h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

This year I've decided not to come up with a list of how I think each team is going to perform. Instead, I've plugged all of last year's scores into the spreadsheet to see how your teams will perform based on last year's stats.

The results make very interesting reading. As expected, it is much easier for you to specialise in either the long or short forms of the game, and for some teams the difference is very marked.

Take a look at the tables at A33744774 and the teams at A33744774.

If you'd had these teams and this scoring system last year, there would have been two very clear winners. Egon would have scooped the championship by a long chalk, and JulesK would have won the ProPhortyPhifty by a whacking margin. Magwitch would have still propped up each of the tables, but manages to move up a place due to Nirvanite dropping out.

There are some qualifiers in this, of course. Some teams should perform better - for example, Jayawardena will score more than nul points for Frenchbean, and AndyG has two players who did not compete last season but will surely score heavily this time around. A number of teams could argue for a slightly higher placing based on players who were injured last season or who only made a handful of appearances.

It's a pretty good estimate, though, and far more accurate than guessing how each team will perform.

What is clear is that it's going to be a very open season. And the difference between one-day and four-day performances should be fascinating; JulesK, hopeless in the championship, could well dominate the shorter game, and the exact opposite is true of Frenchbean, Mu Beta and Montague Trout (or vice versa). Don't discount AndyG either - I think his new signings would have pushed him up into second or third in both forms of the game. Summerbayexile lurks with intent in both tables as well.

Just for fun, I plugged your bids into the spreadsheet to see who had seriously overbid for players and who got a bargain. The results are:

Top Bargains (% is the percentage of the player's value paid)
Ant Botha 11%
James Tredwell 14%
Ben Smith 16%
Kadeer Ali 18%
Mushtaq Ahmed 27%
Matthew Walker 28%
Ryan ten Doeschate 29%
Geraint Jones 32%
James Hildreth 32%
David Sales 33%

And the top overpayments:
Alex Tudor 319% (of Board valuation)
James Ormond 369%
Kyle Hogg 382%
Richard Grant 404%
Simon Jones 702%
Adam Shantry 970%
Keith Parsons 1737%
Tom Burrows 1958%
Sam Cliff 2845%
Sanath Jayasuriya 3249% (NB This is certainly a false position, based on just a couple of matches)

What is interesting is that, almost without exception, England players have sold for a much higher price than their scoring merits. Only Ravi Bopara and Tim Ambrose sold for less than their estimated valuation, and only Alistair Cook sold for tyhe Board's estimated price. Everyone else sold for at least 50% more than their actual value, with Sidebottom, Hoggard and Flintoff all selling for around 2 1/2 times their value. Without the benefit of captaincy points, Collingwood would have joined this elite club.

In fact, the best value lay in players who have been considered for England but aren't currently involved, or those on the fringe. Ramprakash, Hick, Caddick, Hildreth, Carberry and Butcher were notable for being sold relatively cheaply.

I'm still not sure what possessed me to bid that much for Adam Shantry.

B

Of course we have no idea right now who is going to over- or under-perform. Whilst last year's performances are a guide, they are only that: a guide.

So it's not time to pack my bags and head into the outback with my head slumped quite yet I have faith in the Down and Unders confounding you all

Btw, I just saw that IPL is being televised here from next Friday onwards It'll be very interesting to see how that shapes up...

Fb

Skanks.... It's early in the morning here and doesn't take too much to confuse me.

I know what you meant, but ...>Take a look at the tables at A33744774 and the teams at A33744774<

Well, I did say you could be a force in the Championship, and I think you've got a reasonably good chance of winning it. If you win the ProPhortyPhifty, though, I'll bare my buttocks on the highest tor on Dartmoor on a rather chilly day.

And yes, it should have been A33126581. And the subject of the thread should've been *F*K08: ...

Hmmm, I think I've got a video in my bottom drawer called *F*K08

B

Ah, that's the one with the travelling goat salesman, isn't it?

Yes, that's right. He has a suspiciously bald head and runs a hotel in Torquay....

B