2021 All Year Fantasy Competition

[The Professor]

Apologies for the late update, we have become a plague household....which rather ruins the weekend.

Weekly List

1. Glenn Maxwell 253 - The Big Show had one of his little bursts of dynamite form in BBL 11 this week. Scores of 40 and 103 put him top of the tree for the third time in 2021.

2. Nicholas Pooran - 228 - A couple of flat performances coupled with a big one for the Windies sees him score his first points since the World Cup. That period of inactivity has seen him drop down to fourth for the most T20 points of the year.

3. Joe Root - 149 - Obviously not the greatest First Test for Team England but Root re-opened his account with the highest individual score of anyone on our List.

4. Babar Azam - 146 - Just like he did against Bangladesh, Azam lulled the West Indies into a false sense of security with two single figure scores and then blindsided them with 79 in the final T20.

5. Marnus Labuschagne - 134 - Wants to use the start of the Ashes to force his agenda on the overall list and started in an average vein with a triple figure score in the first knock.

Overall Update

1. Simon Harmer - 5201 - Is *scheduled to have one further game for the Titans this year whilst Marnus has two more Ashes Tests. Could be tighter than an Otter's pocket.

2. Marnus Labuschagne - 5056 - Marnus is narrowing that gap to top spot - but he has had it down to single figures and let it escape before.

3. Babar Azam - 4385 - As far as I am am aware that is Babar's year done. Last year's champion finishes the year almost definitely in third space. He is 671 points off second but 432 away from fourth.

4. Moeen Ali - 3953 - Is looking behind his shoulder at the approaching figure of Joe Root - however his top 5 berth is assured. He is 776 points above Quinton De Kock in 6th.

5. Joe Root - 3763 - Already we are at the stage where this Ashes series appears to be primarily about Root's personal accolades. How far can he get up the table? He spent 16 weeks in third. Can he get back to where he once belonged?

Ones to Watch

As well as Steve Smith only being 3 points ahead of Warner, Peter Siddle leads out a very active list of players. Only 281 points separate Siddle, Malan and Handscomb.


Highest Players by Format

Long Form - Simon Harmer - 3326
50 Over - Simon Harmer - 954
T20 - Babar Azam - 3214

Top 3 Averages

1. Simon Harmer - 185.75
2. Marnus Labuschagne - 180.57 (Down from 182.3)
3. Joe Root - 156.79 (Down from 157.13)

After dropping 2.66 last week, Maxwell has swung that back and added 6.81 to finish the week on 110.05. Peter Siddle's blank week sees his average dip by 8.3 to 141.11.

Highest Points by Discipline

Runs - Babar Azam - 2665
Batting Bonus - Babar Azam - 610
Strike Rate - Moeen Ali - 890

Wickets = Simon Harmer= 2320
Wicket Bonus - Simon Harmer - 440
Economy - Simon Harmer - 1220

Fielding – Quinton De Kock – 660
Fielding Bonus - Quinton De Kock - 100

Weekly List

Glenn Maxwell 253
Nicholas Pooran 228
Joe Root 149
Babar Azam 146
Marnus Labuschagne 134
David Warner 124
Dawid Malan 118
Ben Stokes 39
Steve Smith 32
Peter Handscomb 3
Peter Siddle 0

Jasprit Bumrah dnp
Quinton De Kock dnp
Simon Harmer dnp
Moeen Ali dnp
Kane Williamson dnp
Ravichandran Ashwin dnp
Virat Kohli dnp

Overall List

Simon Harmer 5201
Marnus Labuschagne 5056
Babar Azam 4385
Moeen Ali 3953
Joe Root 3763
Quinton De Kock 3177
Ravichandran Ashwin 3031
Nicholas Pooran 2867
Peter Siddle 2540
Glenn Maxwell 2421
Dawid Malan 2353
Peter Handscomb 2259
Virat Kohli 2185
Jasprit Bumrah 2093
Ben Stokes 1804
Kane Williamson 1763
Steve Smith 1481
David Warner 1478

Headlines

Wouldn't expect too much movement going forward.
RD narrows the gap on top spot to a mere three figures.

Weekly

RD 399
DD 231
RDJ 166
Arthur 149
RDT 124
Alviro 118
The Professor 39
DFM 0
MIB 0

Overall

DFM 7741
RD 6807
RDJ 6531
Alviro 6306
Arthur 5506
MIB 5344
DD 5126
The Professor 4835
RDT 3590

[Arthur Crabtree]

Cheers Prof, hope all are well.

Reminder to others to check new thread for next year.

[Durhamfootman]

yes, best wishes Prof... time to dig out those old helmets with the long pointy noses

unsurprisingly CSA have postponed the final round of 4 day matches until next year, so Lambshanks will be crowned POTY

Cheers Prof

[Durhamfootman]

Labuschagne replaces Root at the top of the test batting rankings in the same week that he replaces Harmer at the top of the AYR FL

[The Professor]

Wonder which one he values more.

[Durhamfootman]

AYR, I'd imagine.

I know I would

[The Professor]

Rather excitingly there have been a number of chops and changes in a number of categories in this penultimate update. Let's start with the Top 5 for the week.

Weekly Top 5

1. Marnus Labuschagne - 244 - The Queenslander got the highest Ashes score so far in the second Test so is well worth his eight Cricketer of the Week award. Nobody has got more than 8 in one calendar year and there is one Test remaining in 2021.

2. Joe Root - 216 - This Ashes series is undoubtedly one of Root's darkest hours as captain.....but he is doing rather well in regards to points. With 365 points across two Tests only the imperious Labuschagne has done better.

3. Steve Smith - 199 - Another disappointing year for Smith who would have torn up these rankings had they existed prior to 2018. He is scheduled to finish second bottom just as he did in 2018 however he has finished with a top 3 score thanks to his 93 in the 2nd Test.

4. Dawid Malan - 170 - One of the bright spots of England's Ashes debacle. Finishes in the Top 5 for the first time since August. Moves into the Top 10.

5. Ben Stokes - 166 - It says something about Stokes that we expected his return to be glorious....but instead it has been average. Enough to just scrape into the Top 5 for the week.

Overall Top 5

1. Marnus Labuschagne - 5300 - He's finally done it! Having spent Weeks 13 to 34 in top spot, Marnus then went away for a little rest. He slipped into second the following week but has nipped it back at the next to last.

2. Simon Harmer - 5201 - A victim of the Covid cancellation of South African domestic cricket, the 2018 winner will have to be content with second this year.

3. Babar Azam - 4385 - Inactive this week but last year's Number One Cricketer in the World will now be this year's Number Three Cricketer in the World.

4. Joe Root - Was it ever in doubt? Root moves back into fourth spot. Will have to absolutely tear up trees in the third Test to get any higher. This will be his second successive fourth place finish.

5. Moeen Ali - 3953 - Down a place but there is nearly 1000 points between him and the nearest active player Ravichandran Ashwin. A Top 5 finish is assured.

Ones to Watch

The bottom spots look a bit tasty. Warner has been last place for a third of the year but is just 64 points off Steve Smith who is himself 83 off Kane Williamson in 16th.

Highest Players by Format

* = New Name

Long Form - *Joe Root - 3505
50 Over - Simon Harmer - 954
T20 - Babar Azam - 3214

Top 3 Averages

1. Simon Harmer - 185.75
2. Marnus Labuschagne - 182.76 (Up from 180.57)
3. Joe Root - 159.16 (Up from 156.79)

Lot of averages were improved this week, none more so than Steve Smith who added 6.27 to his weekly average taking it to 105. Peter Siddle leaked 5.32 points dropping him down to 135.79.

Highest Points by Discipline

Runs - *Marnus Labushcgane - 2770
Batting Bonus - Babar Azam - 610
Strike Rate - Moeen Ali - 890

Wickets = Simon Harmer= 2320
Wicket Bonus - Simon Harmer - 440
Economy - Simon Harmer - 1220

Fielding – Quinton De Kock – 660
Fielding Bonus - Quinton De Kock - 100

Weekly List

Marnus Labuschagne 244
Joe Root 216
Steve Smith 199
Dawid Malan 170
Ben Stokes 166
David Warner 138
Peter Siddle 40
Glenn Maxwell 12
Peter Handscomb 12

Jasprit Bumrah dnp
Quinton De Kock dnp
Simon Harmer dnp
Moeen Ali dnp
Kane Williamson dnp
Ravichandran Ashwin dnp
Virat Kohli dnp
Nicholas Pooran dnp
Babar Azam dnp

Overall List

Marnus Labuschagne 5300
Simon Harmer 5201
Babar Azam 4385
Joe Root 3979
Moeen Ali 3953
Quinton De Kock 3177
Ravichandran Ashwin 3031
Nicholas Pooran 2867
Peter Siddle 2580
Dawid Malan 2523
Glenn Maxwell 2433
Peter Handscomb 2271
Virat Kohli 2185
Jasprit Bumrah 2093
Ben Stokes 1970
Kane Williamson 1763
Steve Smith 1680
David Warner 1616

Headlines

RDJ overtakes RD with a huge score and that, gentlemen, might be that.

Weekly

RDJ 443
Arthur 216
Alviro 170
The Professor 166
RDT 138
DFM 40
RD 12
DD 12
MIB 0

Overall

DFM 7781
RDJ 6974
RD 6819
Alviro 6476
Arthur 5722
MIB 5344
DD 5138
The Professor 5001
RDT 3590

[Arthur Crabtree]

Cheers Prof. Still time for a Joe Root double before NY.

[Durhamfootman]

good to know that I still have a cushion twice as big as Junior's 'everything went right' big score last week

Covid might have stymied Harmer's bid for glory, but the lead I have, almost to the point, is due to his pleasantly unexpected sojourn with Titans. But for that, Junior might only have needed a handful of points in this last test match of the year to snatch the title away from me with the final bongs of Big Ben ringing in the background

cheers Prof. Well run as always

[The Professor]

And so we are down to one final game.

After 364 days of cricket and 53,923 points earned we have to wait for Peter Siddle's BBL11 game tomorrow before we can wrap up the year.

As it stands the Top 5 for this week goes

1. Jasprit Bumrah 201
2. Joe Root 138
3. Quinton De Kock 135
4. Ravichandran Ashwin 118
5. Ben Stokes 76

Peter Siddle has 20 points from the Hobart game earlier in the week so needs 56 points- so 3 wickets - to gatecrash the Top 5.

[Durhamfootman]

if my calculations are correct, I'll be happy with Siddle scoring 20 points tomorrow

I think that means that I would have won the comp even without the unexpected bonus of Harmer signing for Titans.... if my calculations are correct

[The Professor]

Final Weekly Update

1. Jasprit Bumrah - 201 - Bumrah marks his final week on our List with his second Cricketer of the Week award. Has not played as much as he likes but finishes 12th overall.

2. Joe Root - 130 - Cold comfort for Joe Root but here he is in second place again. HE has scored the most players of anyone on our list during the Ashes....but for what?

3. Quinton De Kock - 135 - Before last night's shock Test retirement, QDK had already set up his third place finish for the week. Next year might look very different for him.

4. Ravichandran Ashwin - 118 - When he was on form, Ashwin was a whirlwind this year. Finishes the year, and his second spell on our lists, with a fourth place finish for the week.

5. Ben Stokes - 76 - Bit of a gulf between fourth and fifth, but Stokes just squeaks into the Top 5 for the second week in the row. Has not been as impressive as anyone would have liked.

Final Highest Players by Format

Long Form - Joe Root - 3643
50 Over - Simon Harmer - 954
T20 - Babar Azam - 3214

Final Top 3 Averages

1. Simon Harmer - 185.75
2. Marnus Labuschagne - 177.03 (Down from 182.76)
3. Joe Root - 158.35 (Down from 159.16)

Marnus's average takes a bit of a hit to give Simon Harmer the overall lead. Bumrah's winning performance was the biggest improvement.

Complete list of averages

Harmer 185.75
Labuschagne 177.03
Root 158.35
Ashwin 149.95
Azam 137.03
Ali 136.31
Siddle 131
De Kock 122.67
Stokes 113.67
Bumrah 109.24
Maxwell 102.3
Smith 100.35
Pooran 95.57
Warner 93.56
Williamson 88.15
Handscomb 86.11
Malan 84.57
Kohli 82.89


Final Highest Points by Discipline

Runs - Marnus Labushcgane - 2771
Batting Bonus - Babar Azam - 610
Strike Rate - Moeen Ali - 890

Wickets = Simon Harmer= 2320
Wicket Bonus - Simon Harmer - 440
Economy - Simon Harmer - 1220

Fielding – Quinton De Kock – 730
Fielding Bonus - Quinton De Kock - 110

Final Standings

Marnus Labuschagne 5311
Simon Harmer 5201
Babar Azam 4385
Joe Root 4117
Moeen Ali 3953
Quinton De Kock 3312
Ravichandran Ashwin 3149
Nicholas Pooran 2867
Peter Siddle 2620
Dawid Malan 2537
Glenn Maxwell 2455
Jasprit Bumrah 2394
Peter Handscomb 2325
Virat Kohli 2238
Ben Stokes 2046
Kane Williamson 1763
Steve Smith 1706
David Warner 1684

Headlines

Congratulations to DFM for a huge 810 point margin of victory in this year's comeptition.

Weekly Update

RDT 269
The Professor 194
MIB 188
Arthur 138
DD 54
DFM 40
RDJ 36
RD 22
Alviro 14

Final standings

DFM 7821
RDJ 7011
RD 6841
Alviro 6490
Arthur 5860
MIB 5532
The Professor 5195
DD 5192
RDT 3997

[The Professor]

1. Marnus Labuschagne

Score: 5311


Cricketer of the Weeks – 8

Average score per active week –177.33 (2nd)

Highest Score – 641 – Not only the highest score this year but the highest ever score in our Lists thanks to 226* in a Glamorgan 2nd XI match.

Stat Whack – Marnus Labuschagne has spent exactly 50% of the year in first place and has NEVER been outside the top 3. A well justified winner for the year.

2. Simon Harmer


Score: 5201

Cricketer of the Weeks – 8

Average score per active week – 185.75 (1st)

Highest Score – 374 – Scored in the last round of County Championship fixtures prior to the start of the T20 Blast. Surprisingly was not the highest score of that week.

Stat Whack – Was the King of the Wicket takers. He got a quarter of the wickets taken by anyone on our List. Also scored slightly under a quarter of the economy points.

3. Babar Azam


Score: 4385

Cricketer of the Weeks – 2

Average score per active week – 137.03 (5th)

Highest Score – 392 – His score of 158 in the final ODI against England was his highest score of the week but was not enough to see him win cricketer of the week.

Stat Whack – Was the highest T20 point scorer with 73.3% of his points coming from the shortest form.

4. Joe Root


Score: 4117

Cricketer of the Weeks –5

Average score per active week – 158.35 (3rd)

Highest Score – 369 – A great year for the England player if not a great year for the England captain. Things never got better than his first Cricketer of the Week award in January with 238 vs Sri Lanka.

Stat Whack – At 88.49% he has the highest percentage of runs bagged from Long Form cricket.


5. Moeen Ali


Score: 3953

Cricketer of the Weeks – 4

Average score per active week – 136.31 (6th)

Highest Score –336 – Moeen absolutely raked the points in during the Abu Dhabi T10 league. It was this that pushed him into the Top 5.

Stat Whack – With 890, Moeen had the highest number of points of anyone for his Strike Rate. It made up just under a quarter of his total points.

6. Quinton De Kock


Score: 3312

Cricketer of the Weeks – 2

Average score per active week – 122.67 (8th)

Highest Score – 475 – The third highest score we have ever recorded came from 5 (five) games in one week against Ireland.

Stat Whack – Has been the most effective wicket-keeper in our list this year with 25.36% of his points coming from the gloves.

7. Ravichandran Ashwin

Score: 3149

Cricketer of the Weeks – 5

Average score per active week – 149.95 (4th)

Highest Score – 429 – The 10th highest List score on record was the first of three back-to-back Cricketer of the Week awards during the India v England series.

Stat Whack – Always the bridesmaid. Was the player with the second highest percentage of Test points and the player with the second most bowling points.


8. Nicholas Pooran


Score: 2867

Cricketer of the Weeks – 1

Average score per active week –95.57 (13th)

Highest Score – 442 – Pooran registered the 9th highest score of all time in February. He was a beneficiary of the Abu Dhabi T10 League’s very quick turnover of games.

Stat Whack – Pooran scored 81% of his points in the shortest form. This is bettered only by Glenn Maxwell who only played T20 in 2021.

9. Peter Siddle


Score: 2455

Cricketer of the Weeks – 3

Average score per active week – 131 (7th)

Highest Score – 428 – At the time this score, courtesy of two 200+ games for Essex, was the eight highest score of all time. Such has been the profligate scoring of 2021 that it is now a mere 11th.

Stat Whack – His average is the highest for any player to have featured in 20 or fewer weeks.

10. Dawid Malan


Score: 2537

Cricketer of the Weeks –0

Average score per active week – 84.57 (17th)

Highest Score – An unbeaten century in a rare outing for Yorkshire saw him get his highest score for the year…finished fourth that week. Tells you all you need to know about Malan’s year.

Stat Whack – Malan has the second lowest average points per active week at 84.57 despite (or perhaps because) also having the joint highest active weeks at 30.

The Rest

Glenn Maxwell 2455
Jasprit Bumrah 2394
Peter Handscomb 2325
Virat Kohli 2238
Ben Stokes 2046
Kane Williamson 1763
Steve Smith 1706
David Warner 1684

[Arthur Crabtree]

Thanks Prof for all your time. Excellent presentation over the whole year.

Well done to Durham. No sweat.

More mid-table mediocrity for myself. At least I junked Wee Davie.

[Durhamfootman]

well done Prof, expertly run as always

I'm delighted by the margin of victory which meant I would have prevailed even if Harmer hadn't provided me with an unexpected cushion at the back end of the year

For months I've been saying that every single point will count and that was right because without the Titans bonus my margin of victory over Junior would have been a mere 3 points, secured on the final day of the year........hugely exciting for the competition, but perhaps not so good for my heart or my blood pressure

Congratulations and commiserations to Junior. Both Siddle and Labuschagne had their county season curtailed due to family pressures around covid. I think Siddle would have scored lots and lots of points for me had that not happened, but Labuschagne was a points machine at that part of the season, so although it was frustrating when the veggie monster went home, I think ultimately I got the better of the deal once Labu followed him shortly after

Cheers Prof