2018 All Year Fantasy Competition

[Durhamfootman]

well the good news is that Harmer took the last wicket for Essex this morning turning a probable 2fer into a 3fer with the additional 20 bonus points. i do like 40 points for one wicket

plenty of points on the table for my boys this week, so Rashid Khan had better enjoy himself while he can

[Arthur Crabtree]

Presume the UK based players are going to have a tail wind for the next few months. Good for Durham's lead.

[andy]

dont think either of my players are in action for a while now

[Durhamfootman]

Harmer in a race with Porter for the last Lancs wicket and a 5-fer

[The Professor]

Kane plays on July 1st....ABDV is a mystery.

[Durhamfootman]

Harmer in a race with Porter for the last Lancs wicket and a 5-fer

Porter takes it

curses!

still........ a quick glance suggests 344 points

suck it up Rashid Khan

[meninblue]

Good work Professor.

None of my two players have played single match in last 20 days or so.

[The Professor]

Jofra Archer clear for England 2019 World Cup call up

[The Professor]

I am limited in who I can write about this week with only 9 of our 24 in action. I am going to direct myself towards some duos who have impressed.

A pair I return to regularly is the County Championship's Simon Harmer and Jeetan Patel. Harmer has escaped from his Royal London One Day Cup malaise and returned to his big scoring ways in the four day game against Yorkshire. His yield of 393 is his highest for a month and sees him named Cricketer of the Week yet again. He has also overtaken Rashid Khan whose 89 points this week sees him fall back to second - 199 points behind his South African rival. With no Afghanistan fixtures forthcoming, this could be Harmer's chance to force the lead to an unattainable level as the English summer progresses. Jeetan Patel is another player who is rapidly climbing up the table. His 218 points this week puts clear daylight between him and fourth place Sunil Narine. With the West Indian spinner not playing for a fortnight in which Warwickshire play three fixtures, the top three could really draw away as we approach July.

Which players have impressed the most in England matches this week? Callum McLeod? Shaun Marsh? Moeen Ali? From our list it is two unlikely beneficiaries who sit sixth and seventh in the weekly league. Joe Root has been comparatively quiet this week but his 201 is his highest weekly yield since Week 11 when he was playing warm up matches against a New Zealand XI. Whilst we have been more used to seeing him pick up points for his bowling of late, it is refreshing to see the England Test captain back in the driving seat with the bat - and all with healthy run rates. Whilst he is neither winning nor deciding games he is contributing. On the other side of that particular coin is Jos Buttler. This week he scored 31 points less than Joe Root (albeit playing one fewer game) but his performance in yesterday's ODI was both decisive and match- winning. His ability to get big scores is a trait he has carried over from his IPL campaign and he is using it to great effect against the Aussies. The Englishmen sit in 8th and 5th place respectively in the overall rankings.

He has had a torrid season of it so far but Shaun Marsh's Week was undoubtably his best of 2018. It is always good when one of the lower ranked players overall pops his head up near the top of the weekly rankings and we have seen that this week from the Australian batsman. Nineteenth out of twenty four in the overall league, Marsh's 155 in two games sees him finish 5th this week. Consistency is the watch word for Marsh. This century is his first for Australia since 2013. He'll need to pick up the pace in order to escape the bottom of our table. Marsh's team mate, Aaron Finch, has proved that his big scoring Week last time out was something of a blip. This week his score of 19 is back to his most recent form of pretty unimpressive batting. He has found himself sliding down the order for Australia and might find his place under pressure on the form of this week. The fact that the Australian team has only two competing players from our list has shown the huge effect that the ball tampering scandal has had on the ODI side. Whilst Marsh and Finch's weeks were both markedly different, the fact that Messrs. Smith and Warner are gearing up for the inaugural Global T20 Canada league means they should probably be counting their blessings.

Starting the week in uncharacteristically poor positions, the Indian spin twins of Ravi Ashwin and Ravi Jadeja took advantage of a very green looking Afghanistan to claim 458 between them. With 240 points, Jadeja has pulled off a Shaun Marsh-style performance of his own and managed to place second this week despite being bottom of the overall table (if you discount currently inactive players.) This really does go against his disappointing performances this year for Saurashtra and Chennai. When Jadeja is representing India he steps it up in a way that he struggles to in domestic cricket. Overall he really does find himself off the pace and is bottom of a pile of four players between 1200 and 1300 points and a long way off Mitchell Marsh in 17th. Another Indian player who would be disappointed with his overall ranking is 12th placed Ashwin. Despite scoring less than Jadeja this week, he has improved his overall position more than any other player. His 218 points saw him overtaking Hashim Amla, Dean Elgar, Finch, Shakib Al Hasan and Mitchell Marsh in what is a very close middle of the table. It remains to be seen whether these two senior figures will play a huge part in the upcoming Irish games but Ashwin is ideally placed for a big push in the forthcoming series against England.

Week

Simon Harmer - 393
Ravi Jadeja - 240
Ravi Ashwin - 218
Jeetan Patel - 218
Shaun Marsh - 215
Joe Root - 201
Jos Buttler - 170
Rashid Khan - 89
Aaron Finch- 19
Shakib Al Hasan - dnp
Hashim Amla- dnp
Jofra Archer- dnp
George Bailey - dnp
Quinton De Kock - dnp
AB De Villiers - dnp
JP Duminy- dnp
Dean Elgar- dnp
Virat Kohli - dnp
Nathan Lyon - dnp
Mitchell Marsh - dnp
Sunil Narine- dnp
Steve Smith- dnp
David Warner - dnp
Kane Williamson - dnp

Overall

Simon Harmer - 3541
Rashid Khan - 3342
Jeetan Patel - 2879
Sunil Narine- 2617
Jos Buttler - 2445
Kane Williamson -2405
Virat Kohli- 2171
Joe Root - 2138
AB De Villiers- 2010
Nathan Lyon - 1789
JP Duminy - 1737
Ravi Ashwin - 1588
Hashim Amla - 1524
Dean Elgar- 1484
Aaron Finch - 1484
Shakib Al Hasan - 1439
Mitchell Marsh - 1425
Quinton de Kock - 1292
Shaun Marsh- 1285
Jofra Archer - 1227
Ravi Jadeja - 1201
David Warner - 752
Steve Smith - 706
George Bailey - 631

Headlines

Big score from DFM gives him his biggest lead yet.
Rich overtakes Adi and Ian overtakes DC in the only changes.

Week

DFM - 611
Rich - 388
GG-AS - 290
Ian - 240
RD - 215
DC - 19
Adi - 0
Andy - 0
Arthur - 0
FTS - 0
The Professor- 0
RDJ - 0

Overall

DFM - 6420
GG-AS - 5480
Andy - 4415
The Professor - 4354
Rich - 4033
Adi - 3695
FTS - 3273
Red Devil Jr - 2717
Ian - 2740
Dr Cricket - 2701
Red Devil - 2037
Arthur - 1337

[Arthur Crabtree]

Cheers Prof. Nice update.

[The Professor]

Lionel Messi and Argentina are very much in the thoughts of those of us whose sporting proclivities also lean towards Football. For those who don't know - an eminently talented player weighted down by a country's gaze could not lift an unbalanced team away from humiliation. I do not know how keen Cricketer of the Week Shaun Marsh and his team mate Aaron Finch are on soccer but they might feel a certain affinity with the diminutive Argentinian captain. Whilst the eldest Marsh brother claims the title of Cricketer of the Week, a mere five points (or half a catch) separates him from the newly invigorated Australian opener Finch. Despite their impressive individual scores they are on the verge of being whitewashed by England - and have been on the receiving end of some of the most damaging scenes with a bat since Bruce Wayne fell down that well. If there were any bowlers on this list this year (something I doubt will be an occurrence next year as well) I feel their points total would be something of a different tale. As old fashioned batsmen, Marsh and Finch, who offer very little even in the field, have been largely protected from the decimation offered by Bairstow and Roy. Marsh's performances over the last fortnight has seen him improve his position on our overall table. He now raises himself to the dizzying heights of 16th and is a mere 4 points off Dean Elgar. With the final ODI today, a few runs would see him placed eminently midtable - especially if he improves his strike rate which has been laconic at best.

Nathan Lyon returned to the fray this week after a lengthily absence of ten weeks. Whilst his 33 points do not represent a particularly good week, he will be happy to be featuring in a cricket game - especially in the one day format. Whilst his week's points are nothing to be proud about, the Australian spinner was so prolific in the early months of the year that, despite his ten week absence, he is still in our top ten overall. He finds himself just below AB De Villiers, who had a whole IPL season, and JP Duminy, who similar to him had a stonking start to the year but has tailed off. With the success rate of English spinners, we may well see the Goat return in this last ODI to pick up some more points.

There was only one player who was active this week that was not involved in the Anglo-Australian tussle. Having learnt he would be eligible for England for next year's Ashes, Jofra Archer responded with 182 points - his second highest weekly score of 2018. Whilst he is usually seen as a wicket taker, the Sussex man did a good job of strangling the opposition this week and picked up 35 points from maidens against Durham. He joins Shaun Marsh in slowly creeping up the table putting real daylight between himself and Quinton de Kock, who is now 117 points behind him. With the T20 Blast imminent we could see the English bowler really blast up the table.

Canada have not been on the cricketing scene for many a year. Rewind a decade and they were one of the more competent Associate nations but poor decisions and mismanagement have seen the likes of Ireland, Afghanistan, Netherlands and Scotland overshadow them. No wonder Steve Smith and David Warner felt an affinity towards the newly formed Global T20 Canada tournament having been overshadowed this year by scandal. The two prolific batsman begin their campaigns this week with Smith's Toronto Nationals kicking the tournament off on Thursday and Warner's Winnipeg Hawks making their bow the following day. Could we see them register enough points to make them credible in our overall table? They are desperately off the pace with a gulf of 449 points between Warner and nearest rival Ravi Jadeja. Only time will tell if their form and the expected amateur nature of some of the Canadian bowlers might throw a few surprises at us.

Week

Shaun Marsh - 195
Aaron Finch - 190
Jofra Archer - 182
Jos Buttler - 165
Joe Root - 51
Nathan Lyon - 33

Hashim Amla- dnp
Ravi Ashwin- dnp
George Bailey - dnp
Quinton De Kock- dnp
AB De Villiers- dnp
JP Duminy- dnp
Dean Elgar - dnp
Simon Harmer - dnp
Rashid Khan - dnp
Virat Kohli- dnp
Mitchell Marsh- dnp
Sunil Narine- dnp
Jeetan Patel - dnp
Steve Smith - dnp
David Warner - dnp
Kane Williamson - dnp

Overall

Simon Harmer - 3541
Rashid Khan - 3342
Jeetan Patel - 2879
Sunil Narine- 2617
Jos Buttler - 2610
Kane Williamson -2405
Joe Root - 2189
Virat Kohli- 2171
AB De Villiers- 2010
Nathan Lyon - 1822
JP Duminy - 1737
Aaron Finch - 1674
Ravi Ashwin - 1588
Hashim Amla - 1524
Dean Elgar- 1484
Shaun Marsh- 1480
Shakib Al Hasan - 1439
Mitchell Marsh - 1425
Jofra Archer - 1409
Quinton de Kock - 1292
Ravi Jadeja - 1201
David Warner - 752
Steve Smith - 706
George Bailey - 631

Headlines

DC shows that two decent scores can propel you up the table down at the bottom. He leapfrogs both Ian and RDJ thanks to Archer and Finch.

DFM Disadvantaged by me waking up early and his County Championship contributors not being able to complete their games. He, Arthur and RD wait expectantly for next week.

The Professor and Adi both register their fourth consecutive week of 0s.

Week

DC - 372
RD - 195
Rich - 165
GG-AS - 51
FTS - 33
Adi - 0
Andy - 0
Arthur - 0
DFM - 0
The Professor- 0

Overall

DFM - 6420
GG-AS - 5531
Andy - 4415
The Professor - 4354
Rich - 4198
Adi - 3695
FTS - 3306
Dr Cricket - 3080
Red Devil Jr - 2717
Ian - 2740
Red Devil - 2232
Arthur - 1337

[Durhamfootman]

disappointed that you were up so early, prof, but at least I have another 300 ish points in the bag for next week

[The Professor]

disappointed that you were up so early, prof, but at least I have another 300 ish points in the bag for next week

As was I

[The Professor]

disappointed that you were up so early, prof, but at least I have another 300 ish points in the bag for next week

Thinking about it DFM, your mates mate she might double that as we'll comfortable fit in another County games before the weekend.

[Durhamfootman]

Jeets has been around for so long, so often, for Warks that it is easy to forget that he is an overseas player. Warks have handed the T20 captaincy to Grant Elliott, and have signed CDG for the whole of the T20 cup, so I guess that means that Jeets is planning to have a rest over the hit and giggle season..... took 20 wickets last year too

oh wait.... I'm confused now....... he played 16 T20 matches last year, but so did Grant Elliott and so did CDG........ how on earth could that have happened? CDG is still playing for NZ, so has Elliott found a passport... or a Welsh granny... or something?