FANTASY CRICKET: Top trio hope to clinch £400 prize on final day

With no games played in the Bolton League at the weekend he is in pole position to scoop the £400 prize sponsored by Anthony Axford timber merchants of Farnworth.

His two main rivals, Raj Shah and Horwich Cricket Club, are close behind in the competition which is based on the performances of selected Bolton League players.

There is only one week of games remaining and the leading trio have three common players in their teams – Imran Mirza, David Mather and Ryan Ayres – with five more – Qaiser Abbas, Curtis Anderton, Phil Ingram, Joseph Speak and Calum Barlow – featuring in two of them.

It may, therefore, be difficult for the teams in second and third place to topple Naylor from the summit unless some of their other picks have outstanding performances in the last round of matches on Saturday.

Some to watch out for include a number who have appeared in the team of the week throughout the season such as Steven Hodgkinson, Majid Majeed, Jonathan Fowler, Tahir Maqsood, Nick Fawcett and Iain Critchley.

The challenge is on for Naylor to hold on to top spot on the final day and two of the games our leading trio will no doubt be keeping a close eye on are Adlington v Daisy Hill and Atherton v Blackrod.

Points in the Fantasy Cricket competition, in which The Bolton News teamed up with the Bolton Cricket League to organise, are awarded to the players depending on how well they perform in the 18 league games.

The winning entrant will be the one who amasses the most points throughout the season and the competition is based on the MVP (Most Valuable Player) statistics from the electronic scoring system CricHQ.

Entrants selected five players from the Premier Division and five from the Association Division plus one professional from either division.

The fun game runs throughout the Bolton League season and every Thursday an updated table is in The Bolton News and on our website.

The points scoring sees a bowler’s unassisted wicket worth 2.5 points.

A wicket taken with the assistance of a fielder or wicketkeeper is worth 1.25 points for the bowler and 1.25 points for the fielder or wicketkeeper.

A bowler is awarded a 10-per-cent bonus for each subsequent wicket, and is rewarded if their economy rate is lower than the team’s average and penalised if it is higher.

A fielder earns 2.5 points for each run out, and a 10-per-cent bonus for each subsequent catch or run out. Batsmen earn 2.5 points for every 25 runs scored, and are rewarded if their strike rate is higher than the team’s average and penalised if it is lower.

Batsmen lower down the order can earn bonuses not available to the batsmen higher in the order.

Only the main Bolton League competition will count towards the points, and players need to be participating to add to their points.

The prize money will be shared if there is more than one winner.

Leaderboard:

Pos Team Pts

1 Craig Naylor 1349.72

2 Raj Shah 1328.28

3 HORWICH CC 1322.45

4 Mike Leeming 1264.63

5 Daniel Holmes 1259.22

6 Stuart Leigh 1241.43

7 Iain McLellan 1240.41

8 Neil Kell 1234.40

9 Aiden Constantine 1225.34

10 Tom Senior 1218.69

11 Connor Lord 1215.77

12 Anthony Foster 1214.98

13 David Morris 1211.33

14 Steven Chilton 1206.52

15 WESTHOUGHTON CC 1202.10

16 Tim Barrow 1201.45

17 Garry Brown 1197.02

18 ADLINGTON CC 1189.94

19 Chris Hobson 1180.19

20 Paul Walsh 1165.85

21 Phil Andrews 1162.63

22 Craig Berry 1147.54

23 Leanne Taylor 1146.67

24 Caroline Riley 1132.74

25 Alex Lee 1130.02

26 Ron Dickenson 1126.41

27 Mike Cregan 1124.95

28 Neil Redford 1124.03

29 Ray Taylor 1120.19

30 Danny Khan 1118.79

31 Gary Tonge 1118.71

32 David Cryer 1110.09

33 Simon Booth 1106.96

34 Curtis Anderton 1096.71

35 Nick Ford 1091.81

36 Calum Barlow 1078.68

37 Tom Sheen 1075.92

38 Tiana Lowe 1065.79

39 Seb Miller 1062.54

40 Andrew Lane 1061.63

41 Jason Raynor 1053.08

42 Steve Hodgkinson 1042.93

43 Robert Hardman 1041.65

44 Michael Chilton 1038.53

45 Danny Delvard 1038.26

46 Josh Gilluley 1036.00

47 John Barrow 1033.46

48 Harry Morgan 1030.15

49 Paul Hutchinson 1028.23

50 Stephen Berry 1026.37

51 Michael Rutherford 1020.12

52 “Little Jen” 1015.76

53 LOSTOCK CC 1010.22

54 Grant Cordin 1009.04

55 Barrie Cryer 1002.43

56 Sehran Khan 1001.44

57 David Tonge 998.44

58 Demelza Kendall 987.12

59 Sue Taylor 980.82

60 Mark Atherton 980.29

61 Ian Pilkington 976.28

62 Lee Bridge 972.61

63 Chris Parsons 968.19

64 TONGE CC 962.98

65 Thomas James 946.38

66 Tayler Heyes 933.63

67 Chris Barrow 929.48

68 Chris Worrall 929.16

69 Tom Schofield 928.13

70 Mark Howarth 925.87

71 Paul Schofield 911.75

72 Mark Crowder 885.63

73 FARNWORTH CC 885.63

74 Matthew Hargraves 871.36

75 Nikki Taylor 866.01

76 Steven Williams 864.43

77 Bradley Yates 855.04

78 Dave Halliday 839.03

79 Cameron Murray 837.48

80 Lewis Andrews 832.74

81 Tracey Phillips 832.22

82 Tom Hardstaff 817.07

83 Zak Burton 817.05

84 LITTLE HULTON CC 806.00

85 Graham Oxtoby 804.10

86 EAGLEY CC 772.17

87 Mike Buckley 767.55

88 Mr W D Entwistle 751.21

89 GOLBORNE CC 735.69

90 ATHERTON CC 725.40

91 HEATON CC 718.79

92 DAISY HILL CC 667.44

93 Jackie Yates 666.63

94 LITTLE LEVER CC 657.22

95 KEARSLEY CC 635.61

96 BLACKROD CC 622.95

97 FARNWORTH SC CC 591.48

98 WALKDEN CC 589.94

99 ASTLEY BRIDGE CC 587.44

100 DARCY LEVER CC 551.69

101 Bradley Barrow 521.82

102 Niall Burke 521.13

103 BRADSHAW CC 452.02

104 Dominique Hankinson 413.11