t20 Dream Team Update

First of all, if you’re reading this it probably means you’re a fan of t20 Dream Team on Facebook. In which case, thank you.

This is basically an update on a few things. Firstly, the Team of the Week is proving to be great fun putting together. There aren’t any rules but merely some guidelines I like to follow, most notably a maximum of 2 players per team. This is only really possible in the Natwest Blast or when there’s more than 1 league up for selection. This lead to the creation of 12^th man. There won’t always be a 12^th man nor does there have to be. It’s for the great performance that can’t be squeezed into Team of the Week.

Unlike EA Sports, I only choose 11 players per week. It’s worth noting EA have hundreds of games to choose from. I have about 10. A player who scores 52 off 33 will be more likely to get in TotW than a player who scores 55 off 29 in a defeat. However this is not set in stone. See Michael Klinger for example (2 hundreds in a week both in a losing cause).

Secondly, there will be a small tweak for TotW at the end of July. Team of the Week 15 will take place on 23^rd July. This will be followed by a Team of the Final Round of Group Games from the Blast (TotFR). Team of the Week will resume the following Thursday but with the Royal London One Day Cup. The t20 Blast Quarter Finals will have a TotQF. There will also be Team of Finals Day. Team of Finals Day will include 3 hero cards, one for each game, as well as any record breakers from the day (if any).

Thirdly, record breakers. If Klinger or anyone else for that matter beats Jason Roy’s record of 677 runs in the tournament for example they will have a record breaker card. This will be as follows:

-          If it is broken with a none TotW contribution the RB card will be standalone

-          If it is broken with a TotW contribution the RB card will be in TotW

-          If the record is broken on Finals Day the RB card will appear in ToFD if the contribution is worthy. If not it will be in Team of the Season if the player warrants a place there.

Lastly, Paul Collingwood is closing in on 50 Durham wickets to go with 500 runs in t20 cricket. When he passes that milestone he will be rewarded with a hero card.

t20 Ultimate Team

Five years ago, EA Sports launched FIFA Ultimate Team. A game mode that allows players to build their own team of players from across the world. It works very well for football, so why not cricket? Or more specifically, t20 cricket. Nearly a year ago I did a team of the week for the Natwest Blast. Last season I, somewhat retrospectively, rated all the players in the Blast and created Cricket Ultimate Team. Over the off-season, I've tinkered with it and expanded to the IPL, CPL (Caribbean Premier League) and later in the year the BBL.

The first 2 IPL Team of the Weeks are here. Take a look.

TOTW1

TOTW2

Franchise t20 in England. The Question.

The debate about whether England should or shouldn't adopt a franchise t20 system has raised its head again in the wake of the recently concluded Australian Big Bash competition.

Personally I’m open to the idea of franchises in England but have some major concerns about it.

In the Big Bash games drew in big crowds largely due to reasonably priced tickets and the competition being held in the Christmas holidays.

In Australia, the grounds where games were played are much bigger than grounds we have here. How can you get 44,000 fans into a ground for a London Derby when the capacity of Lord’s is 28000?

The way Australia is as a country geographically means 8 teams from 6 cities works. Have 8 teams in the UK and that’s a lot of people who will lose out. One of the best bits of our competition is that you can get down to a local ground after work just in time for the start. Let’s put that into context. You finish work at 5pm in Peterborough. The match at Northampton starts at 6:30. Simple (even with being stuck behind a lorry down most of the A605).

Now let’s try that again for a franchise competition. You finish work at 5pm in Peterborough. The match at Nottingham (the nearest franchise) starts at 6:30. More difficult.

If the Warwickshire/Worcestershire franchise played the Notts/Northants/Leicestershire franchise, is there a guarantee that more fans would turn up for it than they would for a Notts vs Worcestershire game?