Congratulations to the VVinners of the Sri Lanka v India edition and and the top players leading in the England v South Africa edition of the fantasy game. For the moment, the only prize we can offer you is pride of place in this post and the promise that we'll have some cool prizes in our future editions.

Hopefully sooner, rather than later, we'll have rewards for all the top performers that go beyond verbal kudos and virtual 'pats on back'. Until then, please put your hands together for the stellar performers in these two leagues and put your heads together to try and unravel what is it about them that makes them better than the rest of us at fantasy cricket.

Sri Lanka v India (2008) VVinners:
chauhannoida11
tutul101
shravan_s

England v South Africa (2008) - the leading contenders:
VijayDodia
MOConnor
DockersDoesDallas

See the final standings of the SL v India editions.

Just today, I got rid of Stuart Broad from my fantasy side for the England v South Africa ODI at Trent Bridge. And look what he ends up doing to SA and yours truly. Only goes to show, as Lawrence Booth said, making predictions is a mug's game.

I mean, what were the odds of Stuart Broad running through the South African top order? After his insipid bowling displays in the Test series, next to nil if you asked me. I had Harmison in my team. I had Flintoff. I had Collingwood. I even had Prior. On past performance, they all stood a better chance of returning with a good performance than Broad. But it was not to be.

Well, as they say, that's how the cookie crumbles. Alongwith my chances of making major progress with my fantasy team. In other words, business as usual.

Don't forget to rejig your fantasy teams for the England v South Africa ODIs commencing today. More all rounders, new faces and whole new set of transfers to help you get your combinations spot on. It's not going to be easy. But that's what makes it all the more engrossing. Right? Right.

And to help you make up your mind, here's the preview for today's match at Headingley. Just so you know who among the injury-prone is in and who's not. For starters, Sidebottom is out. Again.

So I was talking to Mr. Name Withheld (NW) about whether India will get thrashed again and what an ideal fantasy team should be before tomorrow's match. Is it time to bet on Mendis as your Trump? And how many transfers should you waste now? Is it ok to lose all and make a team for the remaining ODIs? And that stopped me in my tracks. Why on earth would you want to be me and use up all your transfers after one ODI? Let's see

NW: how many transfers should u waste now..
NW: is it ok to lose all and make a team for all the reamining ODIs..
avi subu: is it?
NW: I am just tossing ideas...
NW: u see what makes sense..
avi subu: am asking
avi subu: what do you think?
NW: I think its ok....
avi subu: do you have a tream?
avi subu: why is it ok?
NW: ya, but not updated for ages..
avi subu: there are 4 odis to go
avi subu: why is it ok to use up all fuve transfersa?
NW: just to be done with the worry of updating everyday!
avi subu: but that's not good fantasy strategy
NW: who said I am a fantasy guru!
avi subu: but this is fantasy post
avi subu: if you say it, one has to back it up, no
avi subu: we have a serious fantasy audience
NW: hmmmm....
NW: maybe serious , but we can just put the context...let them comment..
avi subu: because i am going to put this conversation on the fantasy blog

And I did. What do you think?

XI Downing Streets

SL LPC Silva
IND SK Raina
SL DPMD Jayawardene
IND G Gambhir
SL ST Jayasuriya
IND MS Dhoni
SL KC Sangakkara Trump Player
SL BAW Mendis
IND PP Ojha
IND Z Khan
IND Harbhajan Singh

Sold Players
SL BSM Warnapura
SL TT Samaraweera
SL TM Dilshan
IND SR Tendulkar
IND V Sehwag
IND I Sharma

what do you think? thank god, tendulkar made himself unavailable. i would have found it impossible to sell him. after all, you never drop tendulkar. ok.

Update: Thanks for the comment. Choosing the Trump player is always a gamble. But yes, Mendis would be a calculated gamble. High time I chose him as my Trump. But what if the Indian batsmen finally do well against him tomorrow? I'll decide tomorrow.

our jo in colombo, jamie alter says india are almost certainly go in for the first match with a 6,5 combination. and if that's the case, it's almost definitely going to be a 3,2 bowling attack. which in all likelihood points to ojha getting a look-in. this is for those of you who weren't sure whether ojha should or not be in their fantasy side. at 80000 _FMs, he might be deliver a pleasant surprise. if you ask me, i'll pass.

Just a quick reminder to all of you who haven't yet put together a ODI fantasy team, or two, for the upcoming ODIs between India and Sri Lanka, the first match starts tomorrow. And your time to get together a fantasy team for the match runs out 30 minutes before the official start time.

As you're probably aware, you get a fresh set of 6 transfers to play around with during the ODIs. Use them well. And now, I'm off to take another look at my team. My gut feeling is it's not going to be such a great series for Ajantha Mendis. In other words, a pretty good one for Yuvraj? We'll see.

It's time to transfer.

Between the end of the Test series and the start of the ODIs, all fantasy players are given the opportunity to rejig their teams. In order to do this to the best of their ability during the duration of the ODIs, players are given 6 transfers to play around with. Until then, 'transfer away' all you want.

Not that it makes much sense to spend too much time thinking about these things. Just make sure you don't run out of options at the end of one or two ODIs. (That would be me.)

Check out the fresh players who have been added to the respective fantasy pools and at what cost they come. The Indian team in particular has a lot of new faces and it'll be interesting to see which of them provide maximum value for money.

the ODIs are a very different cup of tea and it might make sense to put a little more faith in the teams that didn't do so well in the Tests because they aren't the same teams any more. Time then to put on your thinking caps.

One of the most exciting things about every series is being able to identify and keep track of the probable 'Shane Watsons' in it. In this post we're going to take a first look at who the front-runners for the 'Shane Watson of the India v Sri Lanka Award' (SWISLAW) are. Let's meet them.

The SWISLAW leaderboard as at 06 August, 2008:
Ajantha Mendis: 790/90000_FMs(0.0087)/2 Tests
Muralitharan: 856/100000_FMs(0.0085)/2 Tests
Harbhajan Singh: 681/90000_FMs(0.0075)/2 Tests
Sehwag: 484/95000_FMs (0.0051)/2 Tests
Malinda Warnapura: 251/85000_FMs (0.0029)/2 Tests
Gautam Gambhir: 249/90000_FMs (0.0028)/2 Tests
Mahela Jayawardene: 284/95000_FMs (0.0029)/2 Tests

Clearly, it's been a series in which the spinners have done exceedingly well. (Save for the fading Kumble.) And despite Ajantha possessing the advantage of being a complete unknown the batsmen are still coming to terms with, it says a lot for the the 'old fox' Murali's skills that he's just a shade behind Mendis in the race for the most prestigious, and mostly unknown, SWISLAW.

Coming to the batsmen who have managed to make an impression, Sehwag is streets ahead of the rest. (Quite an achievement considering the Sri Lankans are the masters of batting at home.) That the quartet of Sachin, Sourav, Dravid and Laxman haven't done much in this series - apart from raise many a concerned eyebrow - is a sure sign that, given a spinning wicket, even the likes of Dravid, Sachin, Sourav and Laxman (all supposed pros at playing slow bowling) aren't that great at coping.

After bemoaning the lack of openers who can tackle the new ball and set up a foundation for the batsmen to follow, given great starts in this series the four titans of the Indian batting line-up haven't been able to capitalise. Maybe it's time they took a long, hard look at themselves and considered opening the batting in the next Test. It might be the only way they'll get a substantial score against their name before the likes of Mendis and Murali come to bowl.

The SWESAW leaderboard as at 22nd July, 3 pm (IST):
Mornie Morkel: 438/85000_FMs (0.0051)
Ashwell Prince: 432/85000_FMs (0.0050)
Ian Bell: 390/90000_FMs (0.044)
James Anderson: 344/95000_FMs (0.0036)
SCJ Broad: 326/90000_FMs(0.0036)

Honourable SWESAW mentions:
AB de Villiers: 310/90000_FMs(0.0034)
Dale Steyne: 330/100000_FMs (0.0033)
KP: 303/100000_FMs (0.0030)

And that was how the SWESAW looked the last time we met. For those of you who are coming in late, the SWESAW is a most prestigious, albeit mostly unknown, award handed out to players with the highest return on investment. It is named after the Australian all-rounder Shane Watson and was instituted after he ran away with the most valuable player tag at this year's IPL, this after he was ridiculously undervalued. Inspired by the incredible returns players who invested in Shane Watson enjoyed, we thought it only right to immortalise this wholly unexpected 'maxi'-performance with the SW____award.

Last time we looked at the SWESAW standings, and before the momentous third Test in which Graeme Smith made a huge play for the leaderboard, Mornie Morkel was leading the race for the top award that nobody knows about. Has he been dislodged from the top? Let's find out.

The SWESAW leaderboard as at 5th August 2008:
Mornie Morkel: 618/85000_FMs (0.0072)/3 matches
Graeme Smith: 540/95000_FMs (0.0056)/3 matches
Ashwell Prince: 490/85000_FMs (0.0057)/3 matches
James Anderson: 502/95000_FMs (0.0052)/3 matches

Honourable SWESAW mention:
Andrew Flintoff: 411/90000_FMs (0.0046)/2 matches

At the end of the third Test, Morkel continues to lead the SWESAW table. As expected, Smith has made a strong run for a final place in the SWESAW top 3. The English players on the other hand who dominated the race in the initial stages of the series have fallen away, mirroring the way this series has developed.

Crucially, the appearance of Flintoff on the SWESAW radar after featuring in only 2 Test matches (both of which his team lost) makes one wonder what might have been - both with respect to the SWESAW standings and the course of the series - had he been fit enough to play in the first Test at Lord's. See you after the final Test when we will find out who wins the most prestigious and mostly unknown SWESAW for this England v South Africa series.