Dino Coach is the Newcomb and District Cricket Club fantasy competition for the 2026/2027 season.
Registration remains open throughout the season. Late entrants compete in the same season-long league, buy at current published prices and earn points from their first eligible locked round. Earlier rounds are not backdated.
Entry costs AUD 25.00. Managers must be at least 18, accept the current rules and have an approved team name before payment eligibility can unlock team selection.
Dino Coach is running as a pilot for the 2026/2027 season. Feedback and suggestions are welcome. If a scoring defect, data issue, technical fault or unintended rules outcome is identified, the league manager may make a reasonable adjustment to protect the fairness and operation of the competition. Material changes will be communicated to participants and recorded. Changes will not be applied secretly.
Squad and assigned roles
Each manager selects exactly 15 real NDCC players: a playing XI of 4 BAT, 2 AR, 1 WK and 4 BOWL, plus a bench of 1 BAT, 1 AR, 1 WK and 1 BOWL.
A real player can be assigned to any fantasy slot. Their real-world cricket role does not restrict selection; the assigned fantasy slot controls scoring.
Junior-only players are excluded. Juniors who also play senior cricket may be selected, subject to league-manager eligibility confirmation. The league manager maintains the eligible player pool for this season.
Cricket roles are inferred from season batting and bowling contributions, with club-confirmed wicket keepers overriding the statistics. Players without enough evidence are labelled not yet classified. These labels do not restrict fantasy slots.
Exactly one captain and one vice-captain are required. Both must be in the playing XI and both receive the same 2x multiplier.
Bench players score zero unless they cover an empty playing-XI slot of the same role (for example, the bench batter fills an empty batter slot). A covering bench player scores in that role without a captain or vice-captain bonus. The starting budget is 15,000,000 Dino Dollars.
Late bench swaps: after the deadline, if a playing-XI player is not actually playing, swap a bench player in from My team. The swap counts only if the player swapped out has no stats for that round, and only while neither player's stats for the round are in. The bench player takes that slot and its role without a captain or vice-captain bonus. Swaps close once the round is final.
Every team locks at the round deadline as last saved, including drafts and incomplete squads, and counts towards the standings. Empty slots score zero. A team not changed for a new round keeps playing its most recent saved squad.
Money and the player pool
Buy players from the shared player pool and sell them back to that pool. Transfers between managers are not available. The same cricketer can appear in several teams.
The starting budget is 15,000,000 Dino Dollars for existing and new teams. Existing purchase costs are preserved.
Buying charges the current published price. Selling returns what you paid plus any price rise, or minus any price fall, since you bought the player. For players already held when sales at market value began, price movement counts from that date. Sale profits add to the money available and losses reduce it, so a team can go above or below the starting budget after price reviews.
The Team wallet shows the starting budget, profit or loss from sales, saved spending and saved money available. My squad also previews the balance, including the value of any players you remove, as you select or remove players. Save draft or Submit squad confirms those edits.
Use Transfers to sell a player, buy into an empty slot or sell and buy a replacement together. Individual sales and purchases leave a draft: fill all 15 slots and check captain and vice-captain before the round deadline. The team counts as saved at the deadline even if it is still a draft.
The weekly window, season controls, account eligibility and round locks apply to sales, purchases and replacements. Submitted managers must make squad edits within the transfer window too.
Player cards show recorded batting, bowling and fielding totals with their source period. Historical totals are shown until published match records exist for the selected season. Not recorded means unknown, not zero; cards do not invent ratings out of 100.
Scoring
BAT (batter): 1.75 points per run, 10 per wicket and 10 per catch.
AR (all-rounder): 1.5 points per run, 15 per wicket and 10 per catch.
BOWL (bowler): 1 point per run, 20 per wicket and 10 per catch.
WK (wicket keeper): 1.5 points per run, 10 per wicket and 15 per catch.
Every playing role earns 10 points per run-out, 10 per stumping, 5 per maiden and 10 for a not-out innings.
Batting bonuses: 50-99 runs earns 20 extra points; 100 or more earns 50 extra points. Only the highest batting bonus applies in an innings.
Bowling bonuses: 5-6 wickets earns 25 extra points; 7 or more earns 50 extra points. Only the highest bowling bonus applies in an innings.
Hat-tricks: each hat-trick earns 50 extra points, on top of any wicket bonus.
Haul multipliers (from Round 5 of 2026/2027): in one game, 30 or more runs multiplies that game's run points by 1.25; 3-4 wickets multiplies its wicket points by 1.25 and 5 or more wickets by 1.5 (not both); 2 or more catches multiplies its catch points by 1.5. They apply to manager scores on top of slot multipliers, and do not change player prices or Player Standings base points.
Captain and vice-captain each earn double their points, including bonuses. Bench players earn zero unless covering an empty playing slot of the same role. There is no duck penalty or player-of-the-match bonus.
Transfers and prices
Transfers are unlimited, free and carry no points penalty. The server-authoritative window is Monday 09:00 inclusive to Saturday 11:00 exclusive in Australia/Melbourne time.
Opening player prices reflect the supplied 2025/2026 statistics and are rounded to the nearest 1,000 Dino Dollars. The highest-ranked player starts at 2,000,000 Dino Dollars. Players without historical statistics start at 100,000 Dino Dollars.
All price reviews and manual price changes are rounded upwards to whole 1,000 Dino Dollars. Prices are reviewed automatically after every two regular rounds: rounds 2, 4, 6 and so on. Settlement becomes eligible on the following Monday at 09:00 Melbourne time and runs at the next daily pricing check once published results are available.
Each review uses a rolling average: half the player's opening per-match average plus half their average across the games played since the previous review (with a single game, three quarters opening average and one quarter that game; with none, unchanged). The raw change is 10,000 Dino Dollars for each point the rolling average rises or falls against the previous review, so the round 4 review compares against round 2.
To keep player and squad values steady, a review applies 25% of a raw rise and 25% of a raw fall before rounding.
Strong performances can increase a player price; weaker performances can reduce it. Prices never fall below 100,000 Dino Dollars. The 2,000,000 Dino Dollar ceiling applies to opening prices only, so strong form can lift a price above it. Before a player or grade starts, unplayed weeks do not count as zero appearances or lower the performance average or price. Finals do not change prices.
Price reviews use published results available when the review runs. Late results enter a later review, unless the league manager re-runs the latest review once they arrive so they count in the review they belong to. Completed reviews are not charged or applied twice.
The league manager can make manual price and eligibility corrections. Price overrides are recorded with the old price, new price, reason and administrator. Automatic changes resume at the next review.
Standings
Player Standings rank real NDCC cricketers by their published base performance points, without fantasy-slot or captain bonuses. Use this page to compare on-field performances.
Manager Standings rank the people playing Dino Coach by the points earned by their selected playing XI, including assigned-slot scoring, captain and vice-captain bonuses and bench cover of empty slots. Current squad market value is used to break points ties.
Team names, prizes and ties
Team names must be suitable for a community cricket club. Names requiring review may be replaced and locked by the league manager.
The round-robin leader prize is 300 Dino Dollars. The highest total squad-value prize label and description are published by the committee; no real-money value is implied.
Leaderboard ties are resolved by total points, then current squad market value, then team name alphabetically.
