

Oh, and no taking Glenn McGrath as a "specialist batsman" just because he averaged under 35 with the bat.

you couldn't anyways as his bowling average doesn't meet the OP's criteria

 

[cricketnut14]

oh, i did manage to find 6 aussie allrounders that meet the above criteria, so there are a few out there

and yep, hardly what i'd call allrounders.

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

you couldn't anyways as his bowling average doesn't meet the OP's criteria

The way I read it you could pick him as a specialist bat, but you can't pick him as an all-rounder.
Yeah, I'm being picky. We all know what was meant.

There's a spinner in mind who was, IMO, a bowler only and would qualify under "specialist bowler" being just over 35 average; but whose batting is not ten less than his bowling (almost spot on nine) and some might consider a bowling all-rounder. I don't think I'll have tim to take part, so I'll be interested to see if/when he gets picked up and if he qualifies as specialist bowler.

Also, people are going to pulling out the dregs of 1990s England here, aren't they?

 

[cricketnut14]

There's a spinner in mind who was, IMO, a bowler only and would qualify under "specialist bowler" being just over 35 average; but whose batting is not ten less than his bowling (almost spot on nine) and some might consider a bowling all-rounder. I don't think I'll have tim to take part, so I'll be interested to see if/when he gets picked up and if he qualifies as specialist bowler.

an aussie?

10+ tests ?

based on what ya saying he could play as a #6 or #8 as he qualifies as a batter and a bowler - but weirdly not as an allrounder by the OP's rules.

this is why it's best to play as 6 bats , 4 bowlers and must not exceed the rules of the other skillset.

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

an aussie?

10+ tests ?

based on what ya saying he could play as a #6 or #8 as he qualifies as a batter and a bowler - but weirdly not as an allrounder by the OP's rules.

this is why it's best to play as 6 bats , 4 bowlers and must not exceed the rules of the other skillset.

Not Australian.

<checking stats again>
24 Tests. Mostly batted at 8 and 9.

Had a brother I forgot about who also qualifies.

 

[The Speaker]

I don't want to put too many rules in place, because I think people should be free to pick team's as they wish. If they want to pick a truly terrible XII, they should be free to, and if they want to pick an XII that's as good as they can make it, that's fine too. Personally I'll be trying to pick a XII that exemplifies mediocrity.

*what constitutes as a keeper?
eg. does wade count as he kept for 22 tests ? or do they just have to have kept in a test match?
are we just gonna go with the ones that averaged 30-35 with the bat ?
regarded as poor with the gloves is too grey. things like byes per dismissal, catches etc will only lead to someone picking a keeper that doesnt meet the criteria as an honest mistake and create further debate etc.
maybe we make everyone pick their keeper 1st (or pick 11 if you want) or at least in the same selection round.
that way if everyone picks wisely everyone should be fairly even.
maybe we could make it so that the keeper has a batting average under say 30 or 25 or even 20, as they would normally be considered a lesser player, purely because of their batting, and then we could select the keeper wherever we wanted in the draft.

The reason I've been loose with it is because, as Howard points out, there is no good measure for it. For example, Don Tallon has let the most byes per match go past him of keepers that have played I think 20+ Tests, and yet Bradman regarded him as such a good gloveman that he was in his best ever XI.

We all know what a poor glovesman looks like. You can even search it online and find discussions of it elsewhere. If people don't know much about them, provide a little evidence of their poor glovesmanship.

I don't want to force them to be picked in the same round because that's a significant advantage for whoever has first run at it.

*how many allrounders can you have in the side, mind you they gonna there aint gonna be many and they'd be questionable, not a fan of this rule, but will run with it if you decide to stick with it. end of the day the player would have to be a 25-/35+ ave or a 35/45+ ave, hardly what you'd classify as an allrounder.

As many as you like. With the restriction, some people may not even want one.

*is there a need for a 12th man? having 11 makes further restrictions and makes you think tactically on your selections, giving everyone 1 wildcard selection.

Yes, the draft order will necessitate 12 selections.

*who decides the best team, is there a simulated final ?

Usually we have a poll afterwards, although simulating might be fun.

The way I read it you could pick him as a specialist bat, but you can't pick him as an all-rounder.
Yeah, I'm being picky. We all know what was meant.

There's a spinner in mind who was, IMO, a bowler only and would qualify under "specialist bowler" being just over 35 average; but whose batting is not ten less than his bowling (almost spot on nine) and some might consider a bowling all-rounder. I don't think I'll have tim to take part, so I'll be interested to see if/when he gets picked up and if he qualifies as specialist bowler.

Also, people are going to pulling out the dregs of 1990s England here, aren't they?

I might change the wording so that their bowling must be at least ten run higher than their batting regardless, I just didn't want there to be some weird situation where a specialist batsman who'd gotten 2 wickets @ 15 had to miss out.

 

[cricketnut14]

Not Australian.

<checking stats again>
24 Tests. Mostly batted at 8 and 9.

Had a brother I forgot about who also qualifies.

found him - good get.

 

[big_e]

Yeah I'll have a go

 

[Art Vandelay_]

The Speaker If someone is an all-rounder and one but not both selection criteria are satisfied can I select them as a pure batsman/bowler or do we have to overlook them because their primary role was all-rounder.

 

[The Speaker]

The Speaker If someone is an all-rounder and one but not both selection criteria are satisfied can I select them as a pure batsman/bowler or do we have to overlook them because their primary role was all-rounder.

"Players must have a batting average at least ten runs less than their bowling, unless they took a couple of fluke wickets @ 17 and otherwise never bowled. "

 

[The Speaker]

Probably just need one more player and we can get started.

 

[cricketnut14]

Probably just need one more player and we can get started.

Will it be a snake draft, and how long (time limit) will we get for a selection before moving onto the next player?

 

[The Speaker]

Will it be a snake draft, and how long (time limit) will we get for a selection before moving onto the next player?

It will be a snake, I'll get the order randomised once we get the last player. Does 12 hours sound like a fair limit?

 

[cricketnut14]

It will be a snake, I'll get the order randomised once we get the last player. Does 12 hours sound like a fair limit?

i'll run with whatever you decide , but that seems fair, you want to keep it moving.

surely people can check in when they wake up and before they go to bed.

 

[The Speaker]

Howard Littlejohn I know you normally prefer to observe the drafts, but do you want in as the last player?

 

[reggie]

I'll be in if there's any spots left

 

[The Speaker]

That's our eight.

Art Vandelay_
Walt Kowalski
Van_Dyke
11kgm
cricketnut14
big_e
reggie

Make sure you check in every so often - there'll be a 12 hour time limit to make your pick/s. If you miss a pick, you'll be able to catch up as soon as you post, but the draft will continue on regardless.

If you make a pick, make sure you tag the next person so they know it's their turn next.

The draft order is as follows:

1. Art Vandelay_
2. Van_Dyke
3. 11kgm
4. reggie
5. Walt Kowalski
6. cricketnut14
7. The Speaker
8. big_e

Art can make the first pick when ready.