Cricketing Timewaster

[Levin]

I think I'm too obsessed with developing all rounders and that I'd be better off focussing on one side or the other.

But where's the fun in that?

[Levin]

And we're off on OTF 8. A slow start from the Strollers in the first five overs. I wonder how much Danefieldshire will regret dropping Prentice twice.

[Levin]

Well well well.

.00062 NRR is all that separates Ferrets from Dragons with one match left in the youth

[Antepli Ejderha]

Tight as a ...

We've got the second bottom side but it seems like a win won't be enough. I wonder if I'll lose any players to the senior side before next week, that cost me these past few weeks.

[Favourite Worst Nightmare]

I’d expect a Dragon to beat a Ferret in the animal kingdom. But then would it? What with Dragons now being extinct, perhaps a Ferret wins by default.

Either way, it’s an exciting denouement.

[pebblethefish]

Both kick off at 11 on Tuesday night as well, so you can watch them simultaneously. I'll do what I can to help you out AE, but my youth side are still two seasons away from being any good.

[Etienne]

Ah, well if you are doing what you can to help AE then maybe Danefieldshire can put out a first choice team.

[Viktor Boskovic]

Ah, well if you are doing what you can to help AE then maybe Danefieldshire can put out a first choice team.

Yes, it's a first choice team for me for this one. The last couple of games in this competition have been younger players as 5 of my youth team are due to join the seniors in the next 3 weeks, so I have been trying out some combinations with selection and instructions with an eye on next season. The potential title decider on 8th September with the Dragons will be the last hurrah for this team. They lost 1 match in the youth one day last season and missed out on promotion on run rate, so this will either a glorious triumph or a second successive last day choker!

[Etienne]

Yeah, it's a real nail biter. Obviously I forgot to set tactics for the first meeting, but I think you might have won anyway.

[Levin]

Congratulations Etienne a fine victory in the tournament. Viktor Boskovic really got his tactics right

Edit: Also, I've got a U20 national squad member! Hubert Davis

[Antepli Ejderha]

Congratulations to Etienne, I'm going to finish this I think.

We started so well but then fell away badly.

[Etienne]

Well that was a bittersweet win for two reasons. Firstly if my winning has prompted Antepli Ejderha to give up his team, and secondly because it looks on the evidence of the two matches as if Danefieldshire and Viktor Boskovic are going to be too good for us in our official league decider.

[Antepli Ejderha]

Fucking auto correct, third not this. I'm just going to tick along. I was hoping that a top of the range youth academy would produce great players, it hasn't as yet. I think I'll keep plugging away though.

[Etienne]

My affiliate has a top of the range academy and I would say that it consistently produces slightly better players than the Dragons superior academy. But only slightly.

[Levin]

Just had the strangest game in the main youth league. My openers batted all the way through for 256, which is nice but made me think that I'd not pushed hard enough. But then I bowled out the opposition for 185 in the 40th over. Not so weird so far but there was only 8k difference in team ratings.

[Levin]

How's everyone looking at the end of the season? I should finish in the top halves of all my leagues but a long way off winning any of them.

I'm quite concerned about how much my wages are going to go up next week. I'm getting really attached to my players but I'm running at break even at the moment.

[Etienne]

Me and Viktor Boskovic play each other with the winner getting promoted from our youth division (NZ 4th tier). Otherwise I'll be finishing second or third in all my other divisions.
My youth focused affiliate is going to win both it's youth divisions (WI 4th tier). With a miraculous win against the best team we could get promoted in one of the main divisions (also 4th tier) and we'll finish midtable in the other.

[longeared]

Finished 2nd in the T20 league, mid table in everything else.

My wage bill is going to shoot up again next week so that'll be another huge financial hit. I've been making a regular loss this season (apart from the week when I made a 3k profit) and it'll only get worse now. I've cut the playing staff to as low as I dare, deprioritised the youth team (as evidenced by being whitewashed in the last OTF competition) and I'm still losing money and spending the cash I banked in previous seasons. Kind of feel I've hit a bit of a ceiling at the moment.

[Granthamian]

Not a bad season for me. My main team (Canada) got 2 promotions to div.3, as did my affiliate team ( in Zimbabwe). The latter will play all its competitions in div. 3 next season which should boost sponsorship money a little. My experiment with signing some senior players (aged over 30) has not really worked. They have dropped their skill levels like apples falling off a tree. I think I will ditch them.

[Antepli Ejderha]

In a similar boat to you all, wages going up, breaking even and worried about next year. On the field I'm either 3rd or 4th so should get some prize money that'll be eaten up by new wages.

[jdsx]

Pretty much the same here. I'm likely to finish 2nd in both my senior competitions, so look forward to some prize money. I decided to get my youth one day team relegated as they were in a pretty high league and I thought I would probably finish 5th or 6th. This may be a mistake!
I've been running at a loss pretty much all season, and in fact I would face the dreaded highest-wage-player forced sale on Monday, but I'm hoping the prize money will stave that off. I've made a few decent youth recruits in the last few weeks and might have to sell one or two of them, depending on what the wage bill looks like next season...

[pebblethefish]

I seem to have found my level. In England (main team) three teams are safely mid-table in Div 4, while a relegation shoot out between four teams today will determine whether my youth lot will join them.

Meanwhile the affiliates in Holland, my two teams already in division 3 are comfortably mid-table, while you T20 team has just been promoted to it, and my Youth team has a winner-takes-all showdown today to avoid being relegated to it.

Basically, unless I radically rethink my methodology, I'm going to be stuck where I am for the foreseeable.

[Etienne]

Congratulations to Danefieldshire, who crushed us in our promotion shootout.

[Viktor Boskovic]

Thanks, my two openers built the platform for that win, they are both off to the Senior side. Both the one day and t20 youth teams got promoted, however with 5 players off to the Senior team, I am not sure if a quick return is on the cards. The Senior one day team finished mid table but the t20 one got relegated after the team that was second bottom went on a spending spree and then won 4 of the last 5 games.

Financially, I have no money and had to downgrade the Senior academy to get to the end of the season. Saving any money is proving to be impossible, but with the 5 youth teamers being promoted, I will be selling or sacking the 5 oldest and keeping the Senior squad at 12 people. No idea if I am missing something on the finance side, or whether it's a consequence on being in low divisions.

[Antepli Ejderha]

I lost my final youth match and dropped down to fifth. No prize money there then.