I have been thoroughly enjoying it, despite getting two of the last three worst picks and one of the best in those rounds too.
Yeah it's become my favourite part of the draft too. I was going to say "even though he's really wrong sometimes", but it's more like "especially because he's wrong sometimes". I love reading these. It's really kept my interest high and got me to work on little extra features of the new sim and database tweaks. Deserves almost as much credit for this as Athlai's constantly nagging for a decade.
Round 7 1. GoodAreasShane - Eddie Moore (481975) Has been in hot form at FC level recently. Unsure how much he can sustain it though. A couple of better openers were left over I think. 2. Benny - Dane Piedt (379926) Not a good pick. He just isn't very good IMO. I guess the other spinning options tend to be crap Sri Lankan club cricket ones and the like but too early for him. 3. Boobidy - Nick Maddinson (333780) Very nice pick. Has been amazing at Shield level recently and can bowl some handy spin and bats all around the order too. 4. Hunter - Joe Denly (12454) Another good pick. Really should've gone a fair bit earlier. 5. jimmy_c8 - Kraigg Brathwaite (348024) I do worry about how terrible he's been recently, but with that said his Test pedigree is hard to ignore at this point in the draft. Good pick. 6. Alex - Peter Handscomb (334337) Has been batting with a stump in recent times. I guess he's been better at ODI's so it's not a horrible pick, but I'd have gone elsewhere probably. 7. Skippos - Ryan Higgins (572199) The main question mark is how Div 2 cricket gets assessed, but on stats alone it's a great pick. Definitely think it's a fair enough pick at this point. 8. Cabinet96 - Alex Carey (326434) Has been in pretty gun form recently, and has also done well at ODI level. Good pick. 9. spark!ptz - Cameron Green (1076713) A bit of a risk, but if he stays fit will be an immense cricketer at this level. I think this pick makes perfect sense. 10. Athlai - Hamish Bennett (226493) This is a solid selection at this point. Has been h4x at domestic level in recent times. 11. Captain - Kaushal Silva (50482) Similar-ish case to Bennett. Also has Test pedigree and can keep. Good pick. 12. Phlegm - Doug Bracewell (362541) A pretty ordinary pick full stop - I guess he can bat but I don't think his bowling is worth a pick this early, and given you already had 3 good pacers this just hurts your balance massively unless you can find a good spinning all-rounder. You don't even have a keeper that can bat 5/6 either.... 13. Chewie - Glenn Phillips (823509) This on the other hand is a fairly decent pick, especially given he can keep too. 14. morgieb - Darren Stevens (20367) He may be old as fuck and looks old as fuck, but he's still good. Excellent pick for that #8 especially given Jadeja already exists. 15. Julian - Mark Wood (351588) Never really rated Wood much, but given most of the bowlers are this point are medium-pacers, I think it's a fair enough selection. 16. Howe and Dan - Dane Vilas (262456) Coming off an absolutely stupid county season this is a fair enough pick. 17. Number 11 - Mahmudullah Riyad (56025) Very good selection. Wondering why he didn't go a while ago if I'm being perfectly honest, he's a good Test batsman who should be a handy 5th bowler at this level. 18. Magrat Garlick - Kyle Verreynne (595004) Probably the only player picked thus far I know nothing about, but looking at his stats he looks h4x. Sharp selection. 19. Dhokchau - Abhinav Mukund (302582) Poor pick. His recent FC form is pretty meh for Indian cricket standards and you already had two openers and a #3 picked. Sorry. 20. Gazza - Ollie Robinson (527776) Good pick on performances. I do slightly worry that so much of it has come from Div 2 cricket, but I guess given the success of guys like Stevens in Div 1 the gap isn't all that large even for medium-pacers. 21. HeathDavisSpeed - Ravi Bopara (10582) Can't say I think all that much of this selection either. Has been in pretty average form with the bat for quite a while and his bowling is increasingly part-timer. Would've looked elsewhere. 22. StephenZA - Rudi Second (321757) A pretty sharp selection. Maybe a couple of better options left over, but most of them tend to be more keeper-batsmen than batsmen-keeper, and in terms of the latter Second is probably the best left over. 23. MrPrez - Dane Paterson (327947) Neither here nor there, really. It's not a terrible pick but I wouldn't really say it's all that exciting of one either. 24. Baxter - Pite van Biljon (266268) Has been in excellent form recently; his overall 4-day record is great too. Good pick. Best pick: A few names come to mind here. Maddinson, Denly, Green, Brathwaite all sharp selections, and Verreynne looks a very nice pick too, but the best I think is Mahmudullah. Worst pick: Quite a few picks I really don't rate. The two worst are Bracewell (though at least he wasn't picked R4 this time!) and Mukund IMO; Bracewell being the worst pick when you consider squad needs and Mukund the worst overall. Bopara and Piedt frankly lucky to miss this area.
Haha this was Morgie's most brutal review of a player and I haven't even read the rest of it yet. I actually kinda liked Piedt but man did he bowl some pies on his big audition in India. I think the world gave up on him after that. Bowling offies in Saffa franchise cricket usually isn't easy though so at a standard significantly lower than Tests he could surprise. 10/10 for the brutal personal opinion review though. More of that FTW.
Ha, it's gonna be hard as 75% of cricketers from this point onwards I just barely seen any of most likely.
He thought Morgie had the best pick for the first three rounds I think. And he definitely does not think Vijay was the best pick of that round. He cried into his pillow each night thinking about the Vijay pick.
Haha the fact that Babar would've been the pick of Round 2 and was still taken in Round 3 kind of speaks to how gun a pick it ended up. I'll go: Round 1: Jadeja/Philander Round 2: Pujara/Patto Round 3: Babar Round 4: Conway Round 5: Jeets Round 6: Marsh Round 7: Maddinson NB: Opinions are mine alone and do not reflect those of the database who I have regular arguments with.
