Well that was the week that was and what a good week to have Saturday Players (or Duncan and Jeff).
Well the Saturdays continued their unbeaten run with another strong performance but this time it wasn't all the bowler's doing. Rich Grove top scored with a MOM winning, jug avoiding 48 which with a catch gave him 118 points making him this weeks must have player. The rest of the top 4 also got useful runs but after a characteristic Cowboys collapse including an unfortunate -25 for brand new Cowboy "Golden Ray" O'Reilly (which neatly erased his played in a win bonus leaving him on a nice round 0 for the week) they were all out but not before they reached a decent total of 188. Seeing as no side had managed to score more than 114 this season against the Saturdays quintet of fast bowlers (with Kahlu rarely called on so far) this seemed like a good total. Ben Preece supplemented his 26 runs with a catch to give him 66 points and Dave Toole scored 34 runs to bring his total to 59. Ev scored 32 runs which, combined with his 2 wickets, gives him 71 points. Interestingly this means all of the top 4 batsmen scored their personal bests (in terms of points) this week, promising signs indeed.
Much of what I know about the second innings come via an anonymous Tweeter who kept me entertained. The pick of the bowlers were (points-wise) Iggy and Tim Taylor who scored 82 and 76.67 respectively which moves Tim Taylor into 2nd place in the race for MVP and Ian into 4th (and 3rd amongst all rounders). Iggy's 82 includes 10 points for being selected in the Sunday seconds cancelled match which brings me on to the extraodinary case of Rob Tinkler. Having also been selected for the Sunday seconds cancelled game he was called in as an emergency replacement for Omar so is the first Cowboy to be credited for being selected for 3 different teams in one week. This boosts his points to a very respectable 88 which makes him the second most valuable player this week. Both Rt1 and Kahlu dropped skyers, forget about winning the game boys, think of the points!
Ah yes, Omar. Bolts got a text message explaining that Omar couldn't play as he had no shoes at 12.40 which makes him the second player to be hit with the dreaded 30 points penalty for not showing up without 24 hours warning which left various fantasy owners (including yours truly) tearing their hair out. Luckily no-one had the misfortune of having Omar as captain (negative points are doubled as well).
The Sunday 1sts were lucky enough to get 9 overs. This gave Duncan enough time to pick up 3 -18 which gave him a respectable 56 points. Jeff took 2 catches from Duncan's Bowling giving him 40 points which narrowly edges Gretch out as fantasy keeper of the week. RT1, opening from the other end, picked up a wicket to further bolster his week. There wasn't much time for any points for anyone else above the basic 10 for playing in an abandonment. RT2 bowled 1 slippery over for 1 run to score him 13 points before the rain closed in for good. If you want an idea of what this over looked like see this video (especially 1:30 onwards).
That's so cute. Now imagine Bambi has only 2 legs, he's in white & he does get to wear a pair of spiked boots, but there's no ice or winter wonderland, just some sawdust, greasy grass & green rolling slopes in light drizzle. Now give him a little beer gut & beard & send him running downhill faster & faster, increasing in momentum all the way to the crease without any sense of how to stop & you'll be about there. Just the excuse to abandon the opposition umpires had been looking for ever since they found themselves 2 down in no time.What was truly amazing about this over is the way 6 balls of it landed on the wicket within the pitch limits & only 1 ball arrived via point before getting to Jeff.
The abandonment did bring about a consideration of the need to clarify the fantasy scoring system further with regard to MoM voting; in future seasons, playing in abandoned or cancelled games will score more points than playing in a loss, but less than playing in a tie, but most significantly, for this season, no MoM award will be made unless the match reaches a conclusive result according to nscl rules; i.e., reaches 20 overs of the second innings, basically since until then there will be too many cricketers in the side who have had no opportunity to affect the match. It's in the Rules & Scoring Appendix under MoM clarification if anyone's really interested.
For the 2s there was no way past Frenchay groundsman Alan's early decision to cancel; as it turned out a merciful & prescient one, but still no-one got to score any points beyond their selections, not even for tea, & we saw nothing of new recruits Amir or Zubiulla, nor the return of Bernie. We're hoping for another opportunity to assess before the transfer window opens.
Oh, & in case no-one noticed there's a lot of grief for the 13 team owners of Omar. I just thought that needed repeating; 4 of those teams are admin! I was really looking for some way not to have to apply the 30 point penalty, but Neil was inconvenienced & RT1 had to step in, so what can you do. I'm upset...
MVP (Most Valuable Player):
This Week:
1st: Rich Grove 118 points
2nd: Rob Tinkler 88 points
3rd: Ian Higgins 82 points
Overall:
1st: Kahlu Kumara 330.33 points
2nd: Tim Taylor 324.67 points
3rd: Rob Taylor 299.67 points
The Rob's Too Cute To Mention Holes in this week's Pocket:
1st: Omar -30 points
2nd: Golden Ray 0 points
3rd: Wilko 10 points (£13Bn)
Of course, no-one could have selected Golden Ray, which would make Wilko 2nd, & Justin & Bolts 3rd equal on 10 each (£11Bn)
Truthful Terry's Totally Trusty Team of the Week:
Rich Grove 236* £7Bn
Ben Preece 66 £9Bn
Evan Gibbons 71 £15Bn
Dave Toole 59 £6Bn
Ian Higgins 82 £10Bn
Duncan Brewood 56 £10Bn
Tim Taylor 76.67 £14Bn
Jeff Otterbeck 40 £8Bn
Gretch Eller 39 £8Bn
Rob Tinkler 88 £9Bn
Dave Crowle 10 £3Bn
Total: 823.67 £99Bn
As you may have noticed, this is mostly the Saturday team but Kahlu and Budge had to be cut for budget reasons and Jeff slightly outperformed Gretch with his 2 catches. Grover scores double as captain
League standings:
1st: Himalayan Monkshoods 2572 points
2nd: Netball Berds 2517 points
3rd: Bat Shit Mental 2513 points
So, my fellow fantasy cricket administrator tops the standings this week (Booo! Hiss! FIX! FIX! FIX! all joking aside, I can confirm there has been no foul play) after scoring 435 points and watching the Mofo's score only 336 and drop to 4th. The Netball Berds have continued their strong form with a very good score of 527 putting the in second. Stroddy's decidedly uncouth team are just behind them in 3rd. Top scorer this week was the Military Medium Mercenaries with 563.
This weekend's hints for the sleuths; the top performing MMMs featured 6 of Terry's mob, including its skipper in a non-officiating role, plus a couple of performers who did just as well as Terry's number 11 & one of the extra allstars.
The Rhinestones slip from 3rd to 9th as there were a few other decent scores; Dave Toole's Blockholes scored 541 & now sit in 37th on 2058, Kass' All Stars made 473 & have 2048 in 39th, but this week most scores were pretty low & nobody did anything of true breakaway significance. Gretch's All Creased Up & Ben's Smashed It CC are still there or there abouts, in 5th & 6th just outside the prizes, & McTWUNT are again resurgent, as they are when the Saturday's do well & now lie 7th. Bat Shit Mental hit 468 this week & move up into the prize positions, so they're my proposal for team of the week.
Descent watch: Lowest scorers this week were Zoe's Legs 11 with 154, so they now sit 66th, but Peace's Ultra Casual Cricketers have really not been showing up to do the job, probably preoccupied with something bladder related, & their 162 this week sends them off into 69th to keep the Bristol Cowboys company.
Remember boys and girls, the transfer window opens on the 11th of June so start thinking about any changes you might want to make, I will be at the Cowboys tournament meeting so if you can bring them to me then.
Over and Out