Cricket-Match-Special ... A forum for discussion

Pakistan and India look like popular favourites. Australia have the momentum.

Sri Lanka are flying under the radar.

What do you think?

This is Australia's best chance, with a line-up of heavy hitters, and the man with the mo.

I've heard that T20 can be won by the side with individual match winners. So who has the most great players.

Legends, batters with a strike rate of 140+ and an average of 30+. Bowlers economy under 7, SR under 20.
Match winners, batters with one of those, plus a SR of 120+, or average of 20+. Bowlers, one of these, plus economy under 7.5 or SR under 25.

All stats against top eight sides. Must have played 10+ games.

Australia.

Legends

Finch 42/167
Starc 6.2/17

Match winners

White 32/136
Bailey 29/149
Watson 29/149
Warner 29/141
Johnson 7.3/17

Next England. Swann qualifies as a real ATG in this format. 6.4/16. Is there no way to get him out there? Four overs. Finn scores highly too... And, um, KP. All legends! The England team that won it has a lot of these players.

Legends

Match winners

Morgan 30/132
Hales 35/133
Lumb 23/137
Buttler 23/135
Bopara 7.2/18

Apart from England..........I went for the Aussies. The batting has a few match winners, and the bowling ain't too shabby.

India next. Of course this doesn't differentiate for death overs, but I figure the competition will be weighted towards spinners and dobbers a bit, so that works out. And newish players don't figure (Faulkner) but that's ok, because they are less consistent. Can't make a case for people whose best days are behind them though (Yuvraj).

Legends

Yuvraj 33/156


Match winners

Raina 32/135
Kohli 32/131
Ashwin 27/120
Yuvraj 7.3/14

Vettori is a big miss for NZ. Nathan McCullum just misses out on matchwinner status. Otherwise, all their bowlers are expensive.

Legends

Matchwinners

B.McCullum 32/128
Guptill 28/122

Pakistan next. Favourites according to Afridi. Afridi's T20 SR is a weedy 137! More Boom Bust than Boom Boom. Average 19. Batting figures are poor generally. Fawad Alam actually qualifies as a bowling legend for his eight overs, but I've disqualified him, as I nearly did Ashwin for his weirdly good batting stats.

Legends

Ajmal 6.3/17

Matchwinners

Afridi 6.7/23
Gul 7.3/14

Aussies.

South Africa, who will lose in the semis. Their bowling is remarkably strong. Battingwise De Kock just misses out as a matchwinner. No Miller (25/130)

Legends

Steyn 6.5/16
Duminy! 6.6/14

Matchwinners

du Plessis 35/128
Tsotsobe 6.5/23
Peterson 7.5/16
Morkel 7.3/20

Bangladesh

I voted India, but Sri Lanka are probably my second favourites, then the Aussies. Don't really fancy Pakistan to get the runs or not to bowl three beamers in an over. Malinga's economy of 7.6 isn't good enough. Nor Jayawardene (28/129).
Legends

Mendis 6.5/15

Matchwinners

Sangakkara 35/122
Dilshan 32/123
Perera 149/24
Kulasekera 7.2/20
Mathews 6.8/24

Alviro Patterson wrote:Bangladesh :D

Yorkshire connection?!

Finally West Indies. They've got a lot of players with 120+ SR, but they've all got terrible averages. Worse than Luke Wright.

Legends

Gayle 36/143
Narine 6.3/16

Matchwinners

Badree 5.7/22
Sammy 6.9/23

That's it. Hope I didn't make a mess of that. Head's a bit fuzzy.

So fantasy team should be

Finch
Gayle
Yuvraj
Duminy
Starc
Mendis
Narine
Steyn
Ajmal
+2