Clearly the shorter time gap between those reviews is inflating your opinion about the reviews. FFS cunt don't allow yourself to become inflated! Do you think you're a Provincial South African First Class cricketer? Want to know how to inflate a balloon? Here this guy shows you to inflate it too much.
Cribb, how would you personally rate the English, Australian and South African top-flight domestic competitions in terms of level of play? You're probably not going to answer because it gives too much away etc but worth a shot, I'm genuinely interested for the sake of it, not just for picks.
The all suit different things and have different strengths/weaknessnes, but I think the Sunfoil Series probably offers the greatest standard of play across the board, followed by the Sheffield Shield and then the County Championship. I think the great benefit of the County Championship is the volume of First Class cricket they play across the season and of course the exposure English players get to foreign talent domestically. The talent is a bit diluted at times when compared to the SS and the.. SS but I think you can get a greater idea of the quality of the players when they're playing more games in a season, and it theoretically helps them develop quicker too. Aside from the fact that I don't think the 3-day comp should have First Class status, which is basically just a record-keeping gripe more than anything, I'm a massive, massive fan of the South African domestic structure in general. Keep in mind I suppose that my opinion is not definitive and the strength of these competitions is worked out statistically and not just my opinion, but that's what I think about it anyway.
Code: ROUND 4 4 1 79 Farhat Michael Hussey 4 2 80 Howe Marchant de Lange 4 3 81 Callum Jesse Ryder 4 4 82 Baxter Kane Williamson 4 5 83 Boobidy Phil Hughes 4 6 84 Downes Ryan Sidebottom 4 7 85 Ritchie Shikhar Dhawan 4 8 86 Jabba Ricky Ponting 4 9 87 Incey Jean-Paul Duminy 4 10 88 Morgie Beuran Hendricks 4 11 89 Eds Kaushal Silva 4 12 90 Benny Gary Ballance 4 13 91 Captain Chadd Sayers 4 14 92 Hunter Albie Morkel 4 15 93 Heath Trent Copeland 4 16 94 Julian Luke Butterworth 4 17 95 Prez Murali Vijay 4 18 96 Phlegm Ryan McLaren 4 19 97 Nino Ajantha Mendis 4 20 98 Goat Nick Compton 4 21 99 Rusty Keith Barker 4 22 100 Athlai Quinton Friend 4 23 101 Chewie Fawad Alam 4 24 102 Skippos Chris Morris 4 25 103 Mariner Simon Kerrigan 4 26 104 Speirz Ryan ten Doeschate 1. Michael Hussey (Farhat) The first 'mid-term' retiree picked, so it is a natural risk. However (unlike most cricketers) he retired when he was still in very good form, and there are rumours that he'll play FC in the second half of the Shield season, so he's a good selection. 2. Marchant de Lange (Howe/Himmanv) Worst pick of the round, and probably the worst player picked 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. 3. Jesse Ryder (Callum) This pick pissed off a few of the Kiwi posters, which says a bit. Since losing his Test spot his performances in Kiwi domestic cricket has generally been excellent and there aren't too many better bats left IMO, so a strong selection. 4. Kane Williamson (Baxter) Starting to come into himself at Test level and is only getting better. He probably should've a round earlier, Baxter did very well to see Williamson slide to him. 5. Phil Hughes (Boobidy) Often criticised by many cricket watchers due to an unorthodox technique, he still generally scores a lot of runs in domestic cricket and there aren't really many better bats left. Good pick. 6. Ryan Sidebottom (Number 11) I will be honest, I was kinda skeptical about this pick when I first saw it, I was under the impression that he had struggled at county cricket in recent years. However his performances have generally been strong since retiring from Test cricket. The pick is probably still somewhat early, but it's hardly a shocker. 7. Shikhar Dhawan (99*) A pretty decent pick on paper, but his FC average isn't particularly outstanding by the standards of Indian cricket and his Test record doesn't have much depth towards it. I can understand this pick but I'm not particularly huge on it. 8. Ricky Ponting (Jabba/Starris) Like Hussey Ponting has been retired for a little while. And unlike Hussey Ponting's last series was god awful. However his FC form was still absolutely outstanding (on some extremely tough pitches, and where 30 was a good average), so you'd still expect him to perform well. 9. Jean-Paul Duminy (Incey/Alex) Like Hughes 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. 10. Beuran Hendricks (morgieb/hen da man) This pick incurred quite a bit of rage, which says a lot about the pick. Despite not playing a lot of "real" FC cricket he has been absolutely dominant while doing so, and he has real talent. Could well end up being one of the steals of the draft. 11. Kaushal Silva (Eds/Cabniet96) With a strong FC record on ordinary pitches and the ability to keep wickets and bat anywhere in the batting order, Silva is a very good pick at this rate. 12. Gary Ballance (Benny) Good pick. Probably not as good of a pick in practice than on paper as his FC average is boosted by cheap runs in Zimbabwean cricket, but he's a young promising batsman who'll only get better - his recent FC form is very good. 13. Chadd Sayers (Captain/KickATinAlong) Like Hendricks, Sayers is still fairly raw, but has performed very well when he has played. In contrast to Hendricks he might not have much of a chance to step up to Test cricket, but he's still a very, very good bowler. 14. Albie Morkel (Hunter) I think this might be the pick of the draft. Yes, he hasn't played a lot of FC cricket recently so he might be a bit of a risk, but I doubt there are many cricketers better suited to that #6/5th bowler role. Great pick. 15. Trent Copeland (HeathDavisSpeed/Fungus) Hasn't been quite the same bowler of the 2009-2010 vintage (well in Australia, he did have an excellent county season), but he's still one of the better bowlers left. And he has batted 7 in the past, so he can easily bat 8 here. Good pick. 16. Luke Butterworth (Julian) Similar to Copeland I guess in that they're both Australian bowling all-rounders who lack 'cutting edge' but have produced largely very good FC performances for a long period of time. I think he was a slightly better pick than Copeland, as his batting is quite a bit better and his recent form is slightly better. 17. Murali Vijay (MrPrez/Arheiner) Like Dhawan his FC average isn't great by Indian standards, but his Test record has a lot more depth than Dhawan's. Probably better batsmen left but not many of them are openers so a decent pick. 18. Ryan McLaren (Phlegm) Another very good pick. Has been a very good bowling all-rounder for years and is arguably the ideal #8 for CPL. 19. Ajantha Mendis (El Nino/Gazza) 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. 20. Nick Compton (Verigoat) Before a few years ago he wouldn't have been drafted at all. Now he's in the fourth round. His Test record was decent and he's plundered runs in County Cricket so I find the pick pretty good. 21. Keith Barker (Rusty) The first player picked who a large proportion of the forum wouldn't have heard about. His last couple of years however have been very good with both bat and ball. A good pick on paper but he may well have lasted to his next pick so it's possible he could've gone someone else and waited on Barker. 22. Quinton Friend (Athlai) Tough to say. His record is very strong but it is inflated slightly by second division cricket. Probably a few better, younger options than Friend but it's by no means a shocker. 23. Fawad Alam (Chewie/Iridium) 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. 24. Chris Morris (Skippos) If nothing else, his record is very interesting - a specialist bowler at first division cricket but an all-rounder at second division cricket. As far as his record goes, it's a good pick on paper but there's not much depth towards his record and he isn't that young. 25. Simon Kerrigan (mightymariner/Weeman27bob) Ignore his Test debut for the purposes of this. There aren't many spinners available with good records in strong domestic comps, and he's still fairly young. IMO it's a good pick-up. 26. Ryan ten Doeschate (Speirz) First associate picked. Although his record is inflated by the Intercontinental Cup his county record is still good. Probably still a couple of better all-rounders left though so I'm not that big on the pick.
