by Arthur Crabtree » Sun Jul 28, 2019 12:59 am
We get older. The years pass. The anniversaries of our lives become indistinct and blur into other events leaving us only with impressions where once our minds quivered under the intense razor cut of the moment. And the Ashes pass five times a decade. Probably all that most of my contemporaries will remember of the 2017-18 Ashes was that the Aussies won (and hold the urn), Doctor Cricket won the Fantasy League and David Warner behaved like an arse. At least we remember that much.
So Doctor Cricket holds that precious symbol of sporting rivalry between the grand old countries. But plenty of times the antique repository has proved easier to come by than to keep. Who will win this time? It's time to pick those five players, and two substitutes, to represent you in the great arena of conflict. These are the ancient, arcane laws that all must agree to abide by. You know them well.
Feel free to pick 5 players from the two countries (a mix of the two, or 5 from one country - it's up to you), and two reserve players just incase one of the chosen 5 does not play. The first reserve player picked will come into contention first.
Scoring
Batting
1 point per run.
+10 for a score of 50.
+10 for every further increment of 50 scored.
If a batsman is not out after 50 = +10, after 100 = +15, after 200 = +25 etc....
Fielding
10 points per catch or stumping
20 points per run out, or 10 points each, if two players share the responsibility
10 bonus points for 3 contributions with catches,stumpings or run outs
Bowling
20 points per wicket
2 points per maiden over
+10 for 5 wickets in the match
+20 for 5 wickets in an innings
+30 for 10 wickets in the match
+50 for 10 wickets in an innings
+30 for a hat trick
The Test starts in Birmingham at 11am BST on Thursday the first of August, so all entries to be in by that time. Here are the names of the players picked for the first Test.
Joe Root (Yorkshire) captain, Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), Jimmy Anderson (Lancashire), Jofra Archer (Sussex), Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Rory Burns (Surrey), Jos Buttler (Lancashire), Sam Curran (Surrey), Joe Denly (Kent), Jason Roy (Surrey), Ben Stokes (Durham) vice-captain, Olly Stone (Warwickshire), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire).
Tim Paine (c), Cameron Bancroft, Pat Cummins, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Peter Siddle, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade, David Warner.
Good luck to all. Looking forward to hearing from you.
I always say that everybody's right.