Rogue

Haha, possibly.

Still some good batting talent left late in the draft with Kohli, Duminy and Samuels all going recently. I think TD is right on Matthews being more of a batsman who is handy with the ball, and his figures bear that out; Matthews has a bowling average of 70 (strike rate of 138)! In comparison, Gayle's bowling average is 42 (strike rate of 96). Matthews also has a pretty mediocre away record with the bat. Macca, since Watson himself has said that he wants to be selected as a batsman only I put him in that basket. I think you're right re: Watson over Matthews though, if/when Watson is available to bowl. PS. Bad luck with breaching the country cap, Django.

64 - Kohli. Crazy this guy is available at pick 64, and miles better than a bunch of Indian bats who have already gone. 65 - Hughes.

To get to the last unread post you need to click on the blue dot to the left of the subject line (rather than on the subject text). I've attached an image to assist you. EDIT: Beaten!

Because his name is Best? (I honestly don't know). you might get the last pick, but the snake means your last two are 73 and 88 - my last two will be 80 and 81.

Haha. Too late to add a 12th man now IMO but I think I was pick 7 last time so I'm happy to take a mid range pick in Best XI #3

This isn't a game based on points so it's quite possible a fringe player from one country will be a better choice for your team than a regular in a weak side.

I remember looking at his Cricinfo profile recently and the top news article for him was 'why England's spinners were better'. You might quibble that, but for a late pick Panesar isn't bad value. That said, Ashwin will be nearly as good a bat as batsmen people are selecting, so he's not a bad option at all when that's taken into account.

I reckon there's a bit of a gap after the top few spinners in the world so it's one of those cases where if you don't spend an early pick you may as well wait. A bit like rucks in the AFL draft, IMO - go early or late. On Panesar, he's probably improved a bit but it'd not be too surprising if his figures were reasonably comparable given that, as the second spinner, he's generally only selected if there are pitches particularly conducive to spin. I agree.

Given Ashwin went at 22, I think Panesar at 58 is a good value get.

Fwiw, players don't need to be in a team's best XI.

I - and others, I imagine - have mentioned this on Demonland multiple times over the years. Keep a close eye on our posts and the jugs, chickens, or whatever it is that you win at trivia competitions, will be all yours.

I was wondering when Bell would go. I wasn't very keen because his recent form is pretty poor, but he's not a bad get at this late stage and I would have considered him before the end of the draft. Unfortunately Southee is already gone, though. (I also PM'd titan).

Titan is trying to figure out who Nasher was referring to.

Me three. You sure can. However, I think the bottom was scraped from the NZ barrel by H_T :D

I do think it's best that we don't have poster suggesting players. Maybe the next person is going to pick X player anyway, but you'd be annoyed if you had your eye on players who keep getting pulled out from under you because of recommendations. Feel free to comment once they've been picked up, though!

Haha, boom! H_T, I have to agree with 45's sentiment. That said, Guptill is probably performing slightly better than Tendulkar is these days Come in spinner indeed...

Ooh, I had Chandimal in mind from the beginning and wasn't sure how long I could leave it; sounds like I wasn't the only one with my eye on the exciting young keeper batsman from Sri Lanka. Wade's a solid get though; I was curious to see how far he'd fall and still might have picked him up later on if no one else had snapped him up.

No prolems, Biffen. Solid Pakistani choice.

The suspense is killing me

Haha, he'll probably come out and smack us around in the upcoming series now.

Right now I reckon they both win about the same number of Tests (Just in case you're considering it, Biffen, the Don is ineligible).

Tendulkar was a great player, but I actually thought you went a little early on him. I had a look and he averaged just 24 from 15 bats in Tests last year (two 50s; no 100s). I've liked most of your picks, but I think I would have rated Trott and even Dilshan - your round four and six picks - more highly than Sachin in this draft. Tendulkar's record certainly is stellar though. India follow the money, sadly, so they don't play a great deal of Test cricket. It's a shame.

I don't see that it's necessary to take two keepers; I'm pretty sure we haven't always done so and I don't see the need to change that. 17 is a large squad; is there anyone who should feel aggreived at missing out? We seem to have an unlimited battery of quicks, but the spinning stocks seem a bit depressing. I think our batting prospects seem as disappointing as I can remember, but that can change fairly quickly. The only thing is that there aren't too many guys ripping the Shield apart. I agree re: Rogers, Biffen. He'll feel as unlucky as guys like Law, Hodge, etc.

I couldn't overlook Kallis in the first round, but Steyn is a great bowler; I'm a fan.