2010/11 TFF Game
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TFF Transfer Deadlines: Sat 11-09-2010 at 12:45,
Sun 12-09-2010 at 16:00, Mon 13-09-2010 at 20:00.
August 30, 2009
Diary of a TFC Century League Challenge 10
Week 17 Day 6
The other Telegraph game swung back into action this afternoon and provided a welcome distraction for a while. My main team had climbed right up to 132nd during the last two tests, largely thanks to the efforts of Stuart Broad. However, at about 2pm I suddenly realised that I hadn't done anything about selecting my team for the one-day matches. Heeeeeeeeeelp! I played around with some choices and then had to decide who to captain. Head said Cameron White, heart said Joe Denly (he does play for Kent after all). Tossed coin ... scored -40 for that one ... oops! Fell 5 places, instead of climbing to 82nd. Oh well.
But, what happened in the county challenge I hear you all asking. I gave the captaincy back to Trescothick as I'm sure some of you might have guessed. It was the safe option and in my position, a few safe options is the best strategy. For the Ramps replacement I let my heart rule again and bought in Stevens. So far so good, and with Kent determined to get back to division one at the first attempt it will hopefully be a solid pick. More steady performances across the board saw the Spitfires add another 364 points. Even better, those lovely chaps at the Telegraph have already updated the table, so here is the top 4 with the weekend points.
Red Eleven seems to have sunk without trace (well outside the top 5 anyway) while the original 1, 2 and 3 continue to leap-frog each other to lead the chasing pack. A sobering thought though is that at the end of week 12 Red Eleven was over 1000 points behind me. Four weeks later she spent a couple of odd days in front. Is this challenge over yet? You bet it isn't! Just the one day left in both August and week 17 tomorrow and a full update of the top 10 will be included after the next site update. Enjoy the bank holiday.
The other Telegraph game swung back into action this afternoon and provided a welcome distraction for a while. My main team had climbed right up to 132nd during the last two tests, largely thanks to the efforts of Stuart Broad. However, at about 2pm I suddenly realised that I hadn't done anything about selecting my team for the one-day matches. Heeeeeeeeeelp! I played around with some choices and then had to decide who to captain. Head said Cameron White, heart said Joe Denly (he does play for Kent after all). Tossed coin ... scored -40 for that one ... oops! Fell 5 places, instead of climbing to 82nd. Oh well.
But, what happened in the county challenge I hear you all asking. I gave the captaincy back to Trescothick as I'm sure some of you might have guessed. It was the safe option and in my position, a few safe options is the best strategy. For the Ramps replacement I let my heart rule again and bought in Stevens. So far so good, and with Kent determined to get back to division one at the first attempt it will hopefully be a solid pick. More steady performances across the board saw the Spitfires add another 364 points. Even better, those lovely chaps at the Telegraph have already updated the table, so here is the top 4 with the weekend points.
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Red Eleven seems to have sunk without trace (well outside the top 5 anyway) while the original 1, 2 and 3 continue to leap-frog each other to lead the chasing pack. A sobering thought though is that at the end of week 12 Red Eleven was over 1000 points behind me. Four weeks later she spent a couple of odd days in front. Is this challenge over yet? You bet it isn't! Just the one day left in both August and week 17 tomorrow and a full update of the top 10 will be included after the next site update. Enjoy the bank holiday.
Diary of a TFC Century League Challenge 9
Week 17 Day 5
Yesterday I gave a rare decision away before the start of play. This was symptomatic of the stressful few days I've had and led me to decide that it was a day for taking the kids out. The fact that Crystal Palace weren't playing certainly helped, as did the fine weather. So, after an early lunch we dived in the car and drove down to Tenterden to ride on the Kent and East Sussex Railway. Everyone enjoyed it and on the way home we had the added bonus of seeing not one, but two Eurostar trains at full speed on the highspeed line.
And so to the challenge. Kaneria was the wrong choice, although not an overall bad choice, for captain. Several players chipped in with pretty mediocre performances, but two batting innings from Trescothick, a solid knock from Compton and three more wickets for Murtagh ensured that I added another 455 points. As usual we'll have to wait a few more hours for the table. There was, however, one particularly nasty sting in the tail. Ramprakash sustained a broken finger and wil take no further part in this match, and probably the season as well. Ouch!
And so I now had two decisions to make. Firstly who to give the captaincy to now Kaneria has only a couple of Pro40 matches in the next week; and secondly who to replace Ramps with. I immediately discounted players who don't have four championship matches left because this transfer really has to last to the end. That left three serious contenders: Goodwin, Stevens and Croft. All have pros and cons and the decision has already been taken (as I'll be out in the morning), but the identity will have to wait until the next post, as indeed will the new captain.
Table to be added later, have a good bank holiday.
Yesterday I gave a rare decision away before the start of play. This was symptomatic of the stressful few days I've had and led me to decide that it was a day for taking the kids out. The fact that Crystal Palace weren't playing certainly helped, as did the fine weather. So, after an early lunch we dived in the car and drove down to Tenterden to ride on the Kent and East Sussex Railway. Everyone enjoyed it and on the way home we had the added bonus of seeing not one, but two Eurostar trains at full speed on the highspeed line.
And so to the challenge. Kaneria was the wrong choice, although not an overall bad choice, for captain. Several players chipped in with pretty mediocre performances, but two batting innings from Trescothick, a solid knock from Compton and three more wickets for Murtagh ensured that I added another 455 points. As usual we'll have to wait a few more hours for the table. There was, however, one particularly nasty sting in the tail. Ramprakash sustained a broken finger and wil take no further part in this match, and probably the season as well. Ouch!
And so I now had two decisions to make. Firstly who to give the captaincy to now Kaneria has only a couple of Pro40 matches in the next week; and secondly who to replace Ramps with. I immediately discounted players who don't have four championship matches left because this transfer really has to last to the end. That left three serious contenders: Goodwin, Stevens and Croft. All have pros and cons and the decision has already been taken (as I'll be out in the morning), but the identity will have to wait until the next post, as indeed will the new captain.
Table to be added later, have a good bank holiday.
August 29, 2009
Diary of a TFC Century League Challenge 8
Week 17 Day 4
Yesterday was a unique day in the season, it was the only day when there were county championship matches at every stage of progress on the same day. While Kent and Surrey started their match at 12noon, others were on days 2 and 3, and Worcestershire and Nottinghamshire finished their day 4 at about 6.30pm. The reason for the staggering is so that Sky can televise as many Pro40 matches as possible, so there will be more to come, though no more than two days between starts. The final week is the only one where all matches run to the same schedule. Of course all this staggering is great news for the fantasy manager as it provides plenty of options for rotating players and/or captains.
And the captain in particular was a very important consideration yesterday. On the one hand there was Kaneria who had already accounted for two wickets who would surely get more. On the other was Trescothick who had to wait for Hampshire to finish batting, or Ramprakash who thanks to the 'late' Pro40 match might or might not have been batting depending on the toss, but we wouldn't know. In the end it was definitely the day for Kaneria as not only did he take his haul to 8 in the innings, they then followed on and he picked up another before the close. Ramps did get to bat, but not until later while Tres had to wait while Tahir knocked up 77 runs and then needed all his skills to avoid becoming one of his 3 victims. Both these options are available again today, but I'm sticking with Kaneria.
Elsewhere in the Spitfires there were useful contributions from Brown and Murtagh along with the aforementioned Ramps and Tres, taking my daily total to 553 - the best in the whole century league. There is still a long way to go though, and I've no idea how many transfers the others have left. Looking at the table, it's possible that Red Eleven might not have Kaneria, she certainly didn't captain him if she has.
Yesterday was a unique day in the season, it was the only day when there were county championship matches at every stage of progress on the same day. While Kent and Surrey started their match at 12noon, others were on days 2 and 3, and Worcestershire and Nottinghamshire finished their day 4 at about 6.30pm. The reason for the staggering is so that Sky can televise as many Pro40 matches as possible, so there will be more to come, though no more than two days between starts. The final week is the only one where all matches run to the same schedule. Of course all this staggering is great news for the fantasy manager as it provides plenty of options for rotating players and/or captains.
And the captain in particular was a very important consideration yesterday. On the one hand there was Kaneria who had already accounted for two wickets who would surely get more. On the other was Trescothick who had to wait for Hampshire to finish batting, or Ramprakash who thanks to the 'late' Pro40 match might or might not have been batting depending on the toss, but we wouldn't know. In the end it was definitely the day for Kaneria as not only did he take his haul to 8 in the innings, they then followed on and he picked up another before the close. Ramps did get to bat, but not until later while Tres had to wait while Tahir knocked up 77 runs and then needed all his skills to avoid becoming one of his 3 victims. Both these options are available again today, but I'm sticking with Kaneria.
Elsewhere in the Spitfires there were useful contributions from Brown and Murtagh along with the aforementioned Ramps and Tres, taking my daily total to 553 - the best in the whole century league. There is still a long way to go though, and I've no idea how many transfers the others have left. Looking at the table, it's possible that Red Eleven might not have Kaneria, she certainly didn't captain him if she has.
| Team | Start | Fri | Total |
| Bramernic Spitfires | 16 | 553 | 17246 |
| GOLD 1 | 3 | 412 | 16673 |
| Outside Edge | 1 | 389 | 16557 |
| All Out Winners | 2 | 548 | 16537 |
| Red Eleven | 35 | 234 | 16500 |
August 27, 2009
Diary of a TFC Century League Challenge 7
Before we start yesterday's thoughts, a quick review of the table. I've managed to maintain a 300+ point lead before today while the chasing pack are continuing to leap-frog each other. Here is an update on the top 5:
Week 17 Day 3
All bar two of the counties were in action yesterday so I was hoping that the points would start to flow a little quicker. And indeed they did flow. Nothing spectacular, but no ducks. Ali Brown finally put in a reasonable performance; it was just a shame that he ran out of partners. Compton, Ervine and New all scored a few and Trescothick even took a catch. Then came the evening Pro40 match. Or should I say farce!
For the second year running Kent hired in floodlights which couldn't be used properly because of high winds. At least the powers that be agreed to play a shortened match of 27 overs, but even that was optimistic and almost guaranteed a Duckworth Lewis calculation. In the end some spirited use of slow bowlers ensured more than the minimum 10 overs for the Surrey innings, but the victory for Kent still left a slightly sour taste in the mouth. If Kent can't provide permanent floodlights then they really must consider foregoing the Sky money and playing all their home matches in the afternoon. The final injustice (from a fantasy perspective) became apparent afterwards when it was announced that the 4-day match would start late on day 1 to compensate for the late finish to the one-day match. Late finish! It wasn't as though anyone had far to go with both matches taking place on the same ground. So, no team news before the deadline on Friday.
Bramernic Spitfires still managed to do quite well out of the farce with Schofield leading the Surrey batting and Tredwell taking a couple of wickets. It all added up to an OK day, made even better when the table was published this morning.
At last, a tiny slither of daylight is appearing between 1st and the chasing pack. It's nothing that a Murray Goodwin triple-century couldn't bridge, but it's welcome none-the-less. Let's just hope that this mornings decision to leave the armband with Danish was the right one.
| Team | Start Pos'n | Tue | Wed | Total |
| Bramernic Spitfires | 16 | 39 | 57 | 16387 |
| GOLD 1 | 3 | 0 | 100 | 16060 |
| Outside Edge | 1 | 59 | 48 | 16049 |
| Red Eleven | 35 | 0 | 0 | 16027 |
| All Out Winners | 2 | 0 | 0 | 15868 |
All bar two of the counties were in action yesterday so I was hoping that the points would start to flow a little quicker. And indeed they did flow. Nothing spectacular, but no ducks. Ali Brown finally put in a reasonable performance; it was just a shame that he ran out of partners. Compton, Ervine and New all scored a few and Trescothick even took a catch. Then came the evening Pro40 match. Or should I say farce!
For the second year running Kent hired in floodlights which couldn't be used properly because of high winds. At least the powers that be agreed to play a shortened match of 27 overs, but even that was optimistic and almost guaranteed a Duckworth Lewis calculation. In the end some spirited use of slow bowlers ensured more than the minimum 10 overs for the Surrey innings, but the victory for Kent still left a slightly sour taste in the mouth. If Kent can't provide permanent floodlights then they really must consider foregoing the Sky money and playing all their home matches in the afternoon. The final injustice (from a fantasy perspective) became apparent afterwards when it was announced that the 4-day match would start late on day 1 to compensate for the late finish to the one-day match. Late finish! It wasn't as though anyone had far to go with both matches taking place on the same ground. So, no team news before the deadline on Friday.
Bramernic Spitfires still managed to do quite well out of the farce with Schofield leading the Surrey batting and Tredwell taking a couple of wickets. It all added up to an OK day, made even better when the table was published this morning.
| Team | Start | Thu | Total |
| Bramernic Spitfires | 16 | 306 | 16693 |
| Red Eleven | 35 | 239 | 16266 |
| GOLD 1 | 3 | 201 | 16261 |
| Outside Edge | 1 | 119 | 16168 |
| All Out Winners | 2 | 121 | 15989 |
August 26, 2009
Diary of a TFC Century League Challenge 6
Week 17 Day 1
The week started slowly with just one championship match and a lowly Pro40 match later in the afternoon. In the 4-day match I had one player who managed a single catch. Hopefully Brown will add a few more when he gets in to bat. Then in the Pro40 the spotlight turned to Ervine. Hampshire fielded first and he bowled just three overs losing 3 points in the process. Fortunately he turned that to a 34 point gain when his turn to bat arrived. In trepidation I awaited the update and was pleasantly surprised to see only one other side in the top 5 scoring anything. Outside Edge added 59 and jumped back into 3rd place while my lead extened to 303. A little breathing space maybe, but nothing to write home about, yet.
Week 17 Day 2
Another three championship matches and a Pro40 to add to the one which started yesterday, but still not many of my players involved. Plus the remnants of Hurricane Bill swept light but persistant drizzle across much of the UK and affected all the matches at some stage. Essex batted first so my captain spent all day in the pavillion while New picked up one catch. Middlesex had just over half of their innings before the rain ended the contest, so Murtagh also sat twiddling his thumbs but Compton top scored with 52 giving me 57 for the day. At this stage I have no idea what others have achieved, but I'll post the top of the table once it is available.
The week started slowly with just one championship match and a lowly Pro40 match later in the afternoon. In the 4-day match I had one player who managed a single catch. Hopefully Brown will add a few more when he gets in to bat. Then in the Pro40 the spotlight turned to Ervine. Hampshire fielded first and he bowled just three overs losing 3 points in the process. Fortunately he turned that to a 34 point gain when his turn to bat arrived. In trepidation I awaited the update and was pleasantly surprised to see only one other side in the top 5 scoring anything. Outside Edge added 59 and jumped back into 3rd place while my lead extened to 303. A little breathing space maybe, but nothing to write home about, yet.
Week 17 Day 2
Another three championship matches and a Pro40 to add to the one which started yesterday, but still not many of my players involved. Plus the remnants of Hurricane Bill swept light but persistant drizzle across much of the UK and affected all the matches at some stage. Essex batted first so my captain spent all day in the pavillion while New picked up one catch. Middlesex had just over half of their innings before the rain ended the contest, so Murtagh also sat twiddling his thumbs but Compton top scored with 52 giving me 57 for the day. At this stage I have no idea what others have achieved, but I'll post the top of the table once it is available.
August 24, 2009
Diary of a TFC Century League Challenge 5
Where on earth did that week go then? With a rest day tomorrow we are at the end of week 16 and there are only five more weeks to go. It's not all been bad, of course. England have just won back the Ashes and the images of Freddie throwing down the stumps in front of Ricky will live long in the mind. However, in terms of this challenge, the last week has been something of a disaster.
It started with the realisation that three of my players had only two Pro40 matches to play, then Kent announced that many of the first team would be rested for these matches which left only Tredwell to pick up points. I needed to bring back Danish, so had to look elsewhere to free up some funds. Although Keiswetter had been the best performing keeper throughout the season, that position is traditionally a weak one, so I decided to look at the one rated alternatives. Two stood out; Bragg at Glamorgan and New at Leicestershire. Bragg seems to be an ever present these days, but his drawback (apart from playing for Glamorgan) is that he isn't actually keeping. New meanwhile has been given the gloves for the remainder of the season, and that tipped the balance in his favour. It started ok with 40 points for New and a disappointing 6 for Tredwell. Kent won the match though, so it wasn't all bad.
Then came the start of the real week, and the real disasters. I was otherwise occupied leading up to 11am on Wednesday so I didn't manage to get Kaneria in in time. He was always going to play, so why hadn't I just transfered him in instead of Cook the day before? Of course Essex bowled first and Danish took a couple of wickets, plus New undid most of his good work the day before with a duck. I've noticed that I had quite a few captain changes left, so needed to start using them in an effort to gain an advantage. The weather forecast for Thursday suggested little play at Taunton so the armband was switched to Danish. The reality was a curtailed day in Essex while Trescothick prospered in the West. And to make matters worse New succeeded in clocking up a pair. Friday came along and I switched it back. The weather did the opposite and I missed loads of Danish points while Tres got himself out. Arghh! At least Schofield enjoyed himself in Essex, though with the bat rather than the ball. I left well alone on Saturday and by the end had amassed a measley 928 points. Although I'd lost the lead during the week (to Red Eleven who had been 35th at the split), somehow I'd managed to get it back with Saturday's play.
Sunday lunchtime and it was time to change again. Sussex have no cricket for a few days and Yardy has been disappointing anyway, so out he went in favour of Ervine. Durham was always likely to suffer worst from the weather that afternoon and so it transpired, but he did manage a few points. Meanwhile the captaincy was handed back to Danish as none of my batsmen would appear today. I'm hoping Essex bowl first next week to make the most of it. With only four men playing I added another 162 points which takes me up to 1090 for the week. The green numbers in the table show the points scored on the latest day's play.
As we approach the business end of the campaign I'm going to try and make the updates more frequent, at least every other day that cricket is played. Until next time ...
It started with the realisation that three of my players had only two Pro40 matches to play, then Kent announced that many of the first team would be rested for these matches which left only Tredwell to pick up points. I needed to bring back Danish, so had to look elsewhere to free up some funds. Although Keiswetter had been the best performing keeper throughout the season, that position is traditionally a weak one, so I decided to look at the one rated alternatives. Two stood out; Bragg at Glamorgan and New at Leicestershire. Bragg seems to be an ever present these days, but his drawback (apart from playing for Glamorgan) is that he isn't actually keeping. New meanwhile has been given the gloves for the remainder of the season, and that tipped the balance in his favour. It started ok with 40 points for New and a disappointing 6 for Tredwell. Kent won the match though, so it wasn't all bad.
Then came the start of the real week, and the real disasters. I was otherwise occupied leading up to 11am on Wednesday so I didn't manage to get Kaneria in in time. He was always going to play, so why hadn't I just transfered him in instead of Cook the day before? Of course Essex bowled first and Danish took a couple of wickets, plus New undid most of his good work the day before with a duck. I've noticed that I had quite a few captain changes left, so needed to start using them in an effort to gain an advantage. The weather forecast for Thursday suggested little play at Taunton so the armband was switched to Danish. The reality was a curtailed day in Essex while Trescothick prospered in the West. And to make matters worse New succeeded in clocking up a pair. Friday came along and I switched it back. The weather did the opposite and I missed loads of Danish points while Tres got himself out. Arghh! At least Schofield enjoyed himself in Essex, though with the bat rather than the ball. I left well alone on Saturday and by the end had amassed a measley 928 points. Although I'd lost the lead during the week (to Red Eleven who had been 35th at the split), somehow I'd managed to get it back with Saturday's play.
Sunday lunchtime and it was time to change again. Sussex have no cricket for a few days and Yardy has been disappointing anyway, so out he went in favour of Ervine. Durham was always likely to suffer worst from the weather that afternoon and so it transpired, but he did manage a few points. Meanwhile the captaincy was handed back to Danish as none of my batsmen would appear today. I'm hoping Essex bowl first next week to make the most of it. With only four men playing I added another 162 points which takes me up to 1090 for the week. The green numbers in the table show the points scored on the latest day's play.
| Bramernic Spitfires | 16 | 162 | 16291 |
| Red Eleven | 35 | 58 | 16027 |
| GOLD 1 | 3 | 46 | 15960 |
| Outside Edge | 1 | 86 | 15942 |
| All Out Winners | 2 | 100 | 15868 |
| KPs Love Child | 11 | 137 | 15767 |
| Jones Boys Two | 4 | 71 | 15674 |
| Roadblock Hijack | 7 | 60 | 15620 |
| myhatthatwasnaughty | 19 | 30 | 15587 |
| batsentertainment | 32 | 65 | 15555 |
As we approach the business end of the campaign I'm going to try and make the updates more frequent, at least every other day that cricket is played. Until next time ...
August 18, 2009
Diary of a TFC Century League Challenge 4
And so to finish up week 5. Finals day turned out to be something of an anti-climax. I'm thinking Kent won't even get there next season as they seem to be going backwards one step each season; winners two years ago, runners-up last season and now beaten semi-finalists. But what did the Bramernic Spitfires get up to, that is the real question.
In the early hours of Saturday morning, after finalising my TFF and TFFCH teams, I decided that Tredwell could wait no longer. No point taking Cook out though, so Imran Tahir was the man to make way. He's not been so prolific recently, but watch him go bananas in the next game. Cook will be going now though, especially as he's been left out of today's Pro40 squad. By late morning I was very relieved that I'd acted earlier as the entire Telegraph fantasy games site crumpled under the weight of last minute footie entries.
And the action? Well Yardy was my only player in the first match and he didn't do that much, but at least he got another go. In the second match I then wished I had ditched Cook as he cost me five points, but at least Tredwell justified the late tinker. Trescothick did the business of course, and the blow of Kent going out was softened by Tres remaining as captain. In terms of points won, the final was just ordinary.
That left just the two televised Pro40 matches. On Sunday Murtagh was rested, but at least Compton put in an average performance. Then last night was the re-match of the final; Kieswetter being my star while Yardy managed to get himself out without facing a legitimate ball. The five one-day matches yielded a good 601 points to add to the earlier tally making 1328 points for the week.
As for the table, it couldn't be closer. If 27 points in midweek was nothing, then really I'm joint top with the original leader, Outside Edge. As we approach the final quarter of the battle I reckon that the winner will come from the ten above. I'm impressed with Red Eleven, but hope that she's been burning transfers faster than me to get there.
In the early hours of Saturday morning, after finalising my TFF and TFFCH teams, I decided that Tredwell could wait no longer. No point taking Cook out though, so Imran Tahir was the man to make way. He's not been so prolific recently, but watch him go bananas in the next game. Cook will be going now though, especially as he's been left out of today's Pro40 squad. By late morning I was very relieved that I'd acted earlier as the entire Telegraph fantasy games site crumpled under the weight of last minute footie entries.
And the action? Well Yardy was my only player in the first match and he didn't do that much, but at least he got another go. In the second match I then wished I had ditched Cook as he cost me five points, but at least Tredwell justified the late tinker. Trescothick did the business of course, and the blow of Kent going out was softened by Tres remaining as captain. In terms of points won, the final was just ordinary.
That left just the two televised Pro40 matches. On Sunday Murtagh was rested, but at least Compton put in an average performance. Then last night was the re-match of the final; Kieswetter being my star while Yardy managed to get himself out without facing a legitimate ball. The five one-day matches yielded a good 601 points to add to the earlier tally making 1328 points for the week.
| Bramernic Spitfires | 16 | 15201 |
| Outside Edge | 1 | 15199 |
| Red Eleven | 35 | 15066 |
| Roadblock Hijack | 7 | 14920 |
| myhatthatwasnaughty | 19 | 14771 |
| batsentertainment | 32 | 14676 |
| The Big Hiiters | 14 | 14644 |
| KPs Love Child | 11 | 14609 |
| All Out Winners | 2 | 14554 |
| Highway CC | 12 | 14508 |
As for the table, it couldn't be closer. If 27 points in midweek was nothing, then really I'm joint top with the original leader, Outside Edge. As we approach the final quarter of the battle I reckon that the winner will come from the ten above. I'm impressed with Red Eleven, but hope that she's been burning transfers faster than me to get there.
August 17, 2009
Points are now available
Player points for the TFF 2009-2010 game are now live. Press the button to the left.
August 15, 2009
Register by Phone or email for TFF
Register by Phone
If you are experiencing difficulty registering online, call the freephone number below to speak to one of our Fantasy Football Team who will make your entry. For a list of players, please click http://fantasyfootball.telegraph.co.uk/s_playerlist.pdf [or load an identical version here which loads into Excel as a web query] then call:
0800 138 32 42
Alternatively, if you have the player codes for your selections, call our automated freephone registration service on:
0800 138 04 74
Register by Email before 12:45 TODAY!
You can email your team of 11 players to tffreg@react-now.co.uk. Please include:
* Formation eg. 442
* Player codes
* Player names
* Your name
* YOUR TELEPHONE NUMBER.
If we receive your email by 12:45 TODAY and your selections do not exceed £50m, we will enter your team in the game and call you early next week to complete your registration and payment."
If you are experiencing difficulty registering online, call the freephone number below to speak to one of our Fantasy Football Team who will make your entry. For a list of players, please click http://fantasyfootball.telegraph.co.uk/s_playerlist.pdf [or load an identical version here which loads into Excel as a web query] then call:
0800 138 32 42
Alternatively, if you have the player codes for your selections, call our automated freephone registration service on:
0800 138 04 74
Register by Email before 12:45 TODAY!
You can email your team of 11 players to tffreg@react-now.co.uk. Please include:
* Formation eg. 442
* Player codes
* Player names
* Your name
* YOUR TELEPHONE NUMBER.
If we receive your email by 12:45 TODAY and your selections do not exceed £50m, we will enter your team in the game and call you early next week to complete your registration and payment."
August 14, 2009
Diary of a TFC Century League Challenge 3
Week 15 started with almost a full round of county championship matches and a Pro40 match for all the teams not involved. It started off well; Key raced to 90 while Murtagh set about destroying Essex on his own with a 6-for. The only downside was a duck for Brown and I'm beginning to wonder whether I've made the right choice with him. Cook started each Kent bowling innings well, but again it was Tredwell who I should have had. So far this week it's been a slightly disappointing 727 points compared with many of my challengers. Maybe that is down to the number of players from the Pro40 sides in my team, or that I didn't switch captain, but then Trescothick made pretty good ground in his one innings considering the low target for his team. Anyway, onto Twenty20 finals day we go and I'll be hoping for a Kent victory, both in reality and in fantasy terms. For the moment my Spitfires have dropped to second place, but 27 points is absolutely nothing in this game.
| Outside Edge | 1 | 14627 |
| Bramernic Spitfires | 16 | 14600 |
| Roadblock Hijack | 7 | 14542 |
| Red Eleven | 35 | 14506 |
| KPs Love Child | 11 | 14396 |
Just the top 5 as it's an intermediate update, but as you can see it's very tight. The next update will be at the end of week 15.
August 10, 2009
Diary of a TFC Century League Challenge 2
So the leagues of 200 are split at the end of week 10 and Bramernic's Spitfires is placed at 16th in division 2, 190 behind the leader. This isn't a bad position and with plenty of changes left I'm feeling quietly confident. It remains to be seen just how many of the other 99 teams will be "going for it". However, before we can get going there is the small matter of replacements for Kaneria and Hockley. Murtagh has recovered so he takes back his bowling spot, while Ali Brown comes in to boost the batting lineup. Week 11 is poor in that only 818 points are scored, but I still manage to climb a few places. In the championship match at the beginning of week 12 Walker finally gets me a century, but it's his last appearance for over a week so out he goes, along with Masters who has served me quite well. Captain Trott has a brilliant match and is largely responsible for getting me to the top of the table by the weekend. My patience with Hall finally snapped on the morning of the Friends Provident final and Yardy takes his place. Monday sees the start of the Twenty20 Quarter finals, so replacing the Essex boys are Key and Cook. The latter is a mistake really - it should have been Tredwell, I still don't know why it wasn't Tredwell, I could afford Tredwell, oh well. Unfortunately there was worse to come. While concentrating on bringing in the Kent boys I completely forgot that Warks were playing that evening so the armband was ripped off Trott and given to Key. Despite these errors the team scored 1365 points in week 12 and remained on top, just. The top 10 teams were:
The numbers in red itallics indicate the starting position at the beginning of week 11.
Week 13 was another disappointing one with only 897 points. No changes were made, largely thanks to the awful weather that eventually claimed the loss of one of the quarter finals. Roadblock Hijack took over the lead by just 8 points. However, one particular player had definitely stuck his hand up and said "pick me". My first thought was, no, you've just scored 274 runs so you won't get anything decent again for a while. Then Peters manages to get a duck in the few overs possible of the first Pro40 match of week 14. Sensing the need for some more flexibility I replaced him with Compton. Then came the carnage at Canterbury at the start of week 14, along with the news that Trott had been called up for England. Rain had washed out the first day of Somerset's game at Edgbaston and Surrey were starting a day later anyway with both sides batting first. I didn't want to drop Key with Twenty20 Finals day just around the corner, but the captaincy was too risky (as indeed it proved the next day). So out went Trott and Botha with a formation change bringing in Ramprakash and Trescothick, the latter getting the armband back in the nick of time. The result was 1383 points and a top ten looking like this:
This is not going to be an easy task. The initial two leading teams seem to have woken up again while the emergence of another team from below 30th at the start shows there are more people going for it than I first thought.
| Bramernic Spitfires | 16 | 11593 |
| Roadblock Hijack | 7 | 11569 |
| Highway CC | 12 | 11514 |
| The Big Hiiters | 14 | 11488 |
| myhatthatwasnaughty | 19 | 11001 |
| Golden Duck XI | 8 | 10938 |
| Jones Boys Two | 4 | 10888 |
| Sam Pountneys team | 33 | 10864 |
| SpeakamanSuperHawks | 18 | 10845 |
| SJ1 | 24 | 10824 |
The numbers in red itallics indicate the starting position at the beginning of week 11.
Week 13 was another disappointing one with only 897 points. No changes were made, largely thanks to the awful weather that eventually claimed the loss of one of the quarter finals. Roadblock Hijack took over the lead by just 8 points. However, one particular player had definitely stuck his hand up and said "pick me". My first thought was, no, you've just scored 274 runs so you won't get anything decent again for a while. Then Peters manages to get a duck in the few overs possible of the first Pro40 match of week 14. Sensing the need for some more flexibility I replaced him with Compton. Then came the carnage at Canterbury at the start of week 14, along with the news that Trott had been called up for England. Rain had washed out the first day of Somerset's game at Edgbaston and Surrey were starting a day later anyway with both sides batting first. I didn't want to drop Key with Twenty20 Finals day just around the corner, but the captaincy was too risky (as indeed it proved the next day). So out went Trott and Botha with a formation change bringing in Ramprakash and Trescothick, the latter getting the armband back in the nick of time. The result was 1383 points and a top ten looking like this:
| Bramernic Spitfires | 16 | 13873 |
| The Big Hiiters | 14 | 13659 |
| Roadblock Hijack | 7 | 13575 |
| Highway CC | 12 | 13479 |
| Outside Edge | 1 | 13474 |
| Red Eleven | 35 | 13415 |
| myhatthatwasnaughty | 19 | 13379 |
| KPs Love Child | 11 | 13299 |
| All Out Winners | 2 | 13195 |
| Sam Pountneys team | 33 | 13150 |
This is not going to be an easy task. The initial two leading teams seem to have woken up again while the emergence of another team from below 30th at the start shows there are more people going for it than I first thought.
August 09, 2009
Diary of a TFC Century League Challenge
I've no idea whether this will be of interest, but here goes anyway. My main team got off to a pretty lousy start, largely down to some very poor initial bowling picks. Saxelby mysteriously disappeared after a very promising pre-game start, Murtagh got injured after just one week, Joseph failed to live up to my expectations leaving only Masters performing anywhere near reasonably. So midway through week 3 it was time to ring the changes. In came Imran Tahir, Danish and Schofield; plus my next disaster - panicking over one bad week from Dalrymple and swapping him for Botha. Finally I changed my captain from van Jaarsveld to Trescothick. At the end of week 5 I looked at the century league and found it was in 101st position. Now if only it were week 10, but it made my mind up; I decided to leave things as they were and monitor the progress with a view to being well placed in division 2.
Over the next four weeks the team moved up to 92nd and I thought I'd blown it. Unbelievably it still contained the departed Kaneria and the dropped Hockley. Week 10 was dire and I found myself down to 97th on Saturday night just 34 points above 101st. The dream was still alive, so I took the ultimate gamble and dropped Trescothick and van Jaarsveld, replacing them with Trott and Peters. The logic was that both were in-form and next playing at the start of week 11 so it wouldn't be a complete waste of two transfers. Sunday night and joy of joys, down to 107th and 100 points behind 101st. Barring a miracle I was safe and could enjoy the Monday, or could I? There was only one thing worse than my four players excelling and propelling the team into division 1, and it happened. They managed a grand total of -4. When the points updated on Tuesday I was sat in 116th but if I hadn't made those two transfers I'd have been in ... yep, you've guessed it, 101st.
So that's the story up to the split. Stay tuned for the next instalment as the team tries to climb back to the summit of division 2.
Over the next four weeks the team moved up to 92nd and I thought I'd blown it. Unbelievably it still contained the departed Kaneria and the dropped Hockley. Week 10 was dire and I found myself down to 97th on Saturday night just 34 points above 101st. The dream was still alive, so I took the ultimate gamble and dropped Trescothick and van Jaarsveld, replacing them with Trott and Peters. The logic was that both were in-form and next playing at the start of week 11 so it wouldn't be a complete waste of two transfers. Sunday night and joy of joys, down to 107th and 100 points behind 101st. Barring a miracle I was safe and could enjoy the Monday, or could I? There was only one thing worse than my four players excelling and propelling the team into division 1, and it happened. They managed a grand total of -4. When the points updated on Tuesday I was sat in 116th but if I hadn't made those two transfers I'd have been in ... yep, you've guessed it, 101st.
So that's the story up to the split. Stay tuned for the next instalment as the team tries to climb back to the summit of division 2.
