daily fantasy sports articles

The 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup is officially underway! For the next six weeks, we’ll be treated to nightly ODI action in the brand new round robin format which sees every team play nine games! More games means more chances to win fantastic daily fantasy prize pools that are on offer at Moneyball and Draftstars!

Saturday night in the World Cup sees a great double header kicking off with New Zealand and Sri Lanka from 7.30pm (AEST) before Australia get their World Cup title defence underway against Afghanistan from 10.30pm.

Both Draftstars and Moneyball have some fantastic tournaments on offer for the two games with proze-pools reaching up to $5,000 guaranteed! The feature tournaments for each game at both outlets are highlighted below, but remember, there are plenty of other, smaller contests to choose from. 

New Zealand vs Sri Lanka
Draftstars: $3,000 
Moneyball: $2,000

Australia vs Afghanistan
Draftstars: $5,000 
Moneyball: $3,000

If you are new to Fantasy Cricket games, make sure you visit our handy guide to help you play the game here. We also have reviews/guides for MoneyBall here and DraftStars here to help you navigate the websites.

It doesn't end there, because our resources section also provides assistance to help you build the best fantasy teams possible, including exclusive cheat sheets. Check them out here.

As it boasts larger prize-pools at both Draftstars and Moneyball, we'll be focusing on the Australia vs Afghanistan game for our preview today, but head to our World Cup recourses page for our cheet sheet for the New Zealand vs Sri Lanka game as well. 

Match Winner

The DFR match-winner is a guaranteed stud who might cost you an arm and a leg, but is going to score well on any given night.

Pat Cummins AUS ($17,000 Draftstars) ($7,100 Moneyball)

Over the course of the Australian summer, Cummins announced himself as not only one of the best Test players in the world, but one of its most reliable limited overs performers as well. Cummins ability with the ball has never been in question, he is capable of taking wickets in the power play as well as bowling crucial run limiting overs in the middle of the innings.

However, what really makes him a match-winner in daily fantasy is his valuable lower order batting. He hasn’t quite got the chance he ought of at the bottom of the order in ODI’s as of yet but he averages a tidy 24.03 in first class cricket and is one of the better tail enders in the world. He might not be needed if the Aussies bowl first and roll Afghanistan for a low total, but if that is the case, it’s likely he’ll pick up multiple wickets.

Night Watchman

The night-watchmen will be a great point of difference in your team and plugging him somewhere in the middle order could be the difference between winning or losing.

Rahmat Shah AFG ($12,230 Draftstars) ($6,300)

One of the class batsmen in the Afghanistan line-up, Shah averages over 36 in ODI cricket and over 49 in first class. Shah is the fourth highest run scorer in Afghanistan ODI cricket with 2078 runs from 57 innings and was impressive in the second warm up game, notching up 32 off 49 balls against Pakistan.

Extra value is added to the Shah pick as he is the back-up wicket-keeper to the hard hitting Mohammad Shahzad, who left the field in the second warm up match with a hamstring injury and is doubtful to play the first match. Shah kept wicket in the first warm up match and was the catcher for the Afghans only wicket.

Fine Leg to Fine Leg

Adam Zampa ($12,780 Draftstars) ($6,000 Moneyball) Nathan Lyon ($10,500 Draftstars) ($5,800 Moneyball)

We are steering clear of the Australian spinners here for a few reasons. From all reports the Bristol ground doesn’t really suit the slower bowlers. The straight boundaries are extremely short, so they will get targeted and the pitch plays very low and slow, which plays into the hands of spinners from the sub-continent but doesn’t really help the likes of Nathan Lyon and Adam Zampa, who rely on bounce a lot.

There’s also the fact that 70% of the bowling that Afghanistan batsman have faced throughout their domestic and international careers so far would have been spin. They face world class spinners in the nets every day so we think the likes of Mitch Starc and Pat Cummins will give them much more problems on a skiddy Bristol track.

Always remember to gamble responsibly. When the fun stops, stop. If gambling is having a negative impact on your life, seek support at Gambling Help Online.  18+ only.