Obviously some people are trying to gift me a top 3 finish by not attending to the basic strategies of checking that the players they have selected are all playing. Some people have picked Tendulkar and Smith even though those players were never likely to play. Other late withdrawals were left in because some managers didn't edit their team. This is all basic stuff and is sufficient to put you out of contention for a top finish. I'm not saying you will finish in the top 3 if you do this but you run the risk of finishing near the bottom if you don't.

Having avoided picking non-players the next important step is to pick 11 players from approx 25 to 30 players from both squads. The 11 players should play every match in the series to earn as many points as possible. We know that McGrath and Afridi have been dropped for the second game. Guess what? I have neither of those players in my team and those managers who do may drift further behind me, as a result. You can see how quickly these errors in selection build up and dash your chances of winning. The current leader, sacredviper, has both McGrath and Afridi in his team so he is giving me a huge chance of overtaking him after game 2.

The next important issue is who should be in the team? Here you have to make a decision as to whether to include an even balance of players from both sides or fill your team predominantly with players from one side. You would do this if you felt the series was a one-sided contest. The managers who had an even balance of players from both sides in the Ashes game faired best because it was a close series between two evenly matched sides.

Once I establish that I choose the best, most experienced and in-form players. I use the CricInfo database, the CH 4 database and ICC player's rankings to help me. Using this information I decided not to include Pollock or McGrath in my side because they don't take enough wickets in one-day cricket. I chose the bowlers who consistently take wickets in one-day cricket. So, the difference between finishing in the top 10 and finishing in the top 3 is having the players who consistently take wickets and score runs in one-day cricket.

As far as the batting is concerned, I like to choose middle-order batsman because I feel they have the best opportunity to score runs against the part-time bowlers and all-rounders and time to build a significant innings. The openers have to face the best bowlers with the new ball and bat aggressively to take advantage of the fielding restrictions but they often lose their wickets cheaply in the process. I hope these tips help improve your team selections.