Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a terrific week of cricket in store for you. 4 teams, with the Sunday side playing their first league game since May, and 4 genuinely strong sides out. I genuinely believe we could be seeing 4 sweet sweet Ws this weekend, and that means only one thing - lots of Fantasy Cricket selection headaches! To start off, the double gameweekers! Everyone playing on Sunday, apart from Ben Ridge, is also playing Saturday. Even better, if you were to pick those 10 players, you'd still have a reasonable £2.5m to spend - Jess Pugh, Kevin Mays, Will Simpson all sit under that price & have great potential to score big this weekend. For me, there's a couple of players I'd leave out, not because I don't think they'll do well this weekend, but just for my general team set-up going forwards. I also want to keep Ollie Cheeseman in my side as the 1s face an Old Chelmsfordians team who have been bowled out for under 125 five times already this year.
Looking back at last week Rob Mutton (£5.5m) and Joe Davis (£7.6m) had outstanding weeks with 112 & 125 points respectively. Harry Cooper (£8.5m - 90); Sam Bowen (£6.7m - 56); and myself (£7.7m - 91) all passed the 50 point mark. At first glance, the expensive "Premium" options appear to be worth their money at the moment. But when looking at Points scored Per Million in Value it's Jess Pugh (£2.1m) who tops the charts, scoring a massive 83 points for every £1m you spend. Ollie Cheeseman is currently returning just 43 points per million.
Seagers Stiff Jr topped the Gameweek 8 table with 501 points, they were the only side to pick Rob Mutton, and also had Joe Davis, Harry Cooper and me! 20 teams have now passed the 2000 point mark, and there's just 600 points between 1st and 20th, so it really is anyone's game. Anyway, without further delay here's my thoughts on who should Buy, Sell and Captain in Gameweek 9.
BUY
Batsman: I can go one of two ways here. Jack Ridge at 26% ownership, playing two games of cricket and just £5.5m, is logically a solid pick, and the main reason why he made my "Mr Consistent" list back in April. However, at just £2m and 15% ownership Kevin Mays seems too good to ignore. The 2s desperately need a win, and are at home to bottom of the pile Bentley. I'm sure Stu will be looking to the former 1st XI captain and 5th highest league run-scorer for GTCC ever for a big innings.
Bowler: Jonny Hewer (£5m) has quietly picked up 100 points so far this season and still nobody has picked him. His irregular availability may be the cause of this, and potentially a slight overpricing, but if you're looking for a bowler & have the money, you can depend on Jonny to get you points. Also looked very solid with the bat against Great Baddow & Rayleigh, yet to be out in 2021! Another alternative is to take a real gamble on Will Simpson (£2m) back for his first game in 2 years, but starting again in the 3s after plying his trade in the 1st XI in 2018. I believe the only man at GTCC to have taken a (League) double hattrick, and has best figures of 5/0. Will we see something similar this weekend?
All Rounder: I got runs last week, I'm playing two games this week, and we all know how I love bullying on a Sunday. In just 15% of teams, if you can stretch to my price tag, I do think I'm a good option this weekend. But having said that I'm almost certainly getting two ducks. The alternative, if you can't stretch to £7.7m is John Chadwick at £5.4m. Almost guaranteed to take wickets with his searing pace & movement in Division 10, and should whack the ball around the park for fun too.
SELL
Tom Hawkridge (£5m) is currently the top selected batter but is unavailable this weekend! If you need a replacement Jacob Slater (£3.6m) is the best option at a cheaper price, but my choice would be to aim for Rob Hewer (£5.5m) if you can find the cash.
CAPTAIN
Finally, captaincy will be vital for your team this weekend. We could see a team score 750 points so you need to get your captaincy right to climb the ranks. My opinion is you have to chuck it on a double gameweeker, as this will give you two chances at captaining someone who returns a big scorer. For me gives you Joe Davis, Rob Hewer and myself as the best three options. I'll probably be backing myself, because why not!
If I had to pick someone outside of double Gameweekers, one of Harry Cooper, Ollie Cheeseman, and John Chadwick would take the armband.
