Cricket 2026

First year was just a trial, and Essex Wideboys (AKA Nobby's Nomads) took the acolades.

In 2025 we expanded it, and RunningFox took all the honours.

2026, I'm going to change to format again, actually simplify it, and make it far more player choice centric than before. None of this how many runs, biggest partnership number of catches 'STUFF', just which 7 of the 22 on the pitch do you think will be 'the best'.

It's going to be another year of 'LOADS' of cricket, lots of England games, but also the T20 World Cup, so certainly the latter stage games in that as well, and some of the other 'Foreign Games' a few in the group stages catch the eye (Australia v Ireland for example)

These are the England games I have noted already, and have on the radar

At the moment I don't know the winter games, but will add them when I do. (I'm sure there was talk of white ball games back in Australia)

But theres's enough to be getting along with

Let's start with the important bits.

Joining is going to cost you £25.00 and a percentage of that will go to The Ruth Strauss Foundation.

I will confirm how the remaining pot will be split, once we've confirmed our final numbers and the competition is up and running.

What YOU have to do.

So the format is quite easy.

Every game you will get to name 7 players that you think will smash a load of runs, take a load of wickets, or do both. The better they do, the more points they win you.

Points vary depending on the format being played, in a futile attempt to create a level playing field across the three formats. I wonder if this helps explain that in anyway.....😳😳

Effectively what the above is saying, is if you score runs, at a high run rate, then those runs are more valuable if your run rate is at 50%. If you bowl economically, and take wickets, you'll score more points than taking wickets, but going for a shed load of runs to get the wickets.

PLUS

Your Number 1 choice will win double points, your Number 2 choice, 1.5 times the points, Number 3, 1.25 times, Number 4 Full Points. Number 5 will get 3/4 points, Number 6 half points and Number 7 a quarter points.

So that's

Number 1 - Points X 2

Number 2 - Points x 1.5

Number 3 - Points x 1.25

Number 4 - Points

Number 5 - Points x 0.75

Number 6 - Points x 0.5

Number 7 - Points x 0.25

It's really that simple.

I'm ditching all the other GuessWork.

Your FIRST entry will also be stored as a default and used in the event that you miss the deadline for any other games during the season. If you pick England's opener in the first game as your Number 1, then your default player for that position will ALWAYS be England's Opener (E1). If you pick Sri Lanka's number 5 as your Number 2, your Number 2 default will ALWAYS be the opponent’s number 5.

YOU CAN JUST ENTER A DEFAULT SELECTION IF YOU WANT TO, AND SIT BACK AND HOPE (which let's face it is what those of us that pick do anyway)

This is the list of players I have signed on at the moment for the next Big Bash

The MasterBatter (of course)

RunningFox

Sandpaper Strikers

Stumped Again

I Don't Like Cricket... I Luv It

Nobby's Nomads

What A Load Of Hoppers

Back Green Blasters

Stov's Stokers

Bachman & Robin

The Codsall Crawley

Six Offenders

Brokebat Mountain

10 CC Again

The Bowler's Holding, The Batsman's Willy

Major Tom's A Junkie

The WolfPack

Addick Fan

Game 1 is 22 January, it was the same date last year, a very special day, and the deadline for your first Picks will be Wednesday night, the 21st, 10PM.

The Points and A Few Rules.....

Here's the small print for those interested enough to read it. You don't need to worry too much about all this, if you trust me. It will all be worked out in the background, but it's good to have it written down, as it reminds me of how it's meant to work

1. It's £25 to join in, and a percentage of the fees collected will be sent to The Ruth Strauss Foundation

2. The rest of the pot will be paid out to the eventual winner/runners up, and the splits will be confirmed once the final number of competitors is known.

3. Your Picks will need to be submitted before the deadline set for each match.

   1. If they are not submitted before the deadline, the default picks will be used

   2. If a player you have selected is not in the team announced at the toss, you can make a change before a ball is bowled, or your default will be subbed in for you.

   3. New for 2026 - If your Sub is already picked in one of the other 6 positions - they will effectively PLAY TWICE for you and score you points in both picked position

4. All players selected will score batting, bowling and fielding points as per the 'easy to understand' diagram I've included in the' above. You will pick 7 per match

5. The points on offer differ for each format, in an attempt to level the points on offer.

6. Put quite simply, the player with the most points at the end of the competition, wins it.

7. Most important rule is to enjoy it, and understand that what I say goes!!!