We are back for the 2025 Edition of the Great Totham Fantasy Cricket Competition. For those new here, this is a game where you pick a team of GTCC players, who then score points based on their actual performances at the weekend. You compete against other teams (selected by other members) to see who can collect the most points at the end of the year, the best teams will win a cash prize & we all raise some funds for the club at the same time.
You can pick 1 team at the start, and set & forget, or you can actively change your team each week. You have 1 free transfer weekly (each additional transfer per week costs 100 points), and you can select a captain to score double points each week. On a special week chosen by you, your captain can score triple points. If your team selection has gone completely wrong, you have a wildcard which grants you unlimited transfers, but for one Gameweek only.
There are over 70 players to choose from, so I'm writing this to give you some helpful insights & hopefully help you pick your teams.
YOUR TEAM CORE
Availability is the best ability. You only get 1 free transfer per week, and it is costly to make wholesale changes after just one week. I always try to pick a Core group of 7-9 players who I think will play week in week out, and score me points consistently. With my remaining slots I will choose some higher risk punts. So with that in mind I've highlighted below those who I think will be playing the vast majority of gameweeks this year.
Batters- Tommy Hawkridge, Paul Marks, Nick Phillips, Jamie Potter, Billy Boom, Jack Ridge
Bowlers - Jim Gregory, Ryan Kennedy, Tom Wheeler, Sam Yeates, George Davis, James Wheeler, George Baron, Henry Lawrence, Max Clarke, Evan Quilter, Olly Kendall, Sam Bowen, George Keogh
All Rounders - James Pook, Joe Davis, Issey Croft, James Murphy, John Chadwick
Keepers - Joe Gregory, Tim Logue, Ted Shorney
OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN!
Choosing a good captain is vital to doing well in fantasy cricket. You can change this weekly, or you can pick & stick, but each week your captain will score double points for your team, which can lead to big jumps up the leaderboard.
I will be changing my captaincy regularly, usually between my Big Hitters, but a decent strategy in previous editions has been to pick one of myself or Joe Davis & leave it. I'm not sure that will work so well this year, with neither of us expected to bowl as much as we did in 2024 due to the strength of our bowling attack. There is very much a case that at £10m neither of us should be in your sides & instead you will score more points by filling your line-up with the likes of Jim Gregory, Ryan Kennedy, Tom Wheeler, Tom Hawkridge, Sam Bowen, Paul Marks, Sam Yeates & Joe Gregory. You can nearly get four of those names, for the same price as Joe & I - are we worth it?
For clarity, I will be picking myself, but I won't be doubling down with Joe too, and at this time I expect Jim Gregory, Ryan Kennedy, Sam Yeates and Joe Gregory to all make my final XI. To do this though, I will need to free up some budget from what I call "The Enablers"
THE ENABLERS
These are lower priced players who can still do well, but are not expected to as regularly as your big hitters. Here you want players who are priced below the average (£5m) who will play regularly. Billy Boom and Evan Quilter are the two standout enabler picks for me, but you also have the likes of James Wheeler, Henry Lawrence, Olly Kendall, Ted Shorney, George Keogh, and Neil Quilter who can be utilised.
Lower priced players might also just be less available, and therefore when they play they might score lots of points, but they only play every other week, or less frequently. Those that fall into this camp include Simon Tabb, Josh Chadwick, Ashwin Srinivasan, Kev Mays, Drew Whiting, Jamie Phillips, Danny Kennedy, Beth Harvey. I generally don't like picking players who aren't going to play as much as others, but this has been a successful tactic in the past.
There are a number of young gun graduates coming through the colts system, all priced at £1m who may or may not turn into bargains. I simply don't know enough about them, but one name that does draw attention is Jacob Day, who has been picked for Gameweek 1 in the Third XI.
STEER CLEAR
There are a few names on the list you should avoid, despite how cheap they look. Rob Hewer and Ben Ridge are not expected to play much at all in 2025. Club Legends like Peter Willingale, Steve Whiting, Barry Gooch, Richard Dickenson, Mark Shorney will probably only make an appearance when we are desperately short!
Liam Jones, Chris Henderson, Jonny Hewer and Rob Mutton are also all expected to have periods of unavailability for various reasons.
YOUR KEEPER
On the pitch the keeper is the heart and soul of any side. In previous fantasy editions the keeper has been a bit of blunt position not really worth spending much on as it was difficult for keepers to accumulate points. This year, the points for a keeper catches & stumping has increased (from 15 to 30 points). Hopefully making the position a little bit more balanced versus other player types, and making the more expensive keepers a more viable selection.
For me, my top two keepers are Joe Gregory & Ted Shorney. I think both will score a lot of runs in their respective teams.
A PLAYER PER PRICE POINT
To end off, I'm going to make a selection at each price point for the player I think will score the most points. Hopefully if you are struggling to make a choice with a set amount of cash left, this will help.
£1m - As mentioned Jacob Day is the only name I am confident on selecting here. He is at least guaranteed to play in Gameweek 1, while none of the others make the cut.
£2m - Between Sam Hume & Neil Quilter at this price. I think Neil will score more points, but I would lean towards picking Sam, as Neil takes up the keeper spot & as I said earlier, would favour Ted or Joe here.
£3m - The highest scoring £3m player should be Ted Shorney. However if you’ve selected a different keeper, I think George Keogh is your best bet for second place.
£3.5m - Olly Kendall takes this one, on account of the batters not being particularly available & Henry Lawrence being used in the 2nd XI where he is as yet untested. Olly should bamboozle plenty of batters & pick up plenty of points in the 3rd XI
£4m - This is very much a coin toss between Evan Quilter & Billy Boom. My gut feeling is Evan as he has been to more winter trainings.
£4.5m - James Wheeler was POTY & Mr Consistent in the 3rd XI last year & has a deserved call up to the 2nd XI. I expect more points to follow.
£5m - A tough choice between four here - Sam Yeates, Issey Croft, Joe Gregory & Max Clarke. I’m ruling out Max & Sam as that 3rd XI bowling line-up is so good that anyone in it could take 5, so expect wickets to be shared around. Issey in rhythm & not hungover each week would take it, but I suspect Joe under the new keeper points will be top in this bracket
£5.5m - This will be Tom Wheeler. He took 28 wickets last year despite missing a third of the season. Points galore! He does miss Gameweek 1 however.
£6m - Hard to split Ryan Kennedy, Jim Gregory & new man Owen Dawson here. Owen will bat top 5 & bowl in the 1st XI, but you’d expect RK & Jim to be our opening partnership each week. Owen probably edges it due to the all rounder status.
£10m - yours truly, the show is in town.
Have a good season all & you can sign up to the competition here!
