GCF World Test Season 10 - SCHEDULING & DISCUSSION

[NS Global Cricket Federation]

Test Cricket — Season Ten

• NSSport Cricket Discussion Thread
• Season 9 scheduling thread
• Season 8 scheduling thread

Welcome to the latest season of Test cricket on NationStates, now in double figures!

Cricket, can be something of an, ahem, impenetrable sport to get into and understand, so here are a few links for those who might be slightly unsure of what the hell is happening here to look over:
-- A wonderful factbook by Ko-oren on the details of RPing cricket
-- Wikipedia page on Test Cricket
-- Explanation of how Test cricket works
-- A Beginners Guide to Cricket (Relatively Lengthy but Very Good!)
-- An image describing common positions players can field at on a cricket field.
-- Types of bowling in cricket.

This is the scheduling thread for bilateral Test series – while there will be a league table, there is no set requirement that teams must play every other team. As such, league points will be averaged by the number of games played. I will not be running a finals tournament for this season, but I think the league table does give some incentive for continued RP throughout the season - will anyone be able to hold the honour of being the top ranked nation and top of the table simultaneously?

Fixtures must be scheduled for one of 15 set matchdays. Each fixture must be scheduled according to the following conditions:

• Tests must be scheduled in series of two to five matches, against the same opponent, in the same home country.
• There will be no one-off Test matches scheduled.
• Nations can only schedule one series with any given opponent.
• Puppets should be declared, and series should not be scheduled against one's own puppet.
• IMPORTANT FOR NEW NATIONS: New Test nations may schedule a MAXIMUM of FIVE matches (whether as a single five-test series, or two series of two and three games respectively). This limit will be lifted once the nation participates actively in cricket RP to the satisfaction of the season's host.
  
  • This rule also applies to previous World T20 participants making their Test debut.
  • This rule will also apply to all Affiliate Members returning in future seasons, as Affiliate Members, by definition, have not met the standard for scheduling more Test matches.
  • Nations that have attained the rank of Associate Member or higher in previous GCF seasons, but are no longer ranked, are NOT restricted by this rule.

Proposed matchdays (subject to change):
MD1: Monday 21st January
MD2: Thursday 24th January
MD3: Saturday 26th January
MD4: Monday 28th January
MD5: Thursday 31st January
MD6: Monday 4th February
MD7: Thursday 7th February
MD8: Saturday 9th February
MD9: Monday 11th Feburary
MD10: Thursday 14th February
MD11: Monday 18th February
MD12: Thursday 21st February
MD13: Saturday 23rd February
MD14: Monday 25th February
MD15: Thursday 28th February

For example, New Nation A can host Nation B for a 3-game series on 21, 24, 26 January and Nation C for a 2-match series on 28 and 31 January. If they RP consistently during this period they will be allowed to schedule more fixtures beyond 31 January. This rule doesn't apply to established or returning Test nations.

To enter: Put your match invitations in this thread or do it by telegram. A series will be added to the schedule when both nations have confirmed same in this thread including dates to be played and host nation.

Confirmed Tests can be found here.

[NS Global Cricket Federation]

Post-season 9 GCF Rankings

Full Members                       Score  Pts/MP   Adjusted
 1 Liventia			 FM  123 (3834/31)  111.84
 2 Mattijana			 FM  120 (2400/20)  110.00
 3 Eura				 FM  114 (2408/21)  107.33
 4 Eastfield Lodge		 FM  112 (2581/23)  106.11
 5 Ethane			 FM  106 (1489/13)  103.18
 6 Barunia		 	 FM  105 (2944/28)  102.57
 7 Darmen			 FM  102 (2883/28)  101.48
 8 Ko-oren			 FM  101 (2027/20)  100.68
 9 Apox				 FM   95 (2584/27)   97.85
10 The Kiaser Colonies		 FM   87 (1400/16)   93.75
11 Lisander			 FM   73 (883/12)    86.79
12 The Plough Islands		 FM   70 (1050/15)   85.00
13 Tobiasia			 FM   67 (1289/19)   83.92

Associate Members
1 Elejamie			 AS   83 (417/5)     97.00

Affiliate Members
1 Northwest Kalactin		 AF  104 (728/7)     97.00

Inactive Members
1 Sargossa		      IN/AS   87 (603/7)     98.00
2 Qasden		      IN/AS   55 (165/3)     83.00

The GCF Season

1. Each GCF season runs for a period decided by the season host. The schedule must afford each nation the opportunity to schedule at least ten Test matches, one per scorination period. (There is no maximum number of Tests.)
2. Tests should not be scheduled for scorination on consecutive days, reflecting the measured pace of Test cricket.
3. Each nation may have at most one Test scheduled per scorination period. Determination of home ground is up to the nations who agree to play.
4. Nations are strongly encouraged to schedule series of two or more consecutive Tests with the same host nation instead of one-offs. Nations are strongly discouraged from playing home-and-away series or two or more one-offs in the same season with the same opponent.

The GCF Rankings

5. Definitions

• One-off Test: Any Test not part of a series. One-off results are added to ratings of Full Members and Associate Members immediately; for Candidates the results are held until qualification for Associate Member status and then added in.
• Series: Two, three or more consecutive Tests between the same parties and played in the same host nation. Results for both the series and all constituent Tests are added into ratings only after the series is complete.
• Match: All Tests and all series are considered matches. A one-off Test is one match. A two-Test series is three matches; a three-Test series, four matches.
• Full Member (FM): A nation calendared in the current Test season that has accumulated 10 or more matches, counting this season and the most recent completed season, and is not an Affiliate Member.
• Associate Member (AS): A nation calendared in the current Test season that has completed at least one series but does not yet meet the standard for Full Member, and is not an Affiliate Member.
• Affiliate Member (AF): A nation calendared in the current Test season that has completed at least one series, but has not been allowed to schedule more than five Tests due to roleplaying restrictions.
  Affiliate Members can be promoted to Associate Members; once Associate Membership is obtained, the nation will retain Associate or Full Membership permanently while active. Returning Associate or Full Members will start at Candidate level, but bypass Affiliate status once the appropriate criteria are met.
• Candidate (CA): A nation calendared in the current Test season that has yet to complete a series.
• Competitors in the most recent complete season that have not calendared in the current Test season are coded IN for Inactive, or CE if their federation has Ceased to Exist. Records are maintained for a possible return to activity.

6. A Candidate has a rating of 100 for all purposes.
8. When rating one nation in a series, if their opponent is rated more than 40 points higher/lower at the start of the series then treat that calculated rating as exactly 40 points higher/lower instead for purposes of this formula.
9. The rating points earned by one nation in a series (or a one-off) equal the opponent's calculated rating times the number of matches, plus 50 times the number of matches won, minus 50 times the number of matches lost.

Example: Four-Test series, A (rated 125) in B (rated 75). A wins Tests 1 and 4, B wins Test 2, and Test 3 is drawn.

A treats B as if rated 85, and gets (85*5)+(50*3)-(50*1) = 425+150-50 = 525 rating points.
B treats A as if rated 115, and gets (115*5)+(50*1)-(50*3) = 575+50-150 = 475 rating points.

10. A four-step procedure is used to update ratings.

• a. Add the rating points for each nation to their previous total.
• b. Add the number of matches played to that previous total.
• c. Divide the new rating points total by the updated number of matches to get an updated calculated rating.
• d. Average the calculated rating with the required constant, producing an adjusted rating correct to two decimal places for Full Members and rounded towards 100 for Associate and Affiliate Members.

11. An Associate or Affiliate Member whose calculated rating is above 100 averages the calculated rating with 90, rounding towards 100; an Associate or Affiliate Member whose calculated rating is below 100 averages the calculated rating with 110, rounding towards 100.
12. All Full Members average their calculated rating with 100, for their adjusted rating.
13. Ratings are based on data from the current season and and the two immediately preceding complete seasons. At the end of each season all older results are purged and ratings recalculated accordingly.

The League standings
14. League points will be awarded as follows: 16 points for a win, 9 for a tie, 5 for a draw, an additional 4 points for a first-innings lead or 2 points for a first-innings tie, 1 bonus point for a win by 10 wickets or an innings.
15. To account for the different number of matches each team may play, the final total – not including bonus points – will be averaged by the number of matches played. This does not include series (unlike when tabulating the rankings, which do count series as matches). Bonus points are to be added after the average. Teams tied on points shall not be separated.

[Eastfield Lodge]

The 4th ranked nation are looking for a 3-4 test series in Eastfield Lodge to begin with.

[The Plough Islands]

The Plough Islands Cricket Association will be pleased to return to the Test arena for 2019 :3

We'll see how the later schedule pans out but we'd like to propose the following; a two-Test series on MD1 and MD2 against (Siovanija and) Teusland, to be played at home in the Plough Islands, and a three-Test series at some point in the mid-season, against Apox, to be played away in Apox. We'd also like to play Ko-oren for some Tests (and potentially exciting unofficial ODIs!) at the end of the season, but we'll see how that works with our schedules

Looking forward to this already, and hopefully we can broaden our horizons a bit - anyone else who wants to travel to or host the Foxes for a series, let me know. I'd like to keep a one-MD buffer between individual series, but if you're interested feel free to poke me on telegram or Discord (joey_picus#2168 or the NS Sports server).

[Liventia]

Based on the current proposed dates for matches, Liventia will look for four series as follows:

TWO GAMES AWAY: MD1-2
FOUR GAMES HOME: MD4-7
FOUR GAMES AWAY: MD9-12
TWO GAMES HOME: MD14-15

Please only apply to play the world number 1 Test team if you have previously shown you can RP cricket.

The Liventian CBA will also offer to play Ko-oren and Darmen if both boards are willing.

[Ko-oren]

We'd also like to play Ko-oren for some Tests (and potentially exciting unofficial ODIs!) at the end of the season

Four tests, MDs 12 through 15? In the Plough Islands this time, as the season 9 series took place in Ko-oren?

Apart from that, I'm looking for a few series on the first 11 MDs. I'm willing to play a short series against a new nation as well.

[The Plough Islands]

Four tests, MDs 12 through 15? In the Plough Islands this time, as the season 9 series took place in Ko-oren?

Sounds good to us, we'll make that official

[Ethane]

The 4th ranked nation are looking for a 3-4 test series in Eastfield Lodge to begin with.

We're down for a 4-test series, MD1-4, with you.

[Eastfield Lodge]

The 4th ranked nation are looking for a 3-4 test series in Eastfield Lodge to begin with.

We're down for a 4-test series, MD1-4, with you.

Sure

[Apox]

...and a three-Test series at some point in the mid-season, against Apox, to be played away in Apox...

How does Matchdays 9-11 sound to you for hosting the Plough Islands in Apox? (EDIT: Just seen you'd like to have a one-match buffer, so organising our series for MD8-10 also works fine for me if you'd prefer.)

I'm looking for some other series as well, either against established teams or newcomers. Would be nice to have a series at some point against a nation we've played before in Test cricket. But would be interested in something along the lines of:

MD1-3/4: A three or four match series in Apox
MD5-7/8: A three or four match series on the road
MD14-15: Friendly two match series to finish off the season, no preference as to whether it's home or away.

[Ko-oren]

TWO GAMES AWAY: MD1-2

The Liventian CBA will also offer to play Ko-oren and Darmen if both boards are willing.

Can we host you in Ko-oren for MDs 1 and 2?

[The Plough Islands]

How does Matchdays 9-11 sound to you for hosting the Plough Islands in Apox? (EDIT: Just seen you'd like to have a one-match buffer, so organising our series for MD8-10 also works fine for me if you'd prefer.)

8-10 works, shall we get that scheduled?

[Liventia]

TWO GAMES AWAY: MD1-2

The Liventian CBA will also offer to play Ko-oren and Darmen if both boards are willing.

Can we host you in Ko-oren for MDs 1 and 2?

Done deal.

[Siovanija and Teusland]

The Plough Islands Cricket Association will be pleased to return to the Test arena for 2019 :3

We'll see how the later schedule pans out but we'd like to propose the following; a two-Test series on MD1 and MD2 against (Siovanija and) Teusland, to be played at home in the Plough Islands, and a three-Test series at some point in the mid-season, against Apox, to be played away in Apox. We'd also like to play Ko-oren for some Tests (and potentially exciting unofficial ODIs!) at the end of the season, but we'll see how that works with our schedules

Looking forward to this already, and hopefully we can broaden our horizons a bit - anyone else who wants to travel to or host the Foxes for a series, let me know. I'd like to keep a one-MD buffer between individual series, but if you're interested feel free to poke me on telegram or Discord (joey_picus#2168 or the NS Sports server).

Confirming this on our end. Also confirming, as discussed on Discord, a three-Test series on matchdays 4, 5 and 6 against Ko-oren, to be hosted by Teusland. That finalizes our current schedule as:

MD1-2: Teusland in Plough Islands
MD4-6: Ko-oren in Teusland

Looking forward to our debut season!

[Ko-oren]

Confirming this on our end. Also confirming, as discussed on Discord, a three-Test series on matchdays 4, 5 and 6 against Ko-oren, to be hosted by Teusland.

Just here to confirm that.

Also, the Ko-orenite schedule for now:
1-2 v Liventia @ Ko-oren
4-6 @ Teusland
12-15 @ Plough Islands

Which means I've got one opening left, so I'm looking for either a series of 3 Tests on MDs 8, 9, and 10, a series of 4 Tests from MDs 7-10, or a series of 4 Tests from MDs 8-11. For RP purposes, I'd like the series to include one or more (unofficial) ODIs, and that the series will be played in Ko-oren.

[Elejamie]

I'm up for a three-game series. I'm not picky about who my opponent is, I'm not picky about when the matches will be held and I'm not even picky if I'm hosting or if someone else hosts.

[Darmen]

OOC: I'm a pretty sick right now, so apologies if I've missed something or double booked anyone.

Which means I've got one opening left, so I'm looking for either a series of 3 Tests on MDs 8, 9, and 10, a series of 4 Tests from MDs 7-10, or a series of 4 Tests from MDs 8-11. For RP purposes, I'd like the series to include one or more (unofficial) ODIs, and that the series will be played in Ko-oren.

Darmen would certainly be up for playing in Ko-oren, especially since we hosted you twice last season. MDs 8-10.

FOUR GAMES HOME: MD4-7

The Liventian CBA will also offer to play Ko-oren and Darmen if both boards are willing.

Darmen accepts the offer from the Liventian CBA to play against Darmen. MDs 4-7.

Tentative Schedule
MDs 1-3: OPEN
MDs 4-7: Darmen in Liventia
MDs 8-10: Darmen in Ko-oren
MDs 11-15: OPEN

Darmen would further like to state its desire to face the Plough Islands (AWAY-2 matches?) and Eastfield Lodge (HOME-3 matches?), plus one other series (HOME-3 matches?) on the remaining open matchdays, subject of course to the opponents also being open on those matchdays.

[Eastfield Lodge]

OOC: I'm a pretty sick right now, so apologies if I've missed something or double booked anyone.

Which means I've got one opening left, so I'm looking for either a series of 3 Tests on MDs 8, 9, and 10, a series of 4 Tests from MDs 7-10, or a series of 4 Tests from MDs 8-11. For RP purposes, I'd like the series to include one or more (unofficial) ODIs, and that the series will be played in Ko-oren.

Darmen would certainly be up for playing in Ko-oren, especially since we hosted you twice last season. MDs 8-10.

FOUR GAMES HOME: MD4-7

The Liventian CBA will also offer to play Ko-oren and Darmen if both boards are willing.

Darmen accepts the offer from the Liventian CBA to play against Darmen. MDs 4-7.

Tentative Schedule
MDs 1-3: OPEN
MDs 4-7: Darmen in Liventia
MDs 8-10: Darmen in Ko-oren
MDs 11-15: OPEN

Darmen would further like to state its desire to face the Plough Islands (AWAY-2 matches?) and Eastfield Lodge (HOME-3 matches?), plus one other series (HOME-3 matches?) on the remaining open matchdays, subject of course to the opponents also being open on those matchdays.

Darmen vs EFL, MDs 13-15?

[Apox]

How does Matchdays 9-11 sound to you for hosting the Plough Islands in Apox? (EDIT: Just seen you'd like to have a one-match buffer, so organising our series for MD8-10 also works fine for me if you'd prefer.)

8-10 works, shall we get that scheduled?

Confirming.

Darmen - would you be interested in hosting an Apoxian tour MD1-3?

[Ko-oren]

Darmen would certainly be up for playing in Ko-oren, especially since we hosted you twice last season. MDs 8-10.

Yes please!

That's my schedule booked for season 10!

[Liventia]

Confirming Darmen in Liventia 4–7.

Liventia schedule:
MD1–2: Liventia in Ko-oren (two Tests)
MD4–7: Darmen in Liventia (four Tests)
MD9–12: FOUR TESTS AWAY open
MD14–15: TWO TESTS HOME open

[Lisander]

Unfortunately, this time, Lisander won't be around. Have fun, my friends.

[Darmen]

Darmen vs EFL, MDs 13-15?

Sounds good. Just want to confirm that the series will be hosted by Darmen, correct?

Darmen - would you be interested in hosting an Apoxian tour MD1-3?

I absolutely would!

Tentative Schedule
MDs 1-3: Apox in Darmen (CONFIRMED)
MDs 4-7: Darmen in Liventia (CONFIRMED)
MDs 8-10: Darmen in Ko-oren (CONFIRMED)
MDs 11-12: OPEN
MDs 13-15: Eastfield Lodge in Darmen (CONFRIMED)

That leaves me with MDs 11 & 12 still open. I'm open to playing anybody, but preference will be given to the following: 1. Rushmori nations, 2. nations we've faced before in Test Cricket, 3. nations who have proven their ability to RP cricket, 4. anyone else.

[Eastfield Lodge]

Darmen vs EFL, MDs 13-15?

Sounds good. Just want to confirm that the series will be hosted by Darmen, correct?

Darmen - would you be interested in hosting an Apoxian tour MD1-3?

I absolutely would!

Tentative Schedule
MDs 1-3: Apox in Darmen (TBC)
MDs 4-7: Darmen in Liventia (CONFIRMED)
MDs 8-10: Darmen in Ko-oren (CONFIRMED)
MDs 11-12: OPEN
MDs 13-15: Eastfield Lodge in Darmen (Host TBC)

That leaves me with MDs 11 & 12 still open. I'm open to playing anybody, but preference will be given to the following: 1. Rushmori nations, 2. nations we've faced before in Test Cricket, 3. nations who have proven their ability to RP cricket, 4. anyone else.

Aye.

Current EFL schedule (home team listed first)
MDs 1-4: Eastfield Lodge vs Ethane
MDs 5-12: Free
MDs 13-15: Darmen vs Eastfield Lodge

[Apox]

Confirming Apox in Darmen for MDs1-3 then.

Still free for MD4-7 and MD11-15 if anyone is interested in playing the Apoxians.

Will update the schedule later on today.