In under three weeks time, the biggest tournament in cricket will kick off in New Zealand and Australia. That’s right, it’s the World Cup. This tournament is held once every four years, with 14 competing nations divided into two groups of seven. Each country will play every other team in their group once, with the top four from the two groups progressing to the quarter-finals, and subsequently the semi-finals and final. New Zealand will kick off the World Cup against Sri Lanka in Christchurch on the 14th February, with the final set to take place on the 29th March in Melbourne, Australia. 

Cricket and Fantasy sports fans in general can register for the World Cup Fantasy Cricket game here. Upon doing so, you’ll be sent a verification email which you must click on to complete registration and create your team.

Below is a list of the rules, including how scoring and transfers work, and at the end, you can find the code to join the FFScout league for the Fantasy Cricket World Cup game.

THE RULES

SELECTING AN XI:

For Tournament Mode and Match Mode, you have 1 million Credits to build a squad of 11 players. Each player has been assigned roles (batsman, all-rounder, wicket keeper, bowler), and a price (ranging from 60,000 Credits to 110,000 Credits). Players are priced based on their overall ODI record, experience and form. Care has been taken to provide a wide range of prices for each team, so that users can create valid squads for each match.

• Squad Balance:
• 4 or 5 batsmen.
• At least 1 all rounder.
• Exactly 1 wicket keeper (you can pick variable role wicket keepers as batsmen)
• At least 2 bowlers.

• Team Spread: Not more than 6 players from any one ICC Cricket World Cup team.

Once you have selected a squad, you can pick any one player from your XI to be the Power Player. Your Power Player earns you double points, so he can make a big difference to your score. Your XI will start earning points from the next match.

Remember, for Match Mode, you need to select a new XI for each match. You have to select your squad, and choose your Power Player before the first ball of a match is bowled. Winners will be declared for each match based on the points scored.

EARNING POINTS:

Players who are in your Fantasy XI earn points based on their actual performance in the ICC Cricket World Cup matches. The points are calculated as follows.

Example:  A batsman who scores 77 runs off 52 balls with three sixes and five fours will receive:
Base: 77 + Strike Rate: 2*(77-52) + Milestone: 25 (for reaching 75) + Impact: (9 + 5) points (for three sixes and five fours). His total batting points will therefore be 77 + 50 + 25 + 14 = 166 points.

• Batting Points:
• Base: 1 point per run.
• Strike Rate: Number of runs – Number of balls faced. Doubled if positive, halved if negative.
• Milestone Bonus: 10 points for 50, 15 more points for reaching 75, 20 more points for reaching 100, and so on.
• Impact: Three points per six. One point per four and minus five for getting out for a duck.

Example:  A bowler with figures of 3.2 overs, one maiden, 18 runs and two wickets will earn:
Base: 60 points (30 points per wicket) + Economy Rate: (20 balls – 18) = two points. Milestone: 10 (for two wickets). Impact: 15 points for the maiden. His total bowling points will therefore be 60 + 2 + 10 + 15 = 87 points.

• Bowling Points:
• Base: 30 points per wicket.
• Economy Rate: (Balls Bowled) – (Runs Conceded).
• Milestone: 10 points for taking two wickets, 15 more points for a third wicket, 20 more points for a fourth wicket, and so on.
• Impact: 15 points for a maiden over.

• Fielding Points:
• 15 points for a catch.
• 20 points for a stumping.
• 15 points for a run-out (to each player involved in the run-out).
• 20 points for a direct hit.

• Bonus Points
• 50 points for being declared the official Man of the Match.
• In Stages 1 & 2 (League Matches), 10 points to each player in the winning XI.
• In Stage 3 (Quarter Finals), 15 points to each player in the winning XI.
• In Stage 4 (Semi Finals and the Final), 20 points to each player in the winning XI.

NOTE:
a) All the above points get doubled for your Power Player.
b) Points earned by a player do not depend on his role(s).
c) Scoring rules remain the same across both game modes.

MAKING SUBSTITUTIONS:

During the course of the tournament, you can constantly make changes to your Tournament Mode squad to make sure that you always have a few players in every match.

Any substitutions you make will come into effect in the next match. Effectively, the squad you have at the start of each ICC Cricket World Cup match is the one that will earn points for that match.

• Before Match 1, you can make as many changes as you want.
• Between Match 1 and Match 21 (Stage 1), you are allowed to make 42 substitutions.
• After Stage 1 ends, you can make unlimited subs to your squad.
• Between Match 22 and Match 42 (Stage 2), you are allowed to make 42 substitutions.
• After Stage 2 ends, you can make unlimited subs to your squad.
• Between Quarter Final 1 and Quarter Final 4 (Stage 3), you are allowed to make 18 substitutions.
• After Stage 3 ends, you can again make unlimited subs to your squad.
• Between Semi Final 1 and the Final (Stage 4), you can make 10 substitutions.

NOTE: Transitions from unlimited subs to limited subs, and vice versa, happen when the first ball of a match is bowled.

Example: When the first ball of Match 1 is bowled, you move from unlimited subs to 42 subs. Similarly, you move to unlimited subs as soon as the first ball of Match 21 is bowled.

You can change your Power Player (from within your squad) as often as you want. Whoever you have as your Power Player at the start of a match, will score double points for that match. So, it makes sense to change your Power Player before every match.

STEALTH MODE

Every hotly contested league has a few crucial matches, when you’re making critical substitutions and trying to earn as many points as possible. In such cases, hiding your squad changes from opponents adds a massive strategic advantage.

Stealth Mode is a feature that lets you do exactly that. You can activate Stealth Mode in the Confirm Substitutions pane in the Change Squad page.

Once activated, other users will not be able to see your current squad. Instead, when they visit your page, they will see the squad and updated time for the previous match. There will be no indication that you are in Stealth Mode, it will simply look like you’ve made no changes since the previous match.

If you are in Stealth Mode, you can make any number of changes and none of them will be visible. Your new squad is revealed only after the next lock-in.

You can activate Stealth Mode for any five matches of your choice, from Match 2 onwards.

Scheduled Substitutions

There may be days on which you are unable to make substitutions because you may be travelling, stuck in a meeting or stranded on a desert island. In such situations, scheduling your substitutions beforehand is a big relief.

The Scheduled Substitutions feature lets you schedule changes one match in advance, by clicking on the “Schedule Substitutions” link on your home page. You can also review or cancel scheduled subs from your homepage.

You can only schedule subs for the match after the next one. So if the next match is Match 5, you can schedule squad changes for Match 6.

All Scheduled Substitutions for a match will be automatically performed after the lock-in of the previous match.

Warning: If you have subs scheduled for a match, you cannot make changes to your squad unless you cancel those scheduled subs.

You can also choose to activate Stealth Mode along with your Scheduled Substitutions.

The Scheduled Substitutions feature can be used any number of times.

In Match Mode, you choose a new squad for each match. You can make unlimited changes to this squad and the Power Player till the first ball of the match is bowled.

FURTHER INFORMATION

The best resource to aid you in your preparations is the ESPN Cricinfo website, which can be found by clicking here. On this site, you’ll be able to find the latest news about each team, and keep up to date with any injuries to players, as well as reading previews for each match. You’ll also find statistics to help you pick players, by clicking on a squad’s profile, thus being able to see such things as the number of wickets a bowler has taken in ODIs or how prolific the batsman that you wish to select is for their country.

Here  is also a handy link with all the fixtures listed to help you plan your original squad and potential transfers.

The code to join the FFScout league is: 3060, and you can click on join league via the homepage link  once you’ve registered your team.