1. Opener ‘bonus’
Chris said in a previous topic last year that opening batsmen in first class matches get a bonus facing the new ball and are weaker against the old ball compared to middle order batsmen. How is the new ball determined for this? Is there a sliding scale where the full bonus is applied in the first over, it gets gradually reduced as the ball use goes on and turns into a negative effect when the ball gets old that again gets progressively more negative until the new ball is taken and the cycle resets? Is there a hard cutoff where the new ball bonus is (as example) the first 20 overs of a ball's use and the old ball weakness 40+?
2. Openers in One Day matches
Related to the above, 50/20 Over matches have no new ball showing in-game but a LOT of batsmen get classed as openers. How is the ‘new ball / opener bonus’ applied in these? Are 20-Over games classed entirely as new ball, giving openers a bonus throughout? Do these shorter formats give opener bonus during the power play only? Do openers have a weakness compared to middle order batsmen outside the power play or is there no ‘old ball negative’ applied here?
3. Bowling Training
Batting technique training is easy enough to understand; successful training alters their batting preferences which are shown on their personal profile. Bowling is different though, with no indication of where a bowler was before training. Furthermore there are both normal and One Day versions of aggressive and defensive bowling training. Does aggressive training make them weaker at low aggression bowling in a similar way to batting preferences? Does one day training make them weaker at bowling in first class matches? Or can you simply increase their ability in one area without making them weaker elsewhere?
I understand that Chris doesn’t want to reveal all the secrets and I certainly agree that seeing “Batsman A has 86/100 ability, Bowler G has 77/100 ablity” and so on is not necessary. That said, some things like bowling technique training seem to be in the game without even a brief overview of what the impact might be. As mentioned, for batsmen we have their profile preferences as a guide to see the effects but for bowlers there’s nothing. It feels odd having training options without knowing what the training might do or how to see roughly where a bowler is before/after.
Any info would be appreciated
