I won a match I was concerned about at first. Early bowlers got beat up on a hard and fast pitch but my batters came through pretty well. I know am sitting pretty to promote with my last two matches against #5 (who hasn't logged on in over a week) and #7 (who has never logged on). Look out III here I come.
I scored 329-3 and my opponent is currently 81-2. I will certainly win, but it is all about the runrate. I want to get him all out as cheaply as possible. I'll be disappointed if he scores more than 175.
My match has just begun. Slow pitch, but my bowlers have been expensive thus far. End of Over 3: 15-1, runrate=5.00 Hopefully we can pick up a couple more wickets and then I should be set. Best bowler to come in first change and I expect him to keep it tight and grab a wicket or two.
I love this line Dont blame it on the straight line, dont blame it on the high shine, dont blame it on the big shout; Blame it on the googly! Thats out!
Elding 5-1-8-0 great job in his first spell. He's tied them down effectively and the middle overs mean I'll have a nice small target to chase... End of Over 23: 78-3, runrate=3.39 I can't see them getting to 200 from here. In fact I think 175 is more that they'll get.
End of Over 25: 103-2, runrate=4.12 Gardner 3-0-7-0 Keene* 5 (17 balls) Griffin 21 (49 balls) i'm bowling. not the best start, but the run rate was over 6 at one point. A few more wickets would be great. This is the 4th time i've played this team!! he's got no lower order, per his own admission, so a few more wickets and this could be a good match. In the first fixture between us this season I hit 299 and he passed me with 8 balls left and only a few wickets left. i took like 4 wickets in the last 5 overs. I need to beat him to impove my chances of not automatically going down.
Rigler is the only expensive bowler... pissing me off. Rigler 9-1-43-1 End of Over 28: 107-3, runrate=3.82 He's just giving away runs. Thank God his alotment is almost done.
After today I am still in first, level on points with second. My run rate 26.87 Second place 21.91 So I increased it a little. He plays a much easier opponent next week. I may play some of my batsmen aggressive next week.
I tried to play my top two batsmen in the top two spots against the abandoned team today, hoping to somewhat replicate my performance the last time we played them and run up a really big total (since I'm in a NRR battle for the league crown). It didn't work out so well, with both Laurent and Seargeant going out at low totals. Fortunately, Surman has really settled in well and a couple of other batsmen have been able to stick around long enough to build some moderately successful partnerships. I was really worried for a while about the target I was going to set.
I wouldn't classify five per over as expensive, personally... for me, in excess of 5.5 to 6.0 economy rate is where I start considering a bowler expensive. That's not to say that 5.0 isn't at the high end for my lineup, because it is, but it's about what I plan for; it's the expensive performances where a guy gives up 60 to 70 that kill me.
End of Over 48: 198-10, runrate=4.13 Gardner 8-1-29-4 Keene* 58 (76 balls) woohoo. problem is the guy who just bowled is my second batsmen. screwed up my lineup on that one. he's a good batsmen (respectable/competent), but his stamina might be real low having just bowled 8 overs.
Absolutely inspired bowling by 3 bowlers today... Coutts 8-1-19-5 Calcutt 10-1-20-2 Elding 10-2-17-0 My prediction that they wouldn't get to 175 stands... End of Over 48: 159-10, runrate=3.31
End of Over 8: 36-0, runrate=4.50, reqrunrate=3.88 (198-10) Longmead 4-0-20-0 Gardner* 10 (20 balls) Coleman 24 (29 balls) a good start. I wish my run rate was a little higher. It should get a good bump when I lose my first wicket, as the number 3 batsmen is usually quickfire.
I'm in deepshit... The top order has collapsed... all but Owens. End of Over 10: 45-3, runrate=4.50, reqrunrate=2.88 (159-10) to win this I'll need 70 runs or so from Owens and for Goldbourne, Staunton and Elding to play their best. I think the bugger played GFI... no reason his bowling should be this good.
I'm screwed!!! Owens is gone now for 38 and get this... hit wicket... that's twice in a row he's been dismissed by that and its rare enough that it might never happen once IRL for most players and now its happened twice in a row makes no sense. End of Over 15: 86-4, runrate=5.73, reqrunrate=2.11 (159-10) I can probably still make the target, but its all up in the air now... sad really, because had Owens stayed I might have really won comfortably and upped my NRR. EDIT: breathing a bit easier... End of Over 20: 108-4, runrate=5.40, reqrunrate=1.73 (159-10)
We squeaked through there... 1 wicket away from the tail. Goldbourne 58 (65 balls) was our best batsman on the day and the NRR will go up by a little more than 2 runs. It looks likely that I'll have a qualy to play for promotion.
End of Over 33: 150-2, runrate=4.55, reqrunrate=2.88 (198-10) Allen 10-1-38-1 Spearitt* 20 (28 balls) Edwards 4 (10 balls) sweetness
3 in a row!! And that's the end of the match. Wicketkeepers won by 7 wickets. Peters Utd 198-10 Wicketkeepers 202-3
Norse was bowled out in the final over today. The middle overs were a little tense as my top order went down a lot quicker than expected, but Surman and Best really settled in to keep the day going and bring home a respectable total. The bowling performance was a surprise as they were all out under 50 runs. Newsome only bowled a single over and Walcott didn't make it into the match at all. So what started off as a bad day turned into a good one as we widened our NRR lead on the #2 in the series. You need at least a couple of teams to lose before you can even think about NRRing out of a qualifier. (I do too... and I'm not planning on having my NRR slip...)
thank you sir. moved up to 5th in the table. If I had not TIE against the last place team I would have one more win, and I lost another match by 4 runs, so i could be 6 and 6 and in the safe zone right now. Two more matches against he 2nd and 3rd place teams means that I'm most likely going to have a playoff and will probably lose it. I might TIE these next two matches so I can get my fitness up.
excellent... what was said in the rules is true... morale is very important as well... this game has huge streak potential and managing morale is almost as important as managing fitness.