Free fantasy cricket with $20,000 in real cash prizes

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Why coaches are switching to GDS Global Cricket

Most fantasy cricket games give you a captain, a trade limit and a prize table that's mostly merch. We do it differently. GameDay Squad Global Cricket is free to play, pays real cash every round of the tournament, and the player cards you collect are yours to keep. The squad you build for one tournament is the one you start the next with, just stronger.

• Real money, every round. Over $20,000 in cash prizes across 25 rounds of the 2026 tournament, plus Prize Cards at the end of it.

• Free to play, free to win. Every coach gets starter packs, and the Contender competition pays cash to the round winner without you spending a cent.

• Your cards, forever. Pack a Diamond Steve Smith once and he's in your reserves for as long as you play. Once all 100 are packed, there'll never be another.

• Six competitions from one collection. Starter, Contender, Classic, Challenger, Champion, plus the GDS Cup for the top 64 Classic coaches.

Cards you can collect

Every card is yours to keep. The higher the rarity, the bigger the score multiplier. A few of the cards coaches are chasing right now:

Sanju Samson - Gold

Richard Ngarava - Diamond

Marco Jansen - Gold

Will Jacks - Gold

How GDS Global Cricket works

1. Open your packs. Download the app, sign up free, and you'll get 312 Bronze player cards in starter packs straight away. That's enough to field a squad in Starter, Contender and Classic on day one.

2. Set your 11. One wicketkeeper, three batters or keepers, four all-rounders and three bowlers. No captain, no vice-captain, no trade limits. Every one of the 11 scores.

3. Beat the rolling lockout. Players lock one minute before their team's match starts, not all at once. A player in the late game stays open until that game begins, so you can react to the toss.

4. Win cash and cards. Round prizes land every week, seasonal prizes at the end of the tournament. Cash goes to your wallet, packs go to your collection, and better cards unlock harder competitions.

The 2026 prize pool

We put more than $20,000 in cash on the line for the 2026 Global Cricket tournament, spread across all 25 rounds and topped up with Prize Cards and packs at the end. Here's what the top spot pays each round.

Prizes run deep, not just to the winner. Classic pays cash to the top three and packs down to 500th every round, and Champion pays cash to the top three with Unique Packs down to 100th. Win cash and you can swap it for double the value in packs instead. The full round-by-round breakdown is in our Global Cricket prize table.

Pick your competition

Every coach starts in Starter and climbs from there. Your squad's combined salary decides which competitions you can enter, and salary is set by card rarity, never by how well a player is going. A Gold Steve Smith costs exactly the same as a Gold Todd Murphy. You can play up to three standard competitions in the same round.

What you get on day one

• 312 Bronze cards across starter packs: 72 wicketkeepers, 78 batters, 84 all-rounders and 78 bowlers.

• More packs for playing. Finish the onboarding tutorial, refer a mate, or place in Starter, Contender and Classic and the packs keep coming.

• A full player pool. Every squad in the tournament is on the platform, and every player is available in every rarity. You're as likely to pack a Steve Smith as a Todd Murphy.

How scoring works

Your round score comes from what your players actually do in the middle, then multiplied by the rarity of the card you own. Wickets are the big earner. A five-for with a maiden and a couple of catches outscores most centuries.

Inactive players score zero even if they play, so check the active player pool before lockout. Full table on our scoring page.

The card multiplier

This is the bit no other platform has. The same player on a better card scores more.

One knockout cup, one Classic squad

Set your Classic squad every round and you're automatically in the running for the GDS Cup. No extra entry, no extra work.

• Qualify: the top 64 Classic coaches after Round 5 are in, seeded 1 to 64.

• Group stage: 16 groups of four, three head-to-head matchups across Rounds 6 to 8. Top two in each group go through.

• Knockout: 32 coaches, straight elimination from the Round of 32 in Round 9 to the Grand Final in Round 13. Lose once and you're out.

• Prizes: packs for every week you survive, and the winner takes Pick 17 in the Prize Card Draft.

Last tournament's Prize Card Draft saw coaches lock in Rachin Ravindra, Marco Jansen, Shubman Gill and Travis Head as permanent cards with their squad name on them.

Built for Australian coaches

Every fixture is listed in AEST, and with a rolling lockout you can set your evening game players after work without worrying about the afternoon one. Our community lives on Discord, where coaches trade cards, argue about the toss and post their squads before lockout. In-app you'll see the round-by-round and full-season leaderboards for every competition, and the active player pool shows who's eligible to score before you pick them.

Ready to build your squad?

It takes about two minutes. The 2026 tournament ran from 7 February to 8 March, and your cards carry straight into the next one. Download GameDay Squad, open your starter packs and have your 11 ready before the next lockout. Your collection is waiting, and so is the prize money.

Frequently asked questions