AUSTRALIA V SOUTH AFRICA $10,000+ CHEAT SHEET
Well, well, well. Summer is tickling the nostrils and the Spring dust is asphyxiating the lungs. The birds are swooping, backyard pools are being cleaned and tennis balls are being taped with a ludicrous amount of duct tape on one side. Yep, summer is just around the corner. That means two things, the sun is shining and cricket is here.
What is not shining as brightly as the scorching Australian sun is the Australian cricket team. Fresh from a less-than-perfect tour of the UAE which saw the Aussies win one out of six games, they now come up against the third ODI ranked South Africans.
Now, let us look past the last time we played South Africa and just pretend it never happened. We’ll completely ignore the fact David Warner, Steve Smith and Cam Bancroft “masterminded” a “genius” plan to use sandpaper on a cricket ball. We’ll forget about the ensuing press conference in which they scoffed at accusations of serious malpractice saying it was just a piece of tape with sand on it. And we definitely won’t talk about the resulting lengthy bans each player received as punishment.
Instead, we will focus on the positive. Like umm. Like how Marnus Labuschagne made a… debut in the baggy green. How a review into Cricket Australia found a culture of “arrogance and bullying”. Or how young Australian stars like Alex Carey, Travis Head, D’Arcy Short and Marcus Stoinis now have an opportunity to lift Australia from the wilderness that comes with two generational batsman missing from your side.
And we can look ahead to the six ODIs, six Test matches and four T20Is we have to look forward to over the summer. We will be privy to some of the world’s most exciting cricketers as South Africa, India and Sri Lanka all grace our shores. And we will be witness to an Australian cricket resurgence at the hands of Justin Langer and the next generation of Aussie guns.
Draftstars loves the cricket. A $10,000+ prize pool and just under $1K for first place awaits in the first ODI contest. It’s going to be another huge summer of cricket and it starts with the first ODI between Australia and South Africa. Make sure you submit an entry and give yourself a chance at the cash!
Here is a team you may consider for the ODI Australia v South Africa $10,000+ competition
Batsman
Quinton de Kock ($20,900)
Damn, de Kock is good. De Kock is great. Yeah, Quinton de Kock can seriously play cricket. He is the top rated ODI batsman playing in this game. With an ODI average over 45, de Kock is a firm scorer and is stiff not to average over 50. He seems to thrive against Australia and his top score of 178 came against the green and gold.
Aiden Markram ($15,100)
Markram has been a consistent feature at the top of the South African order for some time now. And he continues to score freely against the Aussies. His ODI average is only 24 but at just 24 years old and having played 13 ODIs, it promises to increase. He top scored in the infamous test series between Australia and South Africa, averaging 60. He was also the highest scorer in the South Africans tour match against the PMs XI with 47.
Andile Phehlukwayo ($14,200)
Phehlukwayo, try saying that three times fast. Even just three times. Maybe just once. Anyway, Phehlukwayo averages almost 30 with the bat and just over 30 with the ball. He’s a dual threat scorer and is coming off series’ against Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe in which he took nine and five wickets respectively. His batting top score of 42 came against Australia in 2016 and he was also the top wicket taker in that series with eight victims.
Glenn Maxwell ($12,200)
Who, other than the Australian selectors, doesn’t have a soft spot (and spot in their best XI) for Maxy? He is in domestic form and was one of Australia’s better performers in the last ODI series he played in against England. He averages a nice 32 with the bat, a less inspiring 39 with the ball, though he does have a knack for taking crucial wickets, and has a stronghold on fans’ hearts around Australia. If Australia come anywhere close to winning, this man will have a big say in it.
Bowler
Kagiso Rabada ($13,500)
Rabada is the top ranked South African ODI bowler and has a strong history against Australia. He made his debut in Australia in a T20 and then went on to take 15 wickets at 22.40 in three tests in Australia in 2016. He has taken 86 ODI wickets at 26.79 and is in strong form. In the PMs XI game on Wednesday he took two wickets and had two disallowed due to no ball calls.
Josh Hazlewood ($10,000)
Hazlewood is actually the top ranked ODI bowler in this match. He is a real man’s man of a bowler and continually produces accurate and smart fast bowling. He has taken 69 wickets at an average of 24.27 in one dayers and will need to produce if Australia is any chance of taking an underdog victory. One of the teams leaders, Hazlewood is consistent and reliable and a valuable pick in this contest.
Imran Tahir ($9,700)
The ODI rankings have Tahir sitting one spot behind Rabada, who is one spot behind Hazlewood. Now, spin bowling in Australia can certainly be hit or miss, especially since pitches were curated specifically for the fraternity of exceptional Australia fast bowlers. But Tahir has a reasonable record against Australia, taking 6 wickets in the last ODI series between these sides, and a fantastic record over his career, taking 149 wickets at 23.75.
Written by Brin Duggan Follow @BrinDuggan
The Line Up
BAT: Quinton de Kock ($20,900)
BAT: Aiden Markram ($15,100)
BAT: Andile Phehlukwayo ($14,200)
BAT: Glenn Maxwell ($12,200)
BOWL: Kagiso Rabade($13,500)
BOWL: Josh Hazlewood($10,000)
BOWL: Imran Tahir ($9,700)
Salary Remaining: $4,400
CRICKET SCORING SYSTEM
BATTING
Run Scored = 1 point
Six Hit = 4 points
Duck = -10 points
50 Run Bonus = 10 points
100 Run Bonus = 30 points
Strike Rate Bonus >=100% to <=120%1 Run = 0.25 points
Strike Rate Bonus >120%1 Run = 0.50 points
BOWLING
Wicket = 20 points
Maiden Over = 4 points
Wide / No Ball = -1 point
3 Wicket Bonus = 10 points
5 Wicket Bonus = 30 points
Economy Rate Bonus <=3.0 Each Ball = 1 point
Economy Rate Bonus >3.0 to <=4.0 Each Ball = 0.5 points
FIELDING
Catch = 10 points
Runout = 10 points
Stumped by Keeper = 10 points
Note: Points will only be awarded to a player for the highest run and wicket bonus category achieved.