ICC to deliver official Fantasy Cricket

The International Cricket Council has announced the launch of an official Fantasy League game for the ICC Champions Trophy 2013. The ICC Champions Trophy 2013 is being played across England and Wales beginning on 6 June with the final of the tournament scheduled to be held at Edgbaston on 23 June.

The game will give fans from around the globe the opportunity to pick their own ‘dream’ team from the eight Champions Trophy squads and pit their wits against fellow entrants, known as managers.

Selection begins with the balance of the side, you can choose to either favour more batsmen, more all-rounders or more bowlers the would-be-manager then has to select their playing XI and allocate a captain who scores double points.

Teams can contain up to three players from one International side for the group stages (extending to six for the semi-finals and final), and furthermore only three from inside the top ten of the Reliance ICC ODI Rankings in batting, bowling or all-rounder position. Team changes are unlimited until the start of the tournament and a manager can make up to 10 team changes during the Group Stages, reacting to injuries, form and fixture schedules.

Changes are also unlimited between the end of the Group Stages and the first semi-final and up to two further changes can then be made between the second semi-final and the final. Captain changes are unlimited and can therefore be changed prior to every single match.

ICC Commercial General Manager Campbell Jamieson said: “An aspect of the ICC’s global strategy is to create a better level of fan engagement, and the Fantasy League game is just one of the ways we plan to do this for this event and moving forward. I’m sure every cricket fan in the world has mulled over who he or she would select in their ideal team, if they had that opportunity, and now they have the chance.”

Fans can access the game from the ICC website www.icc-cricket.com and should submit their teams for the start of the event on 6 June. The ICC will be offering fantastic prizes, including signed merchandise from the tournament to the ICC Champions Trophy Fantasy League’s Group Stage winner, Knock-Out Stage winner and the overall Tournament victor.

Fantasy League Limited Business Development Head Luke Boyle commented: “We are delighted to be able to offer this exclusive game for the biggest International cricket tournament of the year. We hope fans get involved with choosing their ideal team and it all adds to the overall excitement of the tournament this summer in England and Wales.”

Fantasy League was formed in 1991, the first company to introduce the fantasy sports concept outside of the US. Initially they offered a fantasy football newspaper game, radio show and television program, where players picked their fantasy team of real life footballers and scored points based on their performances. Fantasy League then introduced online games in 1996 and mobile games in the year 2000, as well as introducing games on additional sports, music, film, property and finance.

As well as offering own-branded consumer facing games at www.fantasyleague.com, Fantasy League provide bespoke white labelled solutions to over 80 leading organisations and brands worldwide, including other governing bodies such as European Tour and the Football League.