Draft: The Panesar Draft

[Aislabie]

Unlucky Dip Player 38...

Maharajah of Vizianagram

Nominated by: @CerealKiller and @Yash.

Test stats: 33 runs @ 8.25 (best 19*) jn 3 matches
First-class stats: 1,228 runs @ 18.60 (best 77) in 47 matches

Vizzy has at last found his place in this draft. Yet another cricketing patron who elbowed his way into teams he wasn't good enough for, Vizzy did the job better than most. His first class average of 18 was thoroughly mediocre, but it was also inflated by a proclivity for gifting expensive watches to opposing bowlers and captains who would gift him easy runs. So not only are his stats awful, but they serve to exaggerate how good of a player he was. He was also responsible for shooting and killing over 300 Bengal tigers. Bastard.

And the player goes to... @Yash.

His team so far:
Francis Otieno
Maharajah of Vizianagram
Barney Gibson
Anurag Thakur

Oh this is not pretty.

 

[Bevab]

I saw one of his catches in BBL. Was really good.

Big 'Male Organ' Clive is an absolute meme of a player on most days for the Hurricanes but never failed to provide good entertainment.

 

[Yash.]

Unlucky Dip Player 38...

Maharajah of Vizianagram

Nominated by: @CerealKiller and @Yash.

Test stats: 33 runs @ 8.25 (best 19*) jn 3 matches
First-class stats: 1,228 runs @ 18.60 (best 77) in 47 matches

Vizzy has at last found his place in this draft. Yet another cricketing patron who elbowed his way into teams he wasn't good enough for, Vizzy did the job better than most. His first class average of 18 was thoroughly mediocre, but it was also inflated by a proclivity for gifting expensive watches to opposing bowlers and captains who would gift him easy runs. So not only are his stats awful, but they serve to exaggerate how good of a player he was. He was also responsible for shooting and killing over 300 Bengal tigers. Bastard.

And the player goes to... @Yash.

His team so far:
Francis Otieno
Maharajah of Vizianagram
Barney Gibson
Anurag Thakur

Oh this is not pretty.

Why @CerealKiller ? Y u do dis?

 

[Aislabie]

Unlucky Dip Player 39...

George Codrington

Nominated by: None (Reserve player)

First-class stats: 89 runs @ 22.25 (best 40) and 1 wicket @ 107.00 (best 1/20) in 2 matches

George Codrington was a pretty decent player by early-2000s Associate standards. A competent middle-order batsman who could send down accurate medium pace, his main handicap for most of his Canadian career was that he was in his late 30s and early 40s - and by that age the body is not what it once was. And I say that as a 23 year old man whose body is thoroughly knackered. Unlike Vizzy, Codrington always seems a likeable man.

And the player goes to... @Aislabie

My team so far:
Sabbir Rahman
George Codrington
Susantha Karunaratne
Alamgir Kabir
Seymour Clark

Hmmm... there will probably be people who come out of the Unlucky Dip worse than I have, although I must admit that I am lacking both batting and bowling.

 

[Bevab]

Unlucky Dip Player 38...

Maharajah of Vizianagram

Very nearly nominated him under his actual name before realising that he was the dreaded Vizzy. Will never forgive him for the way he ensured the sabotage of Lala Amarnath's career. An absolutely awful player.

 

[CerealKiller]

Why @CerealKiller ? Y u do dis?

i was just lucky to have finished my picks, or I could’ve ended up with both Vizzy and Raja Maharaj Singh

 

[Aislabie]

Unlucky Dip Player 40...

George Gladstone Marais

Nominated by: @Master Bates

Test stats: 1 wicket @ 189.00 (best 1/139) in 1 match
First-class stats: 10 wickets @ 44.10 (1 5WI, best 6/142) in 2 matches

Where did he come from, where did he go? Where did he come from... George Gladstone Marais. It's a shame his name doesn't fit into the lyrics of that song, because Gladstone must be one of history's more unexpected Test players. Called up to a Jamaican team not playing its full Inter-Colonial team, he took a bunch of wickets against the touring MCC team with his left-arm spin. Figuring "ah, what the hell", he was thrown into the West Indies team the following week, where he was... less successful. He never played for Jamaica again, but apparently continued to play for Railways Cricket Club until he hung up his boots.

And the player goes to... @blockerdave

His team so far:
Clive Rose
George Gladstone Marais

Two players in, both left-arm spinners. Nice balanced team this...

 

[Aislabie]

i was just lucky to have finished my picks, or I could’ve ended up with both Vizzy and Raja Maharaj Singh

For the record, that's not exactly how this system works.

The players like Vizzy where two of us had both nominated him were drawn first.

After that, one person was assigned to each of the remaining picks. If they had nominated the player in question, they were swapped (again at random) with another pick. Y'all had equal chances of getting Vizzy is what I'm saying.

 

[Aislabie]

Unlucky Dip Player 41...

Mason Crane

Nominated by: @Bevab

Test stats: 48 overs, three maidens, one for 193.
First-class stats: 82 wickets @ 50.56 (2 5WI, best 5/35) in 38 matches

You think the era of England making mind-boggling selection blunders are in the past? Mason Crane's 2018 Test debut begs to differ. He's still only 23 and has plenty of time to learn, develop and flourish into an international class leg-spinner like his chainsmoking and formerly bald hero, Shane Warne. So far though, there's little to suggest that that is very likely to happen.

And the player goes to... @DalePlaysCricket

His team so far:
Philip Hutchinson
Mason Crane
Rubel Hossain

 

[Aislabie]

Unlucky Dip Player 42...


Chris Martin

Nominated by: @Nilay_60

Test stats: 233 wickets @ 33.81 (10 5WI, best 6/26) in 71 matches
First-class stats: 599 wickets @ 31.83 (23 5WI, best 6/26) in 192 matches

Chris Martin is a really solid player to pick up from a lottery like this. Of course he will be remembered longest for his inability to bat competently, but he was an entirely competent Test bowler, who excelled most at the thankless, boring jobs that others would shirk from: bowling long overs, up the hill, into the wind, with the old ball, at a set batsman. And very rarely did he get to have his day in the sun; when he did, it was with bat in hand, by slapping Harbhajan Singh for a couple of boundaries.

And the player goes to... @El Loco

His team so far:
Brijal Patel
Pankaj Singh
Alfred Luseno
Chris Martin

Well would you look at that - a decent new ball pairing in Pankaj and Martin. Very nice.

 

[Aislabie]

Unlucky Dip Player 43...


Mark Lawrence

Nominated by: @Na Maloom Afraad and @Yash.

First-class stats: 42 wickets @ 70.92 (best 3/79) in 30 matches

Mark Lawrence was a much appreciated left-arm spinner who made up for what he lacked in ability with a wonderful lack of ability. Self-described as Oxford University's "least bad" left-arm spinner in his time as a student, he knew his own limitations and worked well within them. This meant that he didn't expect to take a wicket every ball, and could perform a holding role as well as anyone else. When he died at the age of only 48, he was sorely missed and warmly remembered by his club teammates.

And the player goes to... @Na Maloom Afraad

His team so far:
Kyle Mills
Rony Stanyforth
Sridharan Jeganathan
Mark Lawrence

 

[Aislabie]

Unlucky Dip Player 44..

Wilbur Slabber

Nominated by: @Aislabie

First-class stats: 39 runs @ 3.90 (best 20*) and 1 wicket @ 214.00 (best 1/57) in 7 matches

Wilbur Slabber graduated the Namibian Under-19s in the late '90s, but didn't make it into the senior side until nearly a decade later. When he did, his sheer lack of impact was difficult to adequately quantify. Playing in the second tier of South African domestic cricket, he scored his runs at less than one per over. And with ball in hand, he took a wicket only once every 58 overs. The only real difference between him and a substitute fielder was that he occasionally gave everyone else a bit of a rest.

And the player goes to... @ahmedleo414

His team so far:
Wally Edwards
Brian Vitori
Wilbur Slabber
Ajit de Silva

 

[Aislabie]

Unlucky Dip Player 45...


Shanthakumaran Sreesanth

Nominated by: @deleted member

Test stats: 87 wickets @ 37.59 (3 5WI, best 5/40) in 27 matches
First-class stats: 211 wickets @ 35.80 (6 5WI, best 5/40) in 73 matches

Sreesanth had the best seam presentation of any bowler I've ever seen, but the temperament of a particularly ill-tempered stoat. The angrier you got him the worse he bowled, so it wasn't long before opposition teams worked out how to deal with him. There was also a little bit of bother with a bookmaker and a resulting ban from cricket, but as you can see from the photo above he's spent his spare time getting absolutely jacked in the gym. I wonder if he's still managing to stay fit during lockdown.

And the player goes to... @blockerdave

His team so far:
Clive Rose
Shanthakumaran Sreesanth
George Gladstone Marais

 

[Samarth27.09]

Not exactly Virat Kohli, but surely things should get a bit better from here?

Hehe

 

[Master Bates]

@Nilay_60 and @deleted member you guys have picked some good players. And I have not got even one of them. Why?