The Cricketer partners with The Cricket Draft for a summer of fantasy cricket

With a massive 2023 ahead, we're partnering with The Cricket Draft to offer a full summer of fantasy cricket games

Will you choose both Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad for your seam attack? Can you afford to buy Heather Knight and Meg Lanning? Is it worth gambling on Jofra Archer’s fitness? And how do you make room in your XI for Ben Stokes?

This summer, The Cricketer is partnering with The Cricket Draft to make you the chair of selectors over a full summer of fantasy cricket games.

You'll have the power to build your squad, select your XIs and compete against other managers from all corners of the globe across a variety of competitions including the men and women’s Ashes, the LV= Insurance County Championship and Vitality Blast.

Huw Turbervill, editor of The Cricketer magazine, said: "We all remember with fondness the fantasy cricket leagues run by The Telegraph. The Cricket Draft has picked up that baton and created a brilliant, easy-to-play product that will make cricket lovers feel part of what's set to be a huge year for international and domestic cricket.

"Whether you're a County Championship devotee, love the razzmatazz of T20, or only care who will lift the Ashes urn, there's a Cricket Draft game for everybody."

The Cricket Draft is absolutely free to play and is the exclusive fantasy cricket partner of the Professional Cricketers Association.

Sign up for The Cricket Draft now for free

^{Will you find room for Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson in your squad? [Philip Brown/Popperfoto/Popperfoto via Getty Images]}

As well as going up against all other participants, players can also create custom leagues to see who will claim the bragging rights between family, friends, colleagues or clubmates.

Points are awarded according to how well your selected players perform. So if Joe Root scores a daddy hundred and picks up a couple of wickets to boot, then you can expect a very good gameweek if you were wise enough to draft him.

While if David Warner is in your team and he gets a pair, that will seriously impact your total score.

The cutting-edge platform gives The Cricket Draft's managers all the data at their fingertips. Review player performance statistics, form and values, keep track of club fixtures and results and get real time updates on the unfolding events over the course of each round.

^{The Women's Ashes is one of The Cricket Draft's featured games this summer [Harry Trump/Getty Images]}

Throughout this action-packed summer of fantasy sports, The Cricketer will be the ultimate guide for players to stay ahead of the competition, with preview articles and analysis on thecricketer.com and in the monthly magazine.

John Welch, co-founder of The Cricket Draft said: "The Cricket Draft is all about building the ultimate fan community and offering our users a truly entertaining way of engaging more deeply with the sport that we love.

"Our new partnership with The Cricketer is the perfect opportunity to grow that community and to take the experience to a whole new level, with the combination of a cutting-edge fantasy sports platform and the best in the business at supplying cricket fans with all the latest news and views on the game. 

New players can register for The Cricket Draft now at thecricketdraft.com, with the first game of the season – The County Championship – kicking off on April 6th. Participants will be able to begin building their squad from Thursday, March 16th.