Another wet week resulted in no cricket being played but 32 players received points for being selected in the 3 cancelled fixtures at the weekend with Angelo scoring double everyone else by being lucky enough to be selected twice. Once again, thank you to the captains for providing us with the team selections.
Here are some largely meaningless stats which will hopefully become more interesting as the season progresses.
Trophy Tracker:
League trophy:
1st: MCTWUNT! 190 points
2nd: Smashed It CC 190 points
3rd: Batshit Mental / Voltan's Destroyers / All Creased Up 180 points
Whoops! turns out MCTWUNT should have 180 points as well... sorry, that makes him joint second with Batshit Mental, Voltan's Destroyers and All Creased Up
Alan and Ben's teams are both on 190 points but Alan gets the edge as his team is £1Bn cheaper. There is a tie for 3rd as all three of these teams have the same number of points, cost the same amount and have been equally efficient in the use of their captain each accruing 40 points from them. Me and Just have yet to think of a further tie-breaker so we'll call it even for now.
The field remains tightly bunched as 13 teams top scored this week with 120 points each; All Creased Up the most influential, just ahead of their stablemate Duck's Eleven on 180, now coming alongside The Blockholes, Military Medium Mercenaries & The Inspector Morse 11. Cool Beans & Insideout also make progress towards the lead, joining Dr Strange X11 on 170, while Hopeless Wonder & Improbables just behind on 160 consolidate alongside 7 others. Candi's Crackers & Wistical Mankers made up for relatively poor first weeks & now stand on 150 with 5 other teams, as Saqlain's Seditionaries, Vivian & The DTs, Payperscissorstoners & Legs 11 come from still further behind to join the main pack of 18 teams on 140.
Legs 11 featured the single highest scoring player, with this week's MVP as their captain scoring 40 points. My team of the week is Allegedly... whose 120 points brings them straight in from nowhere.
MVP (Most Valuable Player):
1st: Ben Preece / Rich Grove / Dave Toole / Kahlu Kumara / Evan Gibbons / Ian Higgins / Angelo Bordi / Gretch Eller / Tim Taylor / Rich Garner 20 points
2nd: Justin Avery / Neil Boulton / Dave Cullum / Simon Strange / Grant Forrester / Stu Chapman / Nelly Musgrave / Mark Wilkinson / Duncan Brewood / Rob Taylor / Dave Littleton / Steve Ormesher / Andy Chester / James Tinkler / Jeff Otterbeck / Reg Shaw / Jim Robins / Joe Burgess / Rob Tinkler / Omar Miakhel / Martin Stratton / Dean Carter / James Mackie / Dave Crowle 10 points
3rd: Everyone else 0 points
Or, 1st, 11th, 35th
Well this doesn't tell us much right now... (some people are getting picked? this definitely confirms their existence) hopefully once we actually play some cricket this will get interesting. We can however select the...
Allstar Team:
Dave Toole 20
Rich Grove 20
Gretch Eller 20
Ben Preece 20
Ian Higgins 20
Angelo Bordi 20
Rich Garner 20
Tim Taylor 20
Kahlu Kumara 20
Evan Gibbons 20
Dave Crowle 10
Total: 210
Except that it costs £107Bn, so actually it scores 0 for bad behaviour. The phrase Over Budget springs to mind. Unless Allstar teams are somehow exempt from such mortal constraint. For an Honest Joe side, arbitrarily drop one of the 20 scorers from the elite 3 (£14 - £15Bn guys, Tim, Kahlu or Ev; dropping one of the £10Bn options would only leave another £3Bn option & neither of them have any points) & bring in a 10 scorer for £7-8Bn; DC1, Steve O, Jeff, Reg, Martin, Dean or Mackie; or less. Or chuck out DC2, but make sure to keep 2 bowlers & get 2 alternatives for £11Bn; essentially from Grant, Stroddy, Andy C & James, Nelly & Jim. Or go with Nelly & DC2 & there's £2-3Bn in the bag for a rainy day & an advantage if it comes to a tie break. The Honest Joes might not all be stars, but at least they could compete in the league with a clear conscience & healthy team spirit, unlike those unmanageable primadonnas. Make one of the 20 scorers captain & get 220 points; even better, go with one of last week's selected players to skipper last week & switch to Angelo this week for 230. Too many options just now but this will be fun as the season unfolds.
Best Bargain (or who me and Just were wrong about)
1st: Dave Toole / Dave Crowle 3.33 points/£Bn
2nd: Rich Grove 2.86 points/£Bn
3rd: Gretch Eller 2.5 points/£Bn
So far the players offering the most bang for your buck are 2 of our many Daves followed by Grover and Gretch, so far DC2 looking like great value scoring 10 points for the tiny price of £3Bn
Maybe it's because we aren't playing; just wait till the actual cricket starts & those golden ducks start piling up
Anyway, that rounds up the summary for week 2, let's hope for some bloody cricket so we've got real stuff to talk about.