Think You're Better Than Duncan Fletcher?
If you're sitting at work reading on the 'net about the mess England have made to the start of their Ashes defence and think you could do a better job at selecting the team, why not try it for yourself at sportinglife.com. You could win a weekend at Lord's.
Fantasy Ashes is the place for cricket mad fans to take the reigns of the Barmy Army and restore them to the glory days of the 2005 side that took on the old enemy and brought the hallowed urn back to Blighty for the first time in 18 years. If England's first Test performance is anything to go by, however, it might not be there much longer.
The innovative Fantasy Ashes game gives cricket fans the chance to put their money where their mouth is, selecting and managing the England team for themselves. It can be accessed by logging onto the sportinglife.com Ashes microsite or by clicking onto Cricket365.com.
Each participant is given the opportunity to pick who they feel is the strongest starting line-up capable of scooping The Ashes. The available players are valued on a points scheme rated by recent performances, with a total of 45 points at your disposal. Thankfully, with the miserable start England has made you have three transfers to use, so you have the chance to swap Harmy for McGrath.
Players are allocated points for scoring runs, taking wickets and for the performance of their teams. A bowler will score more points for scoring runs than a batsman, so if you know a bowler is performing well at the crease he will be a great source of fantasy points for your team.
The overall winner will be the one with the highest score throughout the Ashes series and will win a VIP weekend for six people at Lord's, plus each highest scoring winner for every test match will win a Sony PSP. Plus, with the first Test going so badly, it's not too late to get involved if you want to be in with a chance of winning.
If nothing else, it may well be a welcome distraction from the action taking place down under.