We Have a Worm

Thanks for the worm duty Anna.

This will be a quick note as I have to get ready for tomorrows game day.

After getting the kids off to school this morning I sat down to catch the last half of the game today.....it was already over. Pakistan was crushed. They batted first and went all out after only 21.4 overs, posting only 105 for the West Indies to chase. 3 wickets to Holder and 4 to Thomas - anyone have that guy? Gayle (50) and Pooran (34) easily reached their goal in 13.4 overs winning the match for the West Indies by 7 wickets. All 3 wickets went to Amir.

Tomorrow there are two matches, New Zealand v. Sri Lanka - NZ is favored, and Afghanistan v. Australia - AUS is favored. Lesson of the day - pick the early order batsmen, I think it will be true tomorrow as well.

I knew Catherine would want to see this.

Let this be a lesson to you

So our first day of matches began today and, having recorded the game, I dutifully tried to avoid the results until Michael came home and we could watch. Then my mother called......lets just say between her and a few others I knew the end results. Any who, I think she's sorted and hopefully the others are as well. What happened you ask? Let me tell you - England batted first and it was a bad start when one of the openers, Bairstow, went out for a duck. But my man, Roy hung in along with Stokes, Root and Morgan, posting 311 for 8. South Africa's Ngidi got himself a hat trick and Tahir and Rabada each picked up a couple of wickets. When South Africa took the field, and by that I mean England was in the field and SA were batting, they started in fine form with de Kock hitting a respectable 68, but no one else really did much. So they lost at 207 all out after 39.5 overs. 2 wickets each for Plunkett and Stokes with 3 for Archer. In addition to the batting and the wicket getting, Stokes made the play of the day with an amazing behind the head, one handed, diving catch.

Whatever's in that crock-pot of James, it sure smells good for now. Moira's Mutter may matter but she's gonna need to up her strike rate. But its early days yet, early days. Michael? What about him you say? Well, he fell victim to the old "I changed my team but it didn't go through" scenario. So, let this be a lesson to you, when you modify make sure you CONFIRM (you have to click two buttons), and then double check by going back in to look at your team. You can thank me later with chocolate or cold hard cash

Tomorrow its Pakistan and the West Indies. Happy Gaming!

On Your Marks...Get Set...Go!

It suddenly dawned on me this morning that this whole affair starts tomorrow! Are you ready? I'm not, I immediately went into a panic, I have all Afghani Es and Fs on my team, my printer won't print the fixtures, I can't figure out how to get a nice clean list of all the players with their rankings, Do I make the WK my captain? How many trades do I make each day? Do I tell everyone that Steyn is out with an injury? What time will they close the trades? I wanna watch the matches, can I subscribe to Willow TV for one month or do I have to commit to a longer time frame? ...... SO MANY questions and things to do. But I sat down, got out a nice clean sheet of paper and a trusty pencil and I got to work. I think I have myself sorted for now at least.

So it all begins tomorrow with England taking on South Africa. Seems like expectations for England are high, those for SA are low. But England has a habit of going sideways, so who knows. Then on Friday its Pakistan v. West Indies. Remember, there is no group stage, just one big round robin set of 45 matches. Then top 4 go on to the semis. You have 300 modifications, so that works out to 6.25 modifications per match, but a captaincy change costs extra, and some days you don't have time to make modifications between matches, so I'm thinking maybe I could make like 8 changes a day......or maybe I do a complete change every other day......should I pick A players? they use up a lot of budget, how do I best use the "mixed role" players? Maybe I should take both wicket-keepers...... now I'm in a panic again.

We're all winners until it starts...

Take my trophy...Please.

2Cheap 2Attend

Welcome Back!

I can't believe its been four longs years since Anna wrested the Sweaty Robinson World Cup Trophy of Winningness from James, but it has. Now it's time to see who can craft the perfect squad of 11 and dethrone Anna. The ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 will begin with England taking on South Africa on May 30th. This tournament has 10 teams, no groups, playing 9 ODI games each. Top 4 move on to the semis, everyone else goes home. The Final match will be Sunday July 14th. So who's in?? Who's ready to brush off their pivot table? print the player stats? pen a clever name? sift through the choices and build a team? I've created a league over at Cricket Web and you should have received an email from them with an invite, but if not you can use the User Key 1556996250 to join our league, 2Cheap 2Attend. You'll have to create your team first and then join the league. Make sure you are choosing the World Cup 2019 as your competition. Your team will consist of 3 Batsmen, 1 Wicket Keeper, 3 Bowlers and 4 Mixed Role. Teams in the tournament in ranked order: 1. England, 2. India, 3. South Africa, 4. New Zealand, 5. Australia, 6 Pakistan, 7. Bangladesh, 8. West Indies, 9. Sri Lanka, and 10. Afghanistan.

Know anyone else that wants to join the fun? Invite them in, the waters nice, We should be able to field a group at least as large as the 2020 Democratic candidates.

Have fun!

P.S. Anna - will we have a worm??