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Log in here if you are playing SportGuru England in SA Tour, or if you're a SportGuru veteran who wants to join this tournament.
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Scoring system
Prediction model: Test matches
Test match prediction is new to SportGuru! Coming up with a prediction and scoring model for the complex monster that is test cricket is pretty tricky. We've devised a system, and we'll see how it goes for this first season of test cricket. We've love to know your feedback as we go so that we can tweak the model to improve it (if necessary!) for future test match games. Right now, we're asking you to make three picks per test:
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Pick 1
Match winner
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Before play has started, you must predict the winner of the test - team 1, team 2 or a draw.
Rationale: fundamentally, SportGuru is about predicting the winner.
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Scheduled start of play, Day 1 |
1.0
Win Point for a correct pick
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Pick 2
First innings leader
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Before play has started, you must predict who will lead at the end of the first innings, and by how many runs. If you are within 40 runs of the actual lead, you'll score a Margin Point. The margin prediction crosses the win/loss boundary - e.g. if you pick South Africa to lead by 10 runs and in reality England lead by 20, your net margin is 30 and you will earn a Margin Point.
Rationale: SportGuru has always involved a margin prediction. But doing so overall for a test is both somewhat arbitrary and very difficult (never mind the complication of an innings + x runs win). The first innings is less arbitrary (both teams will target a maximum score, the outcome won't be influenced so much by tactics, rain, etc.) and therefore more suitable to SportGuru.
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Scheduled start of play, Day 1 |
0.5
Win Points for picking the leader
0.5
Margin Points for picking the margin within 40 runs
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Pick 3
Midway pick
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You have up until the end of lunch on Day 3 to pick the outcome of the game (team 1 win, team 2 win or draw), now that you can take into account the situation so far. This does not replace Pick 1: it is in addition to that original prediction.
Rationale: The match situation can change very much by the middle of a test. We wanted to anchor some kind of prediction around the second innings, but a margin or leader prediction would be too arbitrary since declarations, tactics, the wicket, rain etc. all make it not just a simple numbers game. Instead we decided on the midway pick: a chance to make an additional pick after seeing roughly half the play (an innings break deadline would be technically tricky, so we went with lunch on Day 3). Tactically, we think this will be an interesting pick - it has plenty of different risk strategies (e.g. I picked Team 1 originally, but now it looks like they'll lose. I'm going to risk it and stick with them as then I'll get max points if they win, whilst I know most other people will go for Team 2 now).
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Scheduled end of Lunch, Day 3 |
0.5
Win Points for picking the winner
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We have not included a Bonus Point in test matches. Traditionally the Bonus Point rewards who is relatively closest in a pool. But in this test cricket model, the only margin prediction is the first innings lead. That is relatively insignificant in the grander scheme of the match, we thought attaching a Bonus Point to it would grant undue weight to it.
Prediction model: ODI and T20 matches
- The game outcome (team 1 win, team 2 win or draw)
- The margin of victory (i.e. runs difference AND wickets difference*) OR a super over finish
Points are awarded as follows:
| Point | Value | Description |
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| Win Point (WP) | 1.0 |
Scored by all players correctly predicting the game outcome (team 1 win, draw or team 2 win) |
| Margin Point (MP) | Range - 0.7, 0.5, 0.3 | A Margin Point will be awarded to every player whose margin prediction is within a certain margin range. Unlike in other tournaments, a tiered margin system is used for cricket:
For run victories
Within 10 runs: 0.7 pts
Within 11 - 20 runs: 0.5 pts Within 21 - 30 runs: 0.3 pts For wicket victories
Exact: 0.7 pts
Within 1 wicket: 0.5 pts Within 2 wickets: 0.3 pts |
| Bonus Point (BP) | 1.0 | Scored by player(s) whose margin prediction(s) is/are the closest to the actual margin. Point is split in case of ties (e.g. if two players qualify, they get 0.5 BP each). Must get the game outcome right (i.e. earn a WP) in order to qualify. Is not added to global total for global leaderboard, is purely a pool point only. |
What about Grand Slam Points?
There are no GSPs in this tournament as it is not formally divided into balanced rounds.
No result games
Cricket is affected by rain, and it is possible for a game to end without a result if it cannot be played or if insufficient overs are played. The teams each take home 1 log point in this instance, just as in a tie. In SportGuru, no result games will become null and void, and will not be counted for scoring. SportGuru is about predicting sport, not weather!
Tied games: Super over finishes
This tournament uses the super over mechanism to break a tie if the two teams score the same number of runs. In SportGuru, you are able to choose a super over finish as an alternative to a runs/wickets margin. The choice of a super over effectively replaces the runs/wickets margin.
- If you choose Team A to win by a super over and this is the actual result, you will score a Win Point, a Bonus Point in your pool and a Margin Point (valued at 0.7pts)
- If you choose Team A to win by a super over and Team A wins, but in regular play rather than a super over, you will score a Win Point only
- If you choose Team A to win in regular play and they win, but in a super over rather than in regular play, your runs margin prediction may entitle you to runs Margin Points if you were within the margin ranges outlined above (score is effectively Team A by 0 runs)
Default pick rule
There are no default picks in this tournament as it is too short: having even one default would create too much impact on other players. If you do not make a prediction, or join the game late, you will not be given any picks for the games you've missed.
