Draftstars Biggest Bash Live Final

Our latest qualifier in the Draftstars Biggest Bash almost missed out on the opportunity to qualify when the One Day International match between Australia and India was played at the MCG. With most of the Big Bash games in the evening, it is simple to forget to put a line-up or 10 in the International cricket match-ups as well. For Stephen Mann, the Government worker from Camden in New South Wales, quick thinking and some good advice is going to send him to the first ever Australian DFS live final in Melbourne!

Stephen’s username is “stimpy870” and it is not hard at all to find that familiar avatar from the Ren and Stimpy show (I am sure it has been pointed out to Stephen but isn’t that Ren in the avatar?). “stimpy870” regularly shows up on the top of the leader boards on both the Draftstars and Moneyball sites, in a variety of sports including AFL, NBA, NFL and cricket.  One look at Stephen’s DFR profile shows a multiple number of big wins and a very impressive collection of prize money. Currently in the top 10 on DFR’s rankings overall and the Number 3 on the Draftstars site, Stephen is a serious and very successful player in the DFS community.

We caught up with Stephen (who is a massive Sydney Swans fan but we overlooked that for the purposes of the interview) and we asked him how he got into DFS and what DFS means to him.

“I started getting into DFS after seeing the old beat Wendell or beat Barry ads appearing on TV… I started grinding on Moneyball where I had my first big win and started building a bank roll and then moved onto Draftstars chasing glory in the AFL slates last year. I enjoy the challenge of picking sides with different strategies! I enjoy the highs and the lows, but I hate the late outs in any sports as it completely ruins the fun…”

With India 1 down in the series against Australia, the Indian team made a couple of changes to their line-up which swayed ownership to entrants that were more familiar to players. For Stephen, he actually nearly missed the contest:

“I nearly missed putting an entry into the qualifier as I totally forgot the ODI was on. I got the notification from Draftstars and quickly switched the TV to the cricket to see the teams and get them in quickly. When I switched over Shane Warne was talking about Yuzvendra Chahal being a good spinner and that Kedar Jadhav was a decent all-rounder so I built my team around those two cheapies”.

Stephen certainly knows his cricket as he proudly states his cricketing pedigree to DFR:

“I have always played cricket and AFL growing up. I still play cricket these days for the mighty Cobbitty Narellan Crows!! (cheap shout out). I have a reputation for being a very aggressive batter with a nice strike rate, I guess a claim to fame would be hitting a six on our home ground which hit a light pole half way up!”

Stimpy Draftstars Qualifier Win

With the Australian innings struggling for the big partnership, it was the unbelievable bowling figures of Chahal - 6 for 42 netting 159 fantasy points - that put Stephen in the box seat. We asked Stephen what the sweat was like in the Indian chase:

“Like always I had my laptop open next to me on the couch having a beer watching the ODI. I knew at the change of innings I was in with a chance as I had huge exposure to Chahal and he dominated with the ball. I notice with about 10 overs to go I had a team climbing into the top 10 with Dhoni and Jadhav. I quickly worked out that if Jadhav got his 50 I would go close to winning and that if he got his strike rate bonus I would almost definitely win. The sweats became real when Jadhav was nearly run out with a couple of overs to go and he was short of his 50. Then when he got his 50, I was 4 behind the leader as he didn't have his strike rate bonus! Then a quick couple of 4's and he was home, one of the best DFS sweats I’ve had!”

We asked Stephen if any of his cricket mates were lucky enough to snag the plus one?

“The lads from cricket were quick to give me their availability but the better half was lightning fast to ensure she was coming.”

Keep an eye out for “stimpy870” on the leaderboard for the Draftstars Biggest Bash final in Melbourne as he is sure to be one of the favourites to take down the $50,000 major prize. Congratulations on the result Stephen and we wish you luck for the final!

Want to join Stephen at Club 23, playing for a share of $150,000? Check out our full run down of the “Biggest Bash” contest and start playing the $2 qualifying tournaments running on every home and away match of the BBL08 season on Draftstars!

Have you qualified for the “Biggest Bash” Live Final and want to share your story with the world here on Daily Fantasy Rankings? Contact us or shoot us a message on Twitter and we will get in touch to share your story with the Australian DFS community!

Draftstars Biggest Bash

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