I'll probably do this every round until I get bored. I should qualify first that these comments are based on my own personal opinion and not on the quality of the players in the database. The database forms opinions in a similar way to me I suppose, but I wouldn't read too much into them or base your selection policy on them because there are a couple of comments here that are directly contradicted by the database as it stands already.
There are still two picks to go in Round 1 but I'll just edit them in after they happen. Code: ROUND 1 1 1 1 Mariner Dale Steyn 1 2 2 Skippos AB de Villiers 1 3 3 Prez Vernon Philander 1 4 4 Speirz Hashim Amla 1 5 5 Athlai Tim Southee 1 6 6 Howe Kumar Sangakkara 1 7 7 Nino Michael Clarke 1 8 8 Chewie Stuart Broad 1 9 9 Incey Jacques Kallis 1 10 10 Heath Cheteshwar Pujara 1 11 11 Benny Shane Watson 1 12 12 Hunter Alastair Cook 1 13 13 Baxter Shivnarine Chanderpaul 1 14 14 Captain Ryan Harris 1 15 15 Farhat Saeed Ajmal 1 16 16 Eds Mitchell Johnson 1 17 17 Morgie James Pattinson 1 18 18 Rusty Younis Khan 1 19 19 Goat Ian Bell 1 20 20 Julian Graeme Smith 1 21 21 Phlegm Ross Taylor 1 22 22 Boobidy Mahendra Dhoni 1 23 23 Downes Virat Kohli 1 24 24 Callum Peter Siddle 1 25 25 Jabba Morne Morkel 1 26 26 Ritchie Kevin Pietersen 1. Dale Steyn (Mariner) Good pick. Probably not the best pick available IMO as there is a bowler I rate equally highly on balance who is better with the bat, but Steyn is certainly amongst the top five most influential cricketers in the world. 2. AB de Villiers (Skippos) Picked due to wicket keeping and I'm really not sold on the idea. In 26 team comp, 182 batsmen are going to bat in the top 7, and I reckon that there are probably 26 wicket keepers amongst the best 182 batsmen in the world anyway, so being a wicket keeper isn't really that valuable early doors. That said, you could almost justify picking de Villiers here on batting alone; he's definitely amongst the best five or six batsmen in world cricket, so the pick is by no means a disaster. 3. Vernon Philander (Prez) Who I would have picked first up, I think. The best Test cricketer in the world right now. Excellent pick. 4. Hashim Amla (Speirz) Good pick, can't complain. Very arguably the best batsman left and with the two bowlers who sit ahead of the pack already taken and Kallis having tailed off in his output recently, going for the best bat was a good enough call. Personally rate at least one other batsman higher than Amla, but it's not definitive. 5. Tim Southee (Athlai) I do agree that he went too early, but this pick has copped far too much stick. Athlai is picking a team largely of favourites and although Southee isn't quite the fifth best cricketer in the world, he's definitely a Round 1 pick (top 26). Definitely amongst the top ten bowlers in the world and well capable of batting number 8 in a competition the strength of CPL. 6. Kumar Sangakkara (Howe) IMO, the world's best batsman, and a wicket keeper to boot. Excellent pick. 7. Michael Clarke (Nino) Right up with the best batsmen in the world. Probably not quite as ruthless is churning out the runs in easier situations as others despite being able to play world class knocks though, and in a competition against what will be some pretty mediocre bowling attacks it probably becomes a bit more important. Certainly amongst the best three batsmen left when the pick was made so hard to argue too much with it, but I think I would've been looking at allrounders and bowlers by this point with three batsmen already taken. 8. Stuart Broad (Chewie) I definitely feel there were a couple of better bowlers available at this stage, but when you add Broad's batting in it's definitely a justifiable pick. I saw him more as a late Round 1 proposition but given his idea was to pick up Southee, I reckon Chewie just wanted to build his team around an opening bowler who could bat. 9. Jacques Kallis (Incey) Definitely the lowest Kallis has ever gone in a current cricket draft like this. And even though he had a poor year with the bat and hasn't been quite the same with the ball for a few years now, I think he probably went a little late. Excellent selection. 10. Cheteshwar Pujara (Heath) Probably would've taken a bowler here myself and I'm a little surprised Heath didn't as he's a big fan of good bowling. Backing himself to select a good bowling lineup regardless, maybe? Either way, Pujara was one of the best two batsmen left for mine along with Chanderpaul, and the added benefit of Che is that he can bat in the top 3, giving himself more influence over the innings. 11. Shane Watson (Benny) The pick I find hardest to decide on. Definitely the worst Test cricketer selected thus far and there will be some better Test cricketers to come in Round 2 as well, but at a lower level of cricket there is a lot to say about picking him now. The difference between him and the top bats will be lessened against worse attacks - he should still be expected to do very well with the bat at this level of cricket - and his bowling goes from being a useful fifth option to someone who will probably be better than Benny's third and fourth specialist bowlers. I can see why this has got stick, and it was a weird one at #11, but I can see where it came from. 12. Alastair Cook (Hunter) Picked to get a comparative advantage over the openers in other sides despite not really quite being the best batsman left. Can see the logic. Unfortunately I don't even think he's the best opener in world cricket at the moment so I'm not a huge fan of this pick. 13. Shivnarine Chanderpaul (Baxter) Definitely the best batsman left, but given he insists on batting 5, his impact might be lessened in a competition like this, much as it is for the West Indies at times. Having your best batsman at 5 isn't ideal, so I probably would've been going for a bowler here. Decent pick all the same. 14. Ryan Harris (Captain) Third best fast bowler in the world, could bat 8 at this level. Seems like a dream for pick #14 but his injury record could be slightly worrying. Personally would've been looking at him a fair bit earlier though, so an excellent pick. 15. Saeed Ajmal (Farhat) World's best spinner. Like Harris I would've been going after him a touch earlier than this point, so a great pick. 16. Mitchell Johnson (Eds) Copped some stick for this, and it is a bit of a dice roll, but in terms of wanting your Round 1 pick to be a real match-winner for you and make a big difference to your side, Mitchell Johnson absolutely had to be selected somewhere. Maybe a *touch* early, but down at pick 16 if you wanted a fast bowling allrounder to be the lynchpin of your side, then you weren't going to get much better. 17. James Pattinson (Morgie) Similar to the Johnson pick in that it's a bit of a gamble but, providing he stays fit, will be an immense cricketer at this level. Maybe one or two picks early, but splitting hairs, good selection. 18. Younis Khan (Rusty) I'm not really sure why this pick copped some criticism. He's the best Test #4 going around and he's gone late Round 1. I might've been thinking "spin bowling allrounder" by this point personally but Younis is a world class batsman. 19. Ian Bell (Verigoat) Argued against some of the weird criticism levelled at this one (his age? wtf?) but I do think it's a touch early. More of a very early Round 2 pick, but we're not far off that I guess, and Goat a) being English and presumably liking Bell and b) making that weepIANBELL image more than make up for it being 5 or 6 picks being its time. 20. Graeme Smith (Julian) Great pick. Comfortably the best opener in the world right now for mine. 21. Ross Taylor (Phlegm) Early, for mine. A Round 2-er. A real favourite of Phlegm's though which should increase his enjoyment of the competition; a bit like Athlai's Southee pick in a way. 22. Mahendra Dhoni (Boobidy) Worst pick so far. As I said about Skippos's pick, wicket keeping isn't really that valuable as such early doors, and this goes double if you're an average gloveman. On top of that, I don't even think Dhoni was the best keeper/batsman available. A late Round 2 or even Round 3 pick IMHO. 23. Virat Kohli (Downes) Like Bell and Taylor I see Kohli as more of an early Round 2 guy because he's still got a lot to prove, but a big series against New Zealand coming up against a good attack could change that. It's a bit of a risk as a poor series could have an equal impact in the opposite direction, but he's a classy young batsman, and Pick 23 is hardly very far away from being early Round 2 anyway. 24. Peter Siddle (Callum) A pick applauded in the main thread, I think there are probably one or two better bowlers still out there. A real "contributor" rather than being the sort of star people have tried to pick up in Round 1, but with Callum having two picks so close together, having a bloke like Siddle first up is a decent enough call. 25. Morne Morkel (Jabba) Very similar to Siddle in that I think there are still a couple of bowlers better than him left, especially on account of him not exactly being a new ball bowling attack leader as such, but one of the only real proven quality Test bowlers left. A good pick. 26. Kevin Pietersen (Ritchie) Like Clarke in that he can play innings that few other can, but also like Clarke in that he hasn't quite pinned down that ruthlessness in easier situations. Will be facing some bowling attacks that he really cbf against in this competition which is probably why he's lasted as long as he has; not many if any batsmen better than him left however so a good pick.
Best: Philander Worst: Dhoni Disagree with your analysis of Clarke. Kallis would've been a better pick (IMO), but what bowler would you really have gone for at that point? Far too early for Harris and even Ajmal would be a stretch. Haha. Thanks.
Nah, Smith's definitely better. Not sure how I feel about the Chanderpaul pick in hindsight. Obviously I knew I was going to have to wait 26 picks between my two selections but the 11 that have gone so far feels like a longer wait than I thought it might. I guess seeing the two others I was tossing up over going in the next 2 picks has that effect though, it changes quickly.
My problem with Chanders is that he has the technique of a #5 and the temperament of an opener, really. If he batted in his own little bubble world as he does but scored the runs he does in the top four I wouldn't mind as he shouldn't have to be "batting to the situation" much there anyway. Or alternatively, if he insisted on batting #5 but adjusted to who he was batting with and the needs of the team like Clarke does then that'd be fine too. I just don't think there's an ideal role for him in a cricket team really, so I'd avoid making him the best player in my side for that reason. Would've been really tempting once you got down to pick 13 given he's a straight up World XI cricketer, but Harris and Ajmal being available too would've swayed me from it.
I was considering between Harris or Broad but didn't want to worry about injury problems and Broad can contribute more with the bat
Yeah, I don't think he'd be as successful at #4 in Test cricket really, but given this is a lower level he should be fine there really.
Fair comment to say 'as successful', I still think he'd be successful and average 55+ mind you if he'd batted there in the last few years. As you say though, he's had no issues domestically at 4.
You being a South African does not all of a sudden mean that your opinion means something extra because there is a South African involved in the debate. We are talking about Test cricket, not Provincial 3 day stuff that no one cares about, it's not like you being from South Africa is likely to give you more knowledge about the player.
I think Prez was implying that being from SA should make him more inclined to unreasonably favour Smith, but even accounting for that he still thinks Cook is better. It's balls either way ofc
Just found it funny how bias was assumed. I'd like to think we're kinda above such levels of tribalism, which evidently we are based on the reactions. Particularly given Cribb isn't actually English.
I was saying this as reason why not to pick him for a real world xi, along with stuff like poor fielding and running, in conversation with Himann. But I felt it mattered so little in a comp like this that he was in my top 3 when I picked Sangakkara.
^That. Really don't get why anyone would rate Smith above Cook - On form I can see it but Smith is just so inconsistent.
25. Morne Morkel (Jabba) Very similar to Siddle in that I think there are still a couple of bowlers better than him left, especially on account of him not exactly being a new ball bowling attack leader as such, but one of the only real proven quality Test bowlers left. A good pick.
