Hey all,
Sadly, as you may well know (if you like fantasy cricket) the Telegraph gave up running fantasy cricket games last year, so I had to look really hard to source an alternative and luckily thanks to another fantasy cricket fan on a fantasy forum I found Cricket XI’s game. Since then, I have done several of their fantasy cricket games on various tournaments and tours all over the globe and they’ve been a lot of fun. So now a year later it’s time for County Cricket again and I have set up 2 small stakes money leagues once again.
Alas the players list is not broken into position groups when selecting a team (batters/all rounders/bowlers/wicket keepers) but other than that it’s really a great little game - especially with live scoring during games.
There is no spin off leagues (runs/wickets/starting XI) which is a shame, so no breakdown of runs scored or wickets taken but what they do have is a choice of league styles - classic open or a head to head. So, what I do is create a league of each type. The open league can have as many teams as wish to join it but the head to head league can have a maximum of 16 teams. To give a small interest for the season I’ve decided to keep the entry fee the same as I did last year - £5 entry each league and both are ‘Winner Takes All’.
People are welcome to join one or both leagues and I hope people will feel £5 is not much at all and give these leagues a go - it’s always more serious when people play for money no matter how small the stakes, it makes it competitive and worth the time investment to do the best you can. The season starts (Round 1) 11:00am, 8th April so there’s very little time if you wish to get involved.
The head to head league requires me to designate how many teams so I’ve opted for a 16 team league though it will run with a minimum of 4 teams - also if we end up with an odd number of teams Cricket XI in some games adds in a random team to level it up - other games it gives one team a bye each week. Last year in the county game it added a random team in. It’s not something I can choose and just have to roll with whatever the man behind the game site opts to do. If Cricket XI add in a random team if we’re an odd number at the start, then this will change everyone’s opponent for Round 1 and it’s just something that has to be lived with but as county games are 4 day affairs it will happen pretty quickly and certainly before the first game round has finished - usually by the end of day 2.
Please spread the word as in both leagues the more the merrier - forward a link to this info on to friends, family, work mates or anyone you know that might be up for taking part - hell please call them and twist some arms as there is so little time for me to recruit, I appreciate all the help I can get in getting a big league. Everyone basically has until Thursday morning to join and then it locks come start of the 1st round of games.
Anyone reading this who does not know the score re paying me your entry fees just PM (Private Message) me from here (the TFP forum) - or hit me up on Discord and let me know tou’ve joined and I’ll tell you how to do so.
My very best regards - I hope to see your team in my league(s) soon,
bluelionman (aka Noel Symonds)
Classic Open League
League Name: WINNER TAKES ALL
Join Code: YNCMCFHS
Head to Head League
League Name: Winner Takes All
Join Code: IVYFKMYK
Link to games website: CricketXI
All game rules etc., are the websites and can be found under the HELP tab on site but to aid you here is a link to their points scoring, league rules, transfers, FAQ’s etc: CricketXI County Championship 2021 HELP