A bee's dick is often used to say something was close, maybe you meant that? In regards to lighting up trees, lighting it up like a Christmas tree is used to describe blowing the shit out of something, so maybe you got that from there?
Round 4 1. Number 11 - Simon Harmer (432960) Hard to call, but he has been dominating FC cricket in competitions which are typically tough for spinners which cancels out his lack of recent Test record. Can also bat. Was probably the best spinner left so a good pick. 2. Cabinet96 - Moeen Ali (8917) Has been patchy recently which worries me somewhat. He's on the fringe of being a great option and being a bit of a no-rounder as things stand. One pick which has huge variance in how he might perform, still it's hard to argue that this isn't great value on paper though. 3. MrPrez - Rassie van der Dussen (337790) Very fine pick, and one that could get even better if he does well in the upcoming Basil D'Oliveria Trophy (I'm assuming he'll get picked in Tests). Has been in crazy form lately, especially in ODI's. 4. jimmy_c8 - Sam Curran (6629973) See Moeen, but has even less of a track record at FC cricket behind him. Picking Chandimal however helps balance this selection well, means that you don't need him to be much more than a quality #7/5th bowler option, and that is when his pure talent can shine. 5. Hunter - Devon Conway (379140) First non-Test player picked (IIRC Prez was skipped). There were a couple of safer options still standing admittedly but it's hard to argue against his recent FC form and it won't be long before he actually does play Tests. A pretty fair pick at that point. 6. Dhokchau - Shannon Gabriel (446101) Great pick. Easily the best bowler left over at that point. 7. Boobidy - Usman Khawaja (215155) Good pick. Certainly one of the best batsmen left over and can bat a lot of places around the order. 8. Captain - Hashim Amla (43906) Hard one to judge as his performances before retiring were ordinary TSTL. Still he only really fell off a cliff at Test level in the last six months of his career and it's hard to look past his overall Test record. Good pick for where it is in the draft. 9. Skippos - Asad Shafiq (316397) Hmmm..his recent form has been somewhat patchy which worries me somewhat about this pick. Still, not many proven Test quality bats left so hard to complain too much. 10. Baxter - Prithvi Shaw (1070168) Not a massive sample size behind him yet admittedly, but has been freakish in the matches he's played. Could turn out to be a steal depending on how many CPL seasons we end up playing. 11. Howe and Dan - Tamim Iqbal (56194) See Shafiq. Though his most recent Test series was actually rather good, shame he hasn't played since. 12. Phlegm - Jackson Bird (215152) Solid pick, and an excellent fit for your attack overall. He's probably not as good as he once was bit mid Round 4 is good value. 13. spark!ptz - Kuldeep Yadav (559235) The value of this pick I suspect depends on how his h4x ODI record fares. He has done well at Tests though against a pretty middling Ranji record though and I don't think there was a better wrist-spinner left over so it's definitely a very justifiable pick. 14. StephenZA - Anrich Nortje (481979) Hmmm....his longetivity is questionable and his Test/A-team performances were not good. However, South African domestics have been pretty batting friendly recently which means his bowling average isn't as bad as it looks, and he has improved recently. Still, not a massive fan of this pick at this range. 15. Gazza - Lokesh Rahul (422108) My main concern re: Rahul is that he's been really patchy lately; though admittedly a lot of that is through Tests. Probably a couple of better options left over, but far from a terrible pick. 16. Alex - Karun Nair (398439) Not a massive fan of this pick I'm afraid. His FC form is hardly exceptional for the competition he plays in and his Test record has little depth. Would probably have waited. 17. Magrat Garlick - Jhye Richardson (774223) Only problem is him missing a lot of FC cricket through injuries this season, which is a slight concern given he doesn't have that many runs on the board thus far in his career. Still a very good pick though. 18. HeathDavisSpeed - Abid Ali (39950) Bit of a risk given his FC record isn't incredible and there's a significant chance this could just be a purple patch. With that said he has had a brilliant start to his Test career and the batting depth left over is fairly poor, so it's definitely a fair enough pick. 19. Julian - Jonny Bairstow (297433) Pretty good pick, and one that makes the CdG pick a fair bit more viable as it allows for an excellent 6/7. Would probably have been a better pick a while back given his recent Test performances haven't been great but it's definitely fair enough for late R4. 20. Benny - Beuran Hendricks (379927) Still has a great FC record on paper, but so much of it came from several years ago; reality is he's been fairly meh since his injury 4-5 years ago. It's far from a terrible pick but I'm not that huge on it and feel there's a few better options left over. 21. Athlai - Murali Vijay (237095) His last twelve months or so have been pretty alarming. Has lost a lot of form. Should still be OK for CPL4 admittedly but I think there were a couple of better options left over. 22. morgieb - Shaheen Shah Afridi (1072470) There's risk attached here given he hasn't played a lot of FC cricket thus far, but if he stays fit this could be a dream pick this late. And he's dominated ODI's too which helps his relative lack of track record. Given the paucity of genuine strike options left over this is a good pick. 23. GoodAreasShane - Kurtis Patterson (505110) Better batsman than your R3 pick. Pretty handy selection given he's done well in a fairly bowler-friendly domestic competition recently and his h4x Test average. 24. Chewie - Fawad Alam (40250) Excellent pick. Best FC record of the bats left over and does it in a fairly bowler-friendly competition too. Best pick: Either Fawad Alam or Shannon Gabriel. I'll say Gabriel if forced to choose as R4 was way too late for a guy who's done excellently at Test level recently to go. Worst pick: Gonna say Karun Nair. Quite a few better middle-order bats left over.
Harmer has an incredible record in English domestic cricket, but then there's another example of a guy who was absolute shite in Test matches yet could tear up against English batsmen incapable of playing even an iota of decent spin bowling. Hard to know whether Harmer is international class. I'd suspect that he'd still average 35+ with the ball in Tests. Plus, long may he continue playing for Essex.
I was very uneasy taking Moeen. I wasn't sure whether to go with a batsman or spinner, then I realised that essentially none of the spinners left had had a better test record over the last three years than Mo and he would probably be a decent number five in a 24 team comp.
Round 5 1. Magrat Garlick - Mominul Haque (373696) Though his Test performances in recent times haven't been all that special, it's hard to look past him being one of the few bats of genuine Test quality left over. Would've gone him a fair bit earlier I think, so a very good pick at the start of R5. 2. MrPrez - Daryn Dupavillon (501907) Bad pick for mine. His proper FC record isn't anything special. He does have a fair bit of upside I guess but lots of better options leftover. 3. jimmy_c8 - Rory Burns (398778) Good pick. Definitely one of the best batsmen available, and probably the best opener. 4. spark!ptz - Mohammed Siraj (940973) The thing that makes this pick look good is his h4x A-team record; without it it would be a fairly average pick I think. However, definitely one of the best non-Test bowlers all-round. 5. Athlai - Lockie Ferguson (493773) Another good selection, especially once you consider there really aren't any great options left with genuine pace. Has a good ODI record too which enhances his already good FC record further. 6. Chewie - Haris Sohail (318788) Another very good pick. Like Mominul I would've gone him a fair bit earlier. 7. StephenZA - Shreyas Iyer (642519) Oddly Iyer hasn't done all that well (relatively speaking) at FC cricket in recent years given the quality of Indian domestics. Still he is someone with a lot of potential and he has cracked the OD team well, so it's definitely a fairly defensible pick. 8. Howe and Dan - Chris Morris (439952) Good pick. One of the best bowlers left over and can bat for good measure. 9. Phlegm - Kusal Mendis (629074) Very good pick. One of the few Test quality bats left over, and can keep for good measure too. 10. Baxter - Wiaan Mulder (698189) This is an interesting one. My main concern is that Pope is basically a specialist 5/6 at this point in his career, drafting Mulder this early given that could be creating an unnecessary hole. Still, on balance he deserved to be picked at this point in the draft. 11. Alex - Matthew Wade (230193) Has been in insane form the last two years; can keep too. Great pic. 12. Dhokchau - Shan Masood (233901) Very much a form pick; his FC and Test performances before 12 months ago had long been pretty ordinary. Still, I like his style so I don't think it's necessarily a hot streak, and he's someone you're looking at to improve in the future. Decent pick. 13. Gazza - Jeetan Patel (38141) Worth it for triggering Athlai () But on a more serious note, I think it's possibly a little bit early as there were a couple of better spinners left over. Still, far from a terrible pick. 14. Boobidy - Michael Neser (376169) My main concern here is given you already had Archer his batting (which drags the quality of pick up) isn't as relevant; in terms of pure bowling I think there were a few better quicks left over. Still, I wouldn't say this is a bad pick. 15. Cabinet96 - Shikhar Dhawan (28235) Definitely amongst the best openers left over. Good pick at this range. 16. Captain - Jack Leach (455524) Good pick. Probably the best spinner left over and one that I'd expect to see improve as times goes on. 17. Julian - Dilruwan Perera (49920) Ehhh.....my big problem with this is that his average is massively inflated by the conditions he bowls in; away from Sri Lanka his record is quite bad and Sri Lankan wickets are rather spinner friendly. He can bat and has international experience I guess but I feel like there were better options left over. 18. morgieb - Suranga Lakmal (49619) An interesting one, he does feel like the standard "average domestic standard Lankan quick", but it's hard to argue against what he's done at Test level recently. One of the few proven quality Test quicks left over, and overall a very fine pick at this range. 19. HeathDavisSpeed - Shai Hope (581379) Ordinary Test record, but does do a lot better domestically and has a brilliant ODI record. Can keep. Good pick at this range I think. 20. GoodAreasShane - Trent Copeland (281974) Hmmm.....he did have a brilliant 18/19 at Shield level, but otherwise his recent Shield form has been patchy. Think there were still a few better options left over. 21. Benny - Shaun Marsh (6683) Probably the premier Shield batsman right now, and has a decent Test record too. Good pick. 22. Number 11 - Niroshan Dickwella (429754) A lot of the value of this pick depends on how you value being a keeper, but at this point you probably should be thinking about keepers even if they are more 6/7's at this level rather than 4/5's. 23. Hunter - Dom Sibley (519082) Not a big fan of this pick I'm afraid. Still feels like a one-season wonder and didn't look convincing in that New Zealand series. This could change if he does well against South Africa admittedly, but better options were left over. 24. Skippos - Dhananjaya de Silva (465793) A pretty fair pick at this point, I think. One of the few bats left over with any kind of Test pedigree and can bowl a bit too. Best pick: Mominul, Haris and Mendis come to mind, but I'm actually going to say Wade. Worst pick: Gonna give this to Dupavilion. Just really isn't the time to be picking bowlers with FC averages over 30 without playing Tests. Dishonourable mention to Sibley.
