Telegraph 'Hit and Hope' open for business!

[Nabby]

Difficult to select anyone from Essex with confidence - any one of their top 4 can score big but seem to do so rarely. Same with their bowlers.Get it right though and it could be a good differential. I see Amir is not available for Essex and according to Lancs website Maxwell will be unavailable for finals day should they get there - not sure I'd seen this anywhere previously and not sure whether it's 100% set in stone.

[robgraham]

Difficult to select anyone from Essex with confidence - any one of their top 4 can score big but seem to do so rarely. Same with their bowlers.Get it right though and it could be a good differential. I see Amir is not available for Essex and according to Lancs website Maxwell will be unavailable for finals day should they get there - not sure I'd seen this anywhere previously and not sure whether it's 100% set in stone.

Good spot on Maxwell, also confirmed in an article on thecricketer.com:

“Should the Lightning qualify for Finals Day on September 21, Glenn Maxwell will be unavailable as he has to return home to Australia to prepare for their domestic summer with Victoria, which starts on the same day. He will play in the quarter-final.
But fellow Aussie James Faulkner would be available to Lancashire and will miss any Tasmania games. Lancashire are also hopeful Jos Buttler would be available for Finals Day.”

Yes, also struggling with the idea of putting any Essex players in, then, most likely, having to take them straight out again. Delport is all or nothing, usually nothing. Bopara’s been in the best recent form but bats too low.

Ditto Gloucester, later in the week...although at least they have a stronger chance of qualifying.

(I don’t think I’ve had any Essex or Gloucester players the whole competition, except possibly the utterly-useless Zampa at the start!)

[Jester]

Anyone know if there is a reserve day available in the QFs?



Edit: Found it and yes there is.

[primitive man]

Looks like reserve day may be needed at Durham. I'm half an hour away and still in house waiting to go to game but I cant see it starting anytime soon. Gonna rely on Sky to tip me off if play will start and then hare thru to the ground, Cant see it being a full 20 overs a side game tonight,

How wrong can you be Lancs batting! Wheres me car Im on my way!

[Bluearmy16]

Gone a bit Lancashire heavy tonight. May regret it.

Weather looks ok at the moment on sky amazingly enough

[Ducks Deluxe]

Goodness me...when did Bop start bowling again?

This looks like an awful result ahead for me!

DD

[Ducks Deluxe]

Well done to Essex but a shocking night for my teams....I will need to be very careful for the rest of the week...

DD.

[robgraham]

Yeah, like I said, Bopara’s been in the best form! (Did I put him in my teams? Did I f...! )

Gamble coming up tomorrow, Notts vs Middx, but which way to go...?

[Jester]

I went heavy Zummerzett and Lancs - that turned out well!

[Waikikamukau]

Went lightly on both sides due to the weather....not sure what to do with all my transfers now

[primitive man]

For me the problem position is wk. Some teams don't have a playing wk (example Gloucs - Roderick only keeper and on 0 points) and all the rest cost between 5 to 7 points, my current keeper is Banton 2, so finding the right keeper at the right price is my problem. Think I might leave it to finals day still got transfers and the other 10 positions covered.

Freezing at Durham last night missed the first 5 overs and my captain Livingstone's short innings.

[Bluearmy16]

Yep went heavy lancs last night! They were quite poor batting apart from Davies/Vilas and persisted with their spinners even though they couldn’t grip it or turn it much. Livingstone penultimate over was a mistake and cost me points!! Should have gone Delport instead of Croft

Am actually going to the Notts/ Middlesex game tonight. Should be good. So many heavy hitters to pick here! Might have to do my transfers whilst finding my seat.

Keeper is a problem without Banton. Wheater might be an option for finals day. Simpson or Moores tonight but both come in too low.

[Jezza3]

Tempted to leave Banton in as other options not great scorers and keeping provides greater flexibility with other transfers.

[roverinexile]

Is de Villiers around for finals day if they qualify?

[Jester]

Is de Villiers around for finals day if they qualify?

Didn't qualify...
I lumped on Middx of course. Warning - I'm all over Worcester tomorrow, so I suggest you all back Sussex!

[Toffeeman]

Join the club, personally been led more by the current make up of my team prior to the games which unfortunately hasn't worked out.

Draw hasn't helped either really

[Toffeeman]

Looks like the majority up top went middlesex or certainly De villiers or malan as captain.

Top team only dropped a couple with 78

[Bluearmy16]

Was a good game last night. One of the main differences was the fielding. Notts caught every single one of their catches, some of them hard and low and Middlesex dropped three. Captained Hales which was good. Also went for Malan rather than Morgan. Stayed clear of Abd. Struggling for obvious picks for tonight. Already got Salt not many clear others for Sussex? Not sure about Worcs either

[Waikikamukau]

Wow....bit of a knock from Moen Ali ... Shocking he's not in the England team

[Ducks Deluxe]

Pretty chuffed that I had Captain Moe in all three teams...after an otherwise shocking week...

DD....

[Jester]

I actually called the right way tonight - go Derbyshire!

[Ducks Deluxe]

Covered my options but overall best result for me for finals day...although I would have wanted Gloustershire to win...

DD...

[Jester]

Derbyshire
Essex
Notts
Worcester

That is not the line-up I expected to be seeing at Finals Day - Worcs gone from outsiders last year to possible favourites this time around. Notts strong of course and Essex seem to always find a way.
Derbyshire to win then!

[kingcurtley]

Should be a good one tomorrow with the weather looking warm.

Notts 15: Jake Ball, Matt Carter, Dan Christian (c), Joe Clarke, Paul Coughlin, Ben Duckett, Luke Fletcher, Harry Gurney, Alex Hales, Jake Libby, Tom Moores, Steven Mullaney, Chris Nash, Samit Patel, Luke Wood.

Essex 13 - Simon Harmer, Aaron Beard, Ravi Bopara, Sam Cook, Cameron Delport, Dan Lawrence, Aron Nijjar, Jamie Porter, Shane Snater, Ryan ten Doeschate, Paul Walter, Tom Westley, Adam Wheater (wk)

Derbyshire 14 - Billy Godleman, Luis Reece, Wayne Madsen, Leus du Plooy, Alex Hughes, Matt Critchley, Darren Stevens, Anuj Dal, Daryn Smit, Fynn Hudson-Prentice, Logan van Beek, Hamidullah Qadri, Ravi Rampaul, Boyd Rankin

Nothing from Worcestershire yet, but this suggests Parnell and D'Oliveira should be okay for the squad - https://www.worcesternews.co.uk/sport/1 ... stershire/

[Jester]

Installed at my hotel - weather set fair.
Looking forward to a great day!

[primitive man]

Enjoy it Jester! I tried to buy a ticket in June and they were all sold out - so still haven't been! Will watch all on tv again!
I see that Zampa is out for Essex but Parnell is back for Worcs.

[robgraham]

Worcs squad confirmed; includes Parnell:

Rutherford
Wessels
Moeen Ali
Parnell
Cox (w)
D’Oliveira
Whiteley
Barnard
Mitchell
Morris
Brown
Pennington
Leach
Fell
Haynes

Some important last transfer decisions to make this morning. Will post details of my best team, currently in 3rd place, after the deadline.

Is that Jezza3 (Walkley) I see at the top of the leaderboard? And am I right in thinking you won the comp a couple of years ago? Good job.

[Jezza3]

Yes that’s me Rob. Think anyone in top 8 could still win so pretty much down to luck now. I’ll post my team also once the deadline passes so at least we know how we are doing against each other.

[Fantasist]

Good luck all especially those challenging to win. I only have one team and around 100th so not in contention.

I have 8 players only, with three to transfer in today. Focus will be to bring in three of Parnell, Rutherford, Godleman, Madsen, Rampaul, Westley or Lawrence probably. Batsmen probably edge bowlers? Then it's whether to go team heavy or even spread...

I already have Hales, Wessels, Moeen Ali, Reece and Gurney. Any advice on the three I need?

[getfunky]

I'm hovering around 100 aswell with 10 playing & one transfer (Banton's gonna have to stay put). I'm not really sure what to do with it so I may aswell have a punt & take out Ali & put in Christian as his ownership is pretty low & we know what he can do on his day. Nothing to lose really.