There's a new way for Americans to play daily fantasy cricket: OneCricket, which allows users to enter a variety of different contests to show off their cricket knowledge. Only available for T10s, T20s and ODIs, users can craft their perfect XI between the two sides to compete head-to-head, in a league or in larger contests, OneCricket gives you the opportunity to win real cash. For now, this is only available for iPhone users in the states, but this will give you a quick primer on how to go about making your first lineups.
Crafting Your Team:
With a budget of 1,000,000, you need to build your team of 11 players, consisting of:
- At least one wicket-keeper
- At least three batsmen
- At least three bowlers and
- At least one-allrounder
Each position has maximums as well, so you can't stock up on every pace bowler in the match nor just the free-swinging batsmen in the shortest formats. Additionally, as much as you might want to just take all of one team's XI, you only get seven players from an individual team so choose wisely as to whether you want to go all-in on India's attack or if you want all of England's specialist batsmen in the one-day game, you're going to have to make some trade-offs.
How to Score:
You've picked your team, you're in a contest, now it's time to score some points. There's two sets of scoring rules: One for T10s and T20s, another for ODIs. Every run will get you a point with bonuses achievable at 30, 50, 75 and 100 runs in the shorter formats and additional bonuses at 125 and 150 in ODIs. Boundaries and maximums earn you extra points; however, if you're out for a duck, your team will lose points. Strike rate also matters as simply scoring runs isn't enough, with thresholds requisite with the number of overs in the match. It's not all Cadillac rainbows and lots of spaghetti if your batsmen are slowly accumulating runs as you'll be hit with penalties for low strike rates.
For bowlers, wickets and maidens pick up points while every dot ball (in the shortest formats) and every third dot ball earns you a point in ODIs. Multiple wickets are also a boon for bonus points, with every successive wicket. Restricting batsmen to less than six runs an over starts to earn you points with bonuses for every run per over your bowlers can keep off the board with points lost if your bowlers are leaking runs. Fielding gets you points to as every catch gets you 10 points, run outs get you 15 and your keeper can earn some extra points as every stumping earns your side 10 points.
Last but not least, be wise in selecting your captain as they earn twice as many points while your vice captain gets you a 1.5x boost and simply having your players named to the starting XI will earn your team two points.
How to Win:
With the shortest formats tilted heavily toward batsmen in the actual match, it's of no surprise that the top batsmen are reliable sources of points. Going for the free-swinging openers means they're almost assuredly going to bat and with conducive power play rules to encourage scoring quickly, they're in line to rack up big points early. Spend big on batsmen to maximize your chances of finishing toward the top of the leaderboard.
With rather punitive penalties for having poor economy rates, death bowlers make for a tricky proposition as a pair of late-match sixes could be the difference between you winning and losing; however, if one of those slog sweeps fails to clear the rope, the boundary riders and long on and long off could pick up 10 points at a time while your bowlers could be in for a cache of points so choose wisely when it comes to your attack.
Last but not least, an attack-minded wicket-keeper (the Rishabh Pant's and the Jos Buttler's of the world) make for excellent options as their ability to rack up catches, stumpings and their ability to rack up points few other players can match.
