They'll just have to choose the players they keep carefully. Boob's team struggles anyway and I don't think Benny's retirees have really done anything.
I'd contemplate implementing something a little more complicated, kind of like what you suggested a week or so ago, but it'd be hard to explain/follow I think. We'd basically just go back over the old draft order again, re-picking replaced players. So the earlier draft picks you released, the earlier picks you got. There are a few reasons why I don't think this would work awesomely though.
I'm trying to work out whether the fact that the last year and a half will count is a good or bad thing for me. Obviously Watson is going to be much better. However, Mendis hasn't been doing much of late. At least my key players are still all young enough.
To explain this further, here are the first three rounds of Season 1's draft: Code: Official Draft Order : Round 1 Julian - Jacques "In-A-Box" Kallis nz003 + Damo + El Nino - Muttiah "Muscles" Muralitharan Stormer + Farhat - Kumar "Get It" Sangakarra Luffers + Blunder - Dale "Shit" Steyn Freddy - Mahendra "Can't" Singh Dhoni Ged - Ajantha "I-can't-ha" Mendis marcussjd9 -Jimmy "The Cricket" Anderson Farny - Matt Prior Heath + Fung - Makhaya "or lower" Ntini Speirz - Daniel Vettori [I][B]Incey - Mitchell "Magic" Johnson[/B][/I] Lordeman - Shivnarine Chanderpaul Boobidy - Ricky Ponting Eds + Gazza + Shri - Sachin "Eight Nine" Tendulkar Benny - AB De Villiers CCG - - Graeme Swann Official Draft Order : Round 2 CCG - Brett Lee Benny - Andrew Flintoff Eds + Gazza + Shri - Jayawardene Boobidy - Kevin Pietersen Lordeman - Shane Bond [I][B]Incey - Graeme Smith[/B][/I] Speriz - Stuart Clark Heath + Fung - Chaminda Vaas Farny - Michael Clarke marcussjd9 - Gautam Ghambir Ged - Ishant Sharma Freddy -Zaheer Khan Luffers + Blunder - Younis Khan [I][B]Stormer + Farhat - Harbhajan Singh[/B][/I] nz003 + Damo + El Nino - Virender Sehwag Julian - Brad Haddin Official Draft Order : Round 3 Julian - Shoaib Akhtar [I][B]nz003 + Damo + El Nino - Jacob Oram[/B][/I] Stormer + Farhat - Mohammad Yousuf Luffers + Blunder - Shakib Al Hasan Freddy - Michael Hussey Ged - Ashwell Prince [I][B]marcussjd9 - Andrew Symonds[/B][/I] Farny - Umar Gul Heath + Fung - Jesse Ryder Speirz - Thilan Samaraweera Incey - Shane Warne Lordeman - Ryan Sidebottom [I][B]Boobidy - Matthew Hayden[/B][/I] Eds + Gazza + Shri - Glen McGrath Benny - Peter Siddle CCG - Andrew Strauss Now if the bolded players were released for Season 2, the new draft order would start out as: Incey Incey Stormer + Farhat nz003 + Damo + El Nino Baxter Boobidy What does everyone, except CCG, think of that? The positive is that it encourages people to release some better players and increase player turnover, as well as giving new players a chance to recruit some decent players. The problem I see with it is that it might be a bit hard to follow.
It'd be down to me to sort it out, so that needn't be a problem. Where would you slot new teams into that order Rob?
You'd have to give the new teams two picks each to beging with before letting others pick any imo. You've got to give them a fighting chance.
That's one of the "few reasons" I don't think it'd work awesomely. First instinct is to just add them onto the bottom of each round's draft. So that'd make the order: Incey New Team 1 New Team 2 New Team 3 New Team 4 New Team 5 Incey Stormer + Farhat New Team 5 New Team 4 New Team 3 New Team 2 New Team 1 nz003 + Damo + El Nino Baxter Boobidy New Team 4 New Team 2 New Team 3 New Team 1 New Team 5 etc etc. Could put them at the top instead - don't think it'd matter all that much.
One thing's for sure, the new blokes that you get will need to really knowledgable. They're gonna have to make zero errors in selection and rely on their entire 11 rather than a few stars.
*entire squads... 20 squads of 18 = 360 playes. 8 Test nations, squads of 15 = 120. So approximately 240 non-regular Test players to be drafted...
There are ****s like Aamer that didn't get picked at all last time who will be good value anyway though.
Yeah. There'll obv be some young up and comers but the new teams are very likely to be devoid of any out and out stars that most teams possess at least one.
I think the best way for it to wrok if people are keeping players is to allow the new teams to pick up until they reach the agreed number of players to be kept. The new teams are already going to be dented by not having a real chance at the elite players, so they need to get a good chance at better players.
Only problem with that is it reduces the incentive to release players you picked early if they're all going to be taken before you have a chance to pick.
That's why I reckon that you say that a team can keep up to 4, maybe 5 players, but must release two of their top 4 picks. It forces teams to release quality players and gives the new blokes at least some good test players. It'd free up a lot of the following list of players at the very least: Official Draft Order : Round 3 Julian - Shoaib Akhtar nz003 + Damo + El Nino - Jacob Oram Stormer + Farhat - Mohammad Yousuf Luffers + Blunder - Shakib Al Hasan Freddy - Michael Hussey Ged - Ashwell Prince marcussjd9 - Andrew Symonds Farny - Umar Gul Heath + Fung - Jesse Ryder Speirz - Thilan Samaraweera Incey - Shane Warne Lordeman - Ryan Sidebottom Boobidy - Matthew Hayden Eds + Gazza + Shri - Glen McGrath Benny - Peter Siddle CCG - Andrew Strauss There are some pretty good names in there.