Southee will never be a proper Test #8 but will always be a useful 9 or 10 due to his jammy boundaries.
TBF doesn't average Southee average ~20? Yeah he may be a shit bat IRL, but I think he wouldn't look out of place at #8 by the standards of this.
Howe/Himannv Kumar Sangakkara - up there with the best bats in the game and can also keep wicket. I'd be interested to see how well he does batting #3 and keeping wicket as his Test average is 25 runs lower when keeping, but still a very good pick. +1 Mohammad Hafeez - not really a fan of this pick. There are plenty of better batsman still left, and a WPM rate of less than 1 at Test level probably means he won't really be someone you'd want as one of your main bowlers. I guess there aren't a lot of better all-rounders still available, but it's still not a move I'd have made at this stage. -2 Marlon Samuels - although he has struggled in his last couple of series, before that his form since his ban expired had been very good. As a late 3rd rounder there aren't that much better middle-order bankers left so a good pick. +1 Marchant de Lange - worst pick of the round, and one of the worst picks in general. He does have potential, but his 'real' domestic record is very poor and he hasn't played much at all. He has had A game success and a 7-fer, but there's no way he should've gone until like Round 10 or something. -4 Steve O'Keefe - good pick. Bowls very well in unfavourable conditions, and can easily bat 8 here too. +1 Kyle Jarvis - I really rate Jarvis from what I've seen, and his Test record thus far is pretty decent. Possibly a bit of a punt as how he'll go in county cricket is anyone's guess, but it could turn out to be one of the picks of the draft. +1 Glenn Chapple - good pick, even though he's about as old as Fiery (:ninja. His county record has been very solid for a long time and he strengthens your tail massively. +1 Manish Pandey - very good pick this. Even by the standards of his country his record is fairly gun. +1 Chris Nash - early for mine, given how many top-order bats you seemed to draft. I don't think the pick is really a shocker, but yeah I probably wouldn't have picked him if I were you. -1 Robert Key - if I'm being honest, I think you probably should've picked up a middle-order bat at this point, but on paper Key was a perfectly fine pick at this stage. 0 Steven Davies - great pick. Take out his stinker in 2012 and he probably has the best record out of county keepers. +2 R Vinay Kumar - yeah he's looked tripe when I've seen him bowl, but he does have a very handy domestic record. Solid pick. +1 Owais Shah - not quite the player he once was, and the fact that he hasn't played a hell lot of county cricket lately is concerning, but for R13 this was a fine pick. +1 Amit Mishra - depth option only, I'm afraid. He's really declined at the FC level with the ball. The only real thing going for this pick is that Mishra's test record isn't utter tripe. -1 Tanvir Ahmed - pretty decent pick. Does have a mediocre domestic record compared to his contemporaries, but he's done pretty well in the limited Tests he's played. +1 Trent Johnston - interesting one. His FC experience is basically limited to the Intercontinental Cup (which isn't of a great standard), and his Shield record is tripe (although TBF his Shield experience was back in the day when the standard of the competition wasn't too far off Tests). Still, his IC record is great, and I feel that associates were an under-appreciated choice for late selections. +1 Chris Read - probably the best pure keeper selected, and his recent county record has been really good despite a poor 2013. Great pick this late. +2 Madawa Warnapura - did have a really good 2012/13, but it feels like the exception rather than the norm towards his career as a whole. I don't have a whole lot of love for this pick, I'm afraid. -1 Overall: Despite a weak start you pulled your squad together fairly well and finished the draft better than most. I think the bowling lacks a true strike option and the batting seems to lack a little bit of depth which will probably hold it back, but the side should be around the top half. Overall Rating: +3
El Nino/Gazza Michael Clarke - meh, can't complain. Up there with the best batsmen in the game. The fact that he isn't well suited to batting top-order and the fact that he's more prone to below-par performances than the other elite batsmen might mean that he isn't as suited to CPL as other earlier bats, and I probably would've thought about getting a bowling-oriented player at this stage. 0 Steven Finn - a punt. Finn has stagnated recently, and I'm not sure whether his mix of pies and jaffas will mean that his bowling will be much more effective than in Tests in a comp like this. Nevertheless he does still have a pretty good Test average so he shouldn't be awful, though I probably wouldn't have gone him at that stage as there were still several better bowlers left. -1 Chris Gayle - One of the best bats still remaining, and a handy off-spinner to boot. Very good pick. +2 Ajantha Mendis - Has faded away pretty badly after his series against India a few years ago. Yes his domestic stats are great on paper, but it's very easy to bowl in Sri Lanka and his recent form isn't that good. Not a great pick for mine. -1 Matthew Wade - Can't really think of any better bats who can keep, but his keeping is pretty bad, particularly against spin. IMO there were better options available. -1 Ben Cutting - Can easily bat 8 here, and there probably aren't too many better bowlers left on bowling alone anyway. I know a lot of people don't seem to rate him, but you can't really argue with his figures. +1 Toby Roland-Jones - hmm....two years ago this would've been a great pick, but is he being worked out? There is some risk here as his last season wasn't great and he does have a propensity to miss county matches, but otherwise this was a fine pick. +1 Dheeraj Jadhav - pretty nice pick. Long been a beast at the domestic level and his recent form has been pretty handy. +1 Ambati Rayudu - been a gun since coming back from the ICL. Pretty handy A-team record should nullify the impact of shunty Indian domestic standard. +1 James Hildreth - gun pick. Better bat than your last two IMO. Somerset is irrelevant here, his away record has been good too lately. +2 Jeevan Mendis - beast of a recent record. Gun R11 pick. +2 Mahesh Rawat - interesting pick. Probably could've done better if I'm being honest, though this pick is far from a disaster and his recent record is fine. 0 Abdur Rauf - average international record, but he does have a gun domestic record lately. Should be a fine pick. +1 James Harris - not kicking on as well as one might've hoped. Still Harris has his fans and for R14 this pick is hardly a shocker. 0 Daniel Flynn - not convinced. Ordinary international record. FC record is good on paper but it pales in comparison to most of his contemporaries. In theory a good pick but I don't like it that much. 0 Craig Cachopa - very promising player. Can see Cachopa having a future in the New Zealand setup, and his record is very good. Yes New Zealand pitches are pretty conductive to batsman (particularly once you get a start), but there aren't that many teams to dilute the standard. Good pick. +1 Akshath Reddy - lots of potential. Indian domestic is naturally iffy but for a R17 pick he does give you a strong record at a young age. Well done. +1 Nathan Rimmington - gun last round pick. Good recent domestic record in a strong competition and has h4x batting stats. +2 Overall Batting looks pretty solid, and there should be no shortage of depth here. I rate the balance, too. Bowling feels iffy though, which I think will prevent you from being true contenders. Overall Rating: +12
Chewie Stuart Broad - maybe not who I'd have gone for, but given you wanted a guy who could bat #8 and be an opening bowler, this was a perfectly fine pick. 0 Angelo Mathews - one of the best batsmen left, and can chip with some useful seamers if necessary. Very good pick. +2 Gautam Gambhir - although Gambhir's recent Test performances has been poor, he still is scoring runs at the lower level and he has had prior success at Test level so on paper it's a reasonable pick. However IMO there are a few better openers than Gambhir left so it's probably not one I would've made. -1 Fawad Alam - why on earth he isn't playing for Pakistan is beyond me. To the surprise of many Pakistani domestic cricket is actually very hard to bat in, so an average of 55 is pretty insane. Good pick. +1 Monty Panesar - amazed he lasted this long given how many bowlers went before him. Yes his most recent season wasn't good, but the year before he was going great guns at whatever level he was playing. Very fine selection for a mid-5th rounder. +2 Lonwabo Tsotsobe - had not played FC cricket in 2 years at the time of selection, and hardly tore up trees when he did (in fact his recent form was pretty shocking). Possibly the worst pick in the draft. Worst thing is that you got lucky here and saw him take a 5-fer when returning to FC cricket. -5 Tharanga Paranavitana - much better pick. Handy if unspectacular international record and has been going pretty well at the domestic level. +1 Alex Doolan - didn't really pay off. Only had half a good season at Shield level and was largely uninspiring against South Africa. Still he's not really a shocker and may have further opportunities to prove his worth down the track. 0 Rajat Bhatia - good pick. Adds a handy 5th bowling option and should be able to bat Top 6 to a reasonable standard. +1 Chris Rushworth - hard to judge this pick. Very good recent stats on paper, but they are achieved in Durham which is notoriously seam-friendly. Personally think this was early. -1 Uday Kaul - since his debut has been up there with the best domestic keepers in India. Good selection. +1 Rahat Ali - reasonable pick. Probably similar to Gaz's Rauf pick that he has a strong recent domestic record and some international experience. Taken a round earlier though and he's been a little less dominant at Pakistani cricket lately which makes this pick only average. 0 Murali Kartik - not really the bowler he once was. I see why you picked him, and he is a better bowler than a couple of other former Indian Test spinners picked around this point, but his last two seasons have been tripe and yeah I'm not huge on this pick. -1 Irfan Pathan - when was the last time he actually played? Would've been worth it in R18 or something, but this was too early IMO. -1 Sachithra Serasinghe - good pick. Though I wouldn't bother bowling him except as a 6th option - you have to be pretty dire to average over 30 as a spinner in Sri Lanka. +1 Kamran Akmal - very good pick if you looked at his batting alone, shame about his keeping though. 0 Sharjeel Khan - pretty average record at the domestic level. Yes he did make the Pakistani side but it wasn't in Tests and he wasn't impressive doing so. Shouldn't have been picked I'm afraid. -1 Corey Collymore - probably a better bowler than several that you picked before him. Very good R18 pick. +2 Overall: Pretty good batting line-up on paper, but the bowling seems pretty ordinary outside of Broad and Panesar. Batting depth also seems worrying. Lower half is likely. Overall Rating: +1
Incey Jacques Kallis - great pick. Despite his poor final year at Test level pick #9 was far too long for the best all-rounder in the game to slide to. +2 Shakib Al Hasan - very nice pick. Arguably unnecessary with Kallis already on the list, but there aren't many pure bowlers left who are worse than Shakib, and he allows for a very long batting lineup. +1 Mohammed Shami - although Shami is still a little raw, he has a lot of potential and a good series in India's upcoming Tests could see his value skyrocket. Of course the inverse could affect him as well, but there are worse bowlers leading attacks in CPL. +1 Jean-Paul Duminy - he has flattered to deceive at Test level, but has been outstanding at FC level. He can also be a very useful bowler at this level. Potentially a dream pick for the 4th round but he hasn't played much domestic cricket lately so how his batting goes will be interesting. +1 Ed Cowan - since joining Tasmania Cowan has generally scored plenty of runs at domestic cricket. Although there probably were better batsmen left most of them seem to be middle-order bats so I find this pick fairly solid. +1 Umar Gul - one of the only active bowlers remaining to have anything resembling a half-decent international record. Although he's probably not really an attack leader, if you were looking for an attack leader at this point you'd have bigger problems. Suits Incey's attack perfectly. +1 Neil Wagner - is probably going to be your side's main strike bowler. Is really starting to kick on given what we saw against India, so potentially a real steal for R7. +2 Abhinav Mukund - interesting one. 2 seasons ago this would've a very good pick for R8. But he's had two ordinary seasons at domestic level and while still young this isn't a good sign for the rest of his career. -1 Hamish Rutherford - I really don't rate Rutherford, but on paper this is pretty decent pick - he has had international exposure and he's still young. 0 Haris Sohail - very good pick. His average outstrips most of his contemporaries. +2 Thami Tsolekile - never really rated Tsolekile, but he's a pretty solid option this late given you have Kallis and Shakib and the South African selectors seem too. 0 Tom Cooper - has generally been pretty solid when regularly playing, and is improving pretty quick. Given how hard Australian cricket is for batting (strong standard, bowler-friendly pitches, lots of gun bowlers) this is a pretty good pick. +1 Colin Munro - interesting pick. On paper it's a great one, but middle-order batting is very easy in New Zealand and his bowling is pretty ordinary. Not much of a track record behind him either. Not a shocker but not a particularly inspiring one. 0 Keegan Meth - this guy sums your bowling options perfectly - no-one a true superstar you can create an attack around, but lots of gun 2nd/3rd bowling options. Very good R14 selection. +2 Chris Hartley - given your balance having Hartley as your reserve keeper is a good move. Great pure keeper. +1 Sean Williams - interesting pick. I like Williams, but he's really prone to periods where he walks out of cricket and his FC exposure is largely limited to shunty Zimbo domestics. 0 Chris Jordan - meh, OK R17 pick. Good news for you is that he's in the frame for England selection and therefore the mid-season update could see his value skyrocket. 0 Liam Dawson - did have a pretty good 2013, but before that he was pretty tripe. Jury still out here. 0 Overall: Yes it may lack a true gun bowler, but this side has lots of good bowling options. The batting seems somewhat iffy though. With the right conditions and selections though? Potential title contender. Overall Rating: +14
I'd rate Nino, Heef, Howe, Julian, Rusty and Benny all having worse attack leaders. EDIT: Plus the mid-season update will probably help Shami to a fairly significant degree IMO.
Well Steve Finn and Mitchell Starc are two that are obviously better and the rest are arguable. Still, bottom five of any category is an obvious weakness so +1 is definitely generous. EDIT: Why?
