England League and Cup Discussion

[casperj]

Finish the YOD season with 6 sucessive wins, but ends up only being enought for 3rd place.

SMIRFLUFFSHAD CC Crestfallen Sidekicks
Batting - Top Order 5,013 6,807
Batting - Middle Order 4,570 4,810
Batting - Tail 3,551 2,423
Bowling - Seam 5,234 (24) 5,943 (32)
Bowling - Spin 4,864 (16) 6,199 (8)
Fielding/Keeping 6,334 7,945
Overall 93,421 107,548

Crestfallen Sidekicks won by 3 wickets

End of the line for 4 of my youths, who will have to find jobs in the 'real world' as they arent worth keeping/selling as seniors!

[Ffoh]

End of over 34 (3 runs) - The Raging Speed Horns(159-4) RR 4.68

The Raging Speed Horns won by 6 wickets

Job done. No real scares, and as hoped we finish the season 3rd, currently our best performance across the leagues.

Match Ratings
The Raging Speed Horns Camberwell Carrots
Batting - Top Order 6,640 6,763
Batting - Middle Order 6,676 5,887
Batting - Tail 4,293 4,639
Bowling - Seam 6,793 (12) 6,690 (24)
Bowling - Spin 7,949 (28) 7,222 (16)
Fielding/Keeping 9,478 8,907
Overall 132,595 125,761

Final SOD match tomorrow for a lot of my guys, as I'll be selling off the 1st XI (well, ten of 'em anyway!); details here if anyone's interested -

Transfers

Hi Atko, well done (though TBH no one cares where your youth squad finished in league 2.1 ). I just popped in to wish you luck in your critical final round clash against Trevor Francis Tracksuit tomorrow - please field your strongest lineup

[wolfberries]

wolfberries bigsexybarry
Batting - Top Order 7,667 8,060
Batting - Middle Order 5,097 6,145
Batting - Tail 3,101 4,528
Bowling - Seam 7,098 (16) 7,925 (16)
Bowling - Spin 7,387 (24) 6,956 (24)
Fielding/Keeping 7,954 7,464
Overall 120,580 129,521

Result: wolfberries won by 5 wickets

End of over 40 (6 runs) - wolfberries(254-5) RR 6.35
E. Tucker 73 (50b), D. Hendricks 14 (19b), E. Williams (rf) 7.1-0-60-0

Wasn't expecting to chase this total, but we did with the help of Tuckers last innings for us as he will be up for sale at the EOS.
Today's win put us in second place on NRR.

[Atko]

...

Hi Atko, well done (though TBH no one cares where your youth squad finished in league 2.1 ). I just popped in to wish you luck in your critical final round clash against Trevor Francis Tracksuit tomorrow - please field your strongest lineup

Of course - I'd be an absolute cad if I shafted the one team in the league who've gifted me maximum points since I've been in 1.1

[Atko]

The Raging Speed Horns vs Trevor Francis Tracksuit
League One Day 1.1

Weather Windy
Pitch Sticky

A nostalgic swan song for my mob today. Ten of the team will be off to pastures new come Sunday, so this will be their last chance to impress (which they've spectacularly failed to do recently). The best we can realistically hope for is to nick 4th spot; it'll be an extra $30k in prize money

The tracksuited one won the toss and decided to bat, and has been pretty solid in hostile conditions, reaching 87-4 at drinks. Their opener, Bula, is proving a thorn, anchoring what might prove a challenging innings. I suspect the possibility of another shambolic performance by my hapless crew...

[Ffoh]

Of course - I'd be an absolute cad if I shafted the one team in the league who've gifted me maximum points since I've been in 1.1

Hrmph. We've tried to be generous all around this season - might have spread the joy a little too far though

[eagles123]

The Raging Speed Horns vs Trevor Francis Tracksuit
League One Day 1.1

Weather Windy
Pitch Sticky

A nostalgic swan song for my mob today. Ten of the team will be off to pastures new come Sunday, so this will be their last chance to impress (which they've spectacularly failed to do recently). The best we can realistically hope for is to nick 4th spot; it'll be an extra $30k in prize money

The tracksuited one won the toss and decided to bat, and has been pretty solid in hostile conditions, reaching 87-4 at drinks. Their opener, Bula, is proving a thorn, anchoring what might prove a challenging innings. I suspect the possibility of another shambolic performance by my hapless crew...

end of an era, regularly had 3-4 touring for the Nat side over the last 5 seasons or so. Good luck for the rebuild!

[Ffoh]

Of course - I'd be an absolute cad if I shafted the one team in the league who've gifted me maximum points since I've been in 1.1

Hrmph. We've tried to be generous all around this season - might have spread the joy a little too far though

Didn't need your help in the end, but regardless - you scratch our back, we scratch yours. You're welcome

[Atko]

.....I suspect the possibility of another shambolic performance by my hapless crew...

Needn't have worried; they actually turned up to the party. Managed to bowl out the oppo for 159, then knocked off the runs for the loss of 4 wickets inside 35 overs. Why we couldn't play like that the last few games, I don't know . Anyhow, the ratings -

Match Ratings
The Raging Speed Horns Trevor Francis Tracksuit
Batting - Top Order 15,119 14,438
Batting - Middle Order 10,848 12,117
Batting - Tail 4,562 5,293
Bowling - Seam 15,465 (30) 13,389 (40)
Bowling - Spin 14,865 (20) 14,706 (10)
Fielding/Keeping 18,783 16,343
Overall 250,031 239,391

Also, thanks to Ffoh -

...Didn't need your help in the end, but regardless - you scratch our back, we scratch yours. You're welcome

- who did a number on Pedagogs, and along with Inchigeela Angels falling to Egham Town, we actually finished 3rd, which, after this season, sounds about right . Congratulations to Relegation reprobates, who steered through shark infested waters to win it comfortably in the end, by 6 points from Egham Town.

Thus ends "The Golden Era" as I tend to think of it. I'd love to do a smoother transition to the next generation, but we've finally plunged into the red, and it ain't gonna get better next season. All the guys that are going are 30+, and once their arses are out the door, we should be turning a profit again. Plus, if I get the money I'm hoping to through sales, I can finally bump the academy to deluxe

...end of an era, regularly had 3-4 touring for the Nat side over the last 5 seasons or so. Good luck for the rebuild!

...Yeah - gonna miss that (and not just the compensation ). Charlton should give England good service, but the rest of the squad are a little way off yet, and times are gonna be tough with the majority of them being 22-24yo's. Should be pulling 200k+ ratings, but I foresee a plunge down the leagues - the fun bit will be guessing at what floor we get out!

[casperj]

Bedfordshire Jats Crestfallen Sidekicks
Batting - Top Order 13,545 12,289
Batting - Middle Order 10,613 10,193
Batting - Tail 4,065 4,878
Bowling - Seam 11,992 (40) 12,249 (40)
Bowling - Spin 12,150 (10) 13,817 (10)
Fielding/Keeping 15,339 14,525
Overall 214,963 210,957

Bedfordshire Jats won by 6 wickets

Basically my reserve side, but still a poor performance against the bottom side. Loss mainly due to the sort of collapses that were happening all the time a few seasons ago, 134-2 to 175-8. Ultimately scraped to 215 but was never going to be enough and they got home with more than 5 overs to space, although it wasn't enough to save them from relegation.

Ultimately, happy with 3rd place in Division 2 after 6 seasons sulking in Division 3. WIll see how our bank balance holds up to the EOS changes.

[spark]

Home Ruff Royals
Away Indian Avengers
Ground Ruff Royals CG
League Youth Twenty20 1.1
Date 18 Nov 24 10:00
Crowd 7,093
Weather Overcast
Pitch Uneven

We're playing a computer controlled team today and I lost the toss so we've been forced to bowl first.

We've dropped 2 already but it's still going okay.

J. Needham (rfs) 1-0-3-0, T. Lanka 8 (10b), N. Dinusha 4 (7b)
End of over 6 (3 runs) - Indian Avengers(23-2) RR 3.83

[spark]

D. Buck (rfm) 3-1-8-1, A. Samaraweera 1 (1b), T. Arunasiri 8 (7b)
End of over 18 (3 runs) - Indian Avengers(88-6) RR 4.89

It's probably not going to be as big a win as I was hoping for.

[spark]

Ruff Royals Indian Avengers
Batting - Top Order 8,244 4,977
Batting - Middle Order 5,382 3,223
Batting - Tail 4,029 3,829
Bowling - Seam 6,605 (12) 2,950 (16)
Bowling - Spin 7,647 (8) 5,470 (4)
Fielding/Keeping 9,110 5,057
Overall 129,036 76,731

Ruff Royals won by 10 wickets

We won with more than 10 overs to spare.

[wolfberries]

YorkshireTykes wolfberries
Batting - Top Order 7,208 6,243
Batting - Middle Order 5,514 4,604
Batting - Tail 3,519 3,216
Bowling - Seam 7,687 (12) 6,889 (12)
Bowling - Spin 7,934 (8) 8,424 (8)
Fielding/Keeping 7,871 7,752
Overall 123,991 113,809

Result: wolfberries won by 5 wickets

It has been a very long time since we've been in a youth division 1, and to be honest I'm not even sure our main side has been in a YT20 division 1 before. Due to a slight miscalculation last season we promoted despite knowing that our team won't be division 1 standard! Thankfully there is one bot so we are only fighting to avoid one relegation spot!

[Atko]

Vivi vs The Raging Speed Horns
League Youth Twenty20 2.1

Weather Overcast
Pitch Uneven

Result: Vivi won by 2 runs

Match Ratings
Vivi The Raging Speed Horns
Batting - Top Order 7,050 6,536
Batting - Middle Order 5,296 6,610
Batting - Tail 3,917 4,150
Bowling - Seam 6,383 (16) 6,665 (6)
Bowling - Spin 6,863 (4) 7,796 (14)
Fielding/Keeping 8,000 9,575
Overall 117,536 131,044

I've given up trying to work out T20; rather than bemoan the usual snail's pace run chase, I'll chalk this one up to fiendishly clever stranglehold bowling tactics by my opponent. I can't think of any other reason we'd pootle along at less than 4 an over for the first half of the chase, pushing the RRR to 11+, then smash it all over the park in order to fall two short with three wickets in hand. Same old same old