One Day cricket help:

[Top_Cat]

As for bowling - I set and forget every game. I drop the aggression so it is only on 1 bar and just go nuts.

I like having 3 fast bowlers, 1 spinner and 1 quick bowling all rounder (sometimes a 2nd AR depending on team)
I start by bowling openers for 5 overs, then 3rd quick for 5 in partner with the AR. Then on comes the spinner and hopefully he can bowl out his 10 straight whilst going back to the better of my opening bowlers for 5. Then I just mix up the other bowlers across their 5 over spells, this way if I am getting spanked and the spinner is getting taken to town, I can bring in a part timer or 2nd AR for 2-3 overs or bring the openers back in for 2 or 3 over spells together as required.

I never edit the field nor do I ever look at batsmans stats on aggression, back foot, etc nor do I change where I pitch the ball.

I hope this makes sense, it does to me when I play

Agreed and this is, for mine, a huge problem. Have also been playing for years and the one-day stuff is, frankly, the most broken part of the game. I've tried playing with it a bit starting and re-starting games to see differences. To win OD games, I end up more fighting the structure of the game than the opposite team.

First and foremost, it's kinda pretty annoying that < 300 is basically undefendable in ODI cricket. Even with 280 on the board, hard to stop teams of any stripe from cruising past it if you dare try anything other than what you said.

Batting is broken in a few ways but especially when it comes to upping the scoring rate. Yes if you go too hard too early, you'll get out. But the issue of single-taking is completely missing. In real cricket, that's what wins you games when chasing big scores where you're behind, taking singles to keep you in touch with the required rate and climbing into occasional boundary balls when they come up. In this game, even up to 8 bars, my players take virtually no singles and just look to find the boundary. The end result is, say, one or two boundaries in an over and blocking the rest or outs. This is really infuriating when you see the opposition doing exactly what you wish your team would do, low-risk single taking in between the boundaries.

This leads me to the more broken part, bowling. I start the bowling at two bars and basically never go any more attacking that that any more. Why? Because if you start with more bars, you gift the opposition with a 8+/over start more often than not. So you have to start defensive just to keep a lid on them. Also, put the ball anywhere else other than in the blockhole and you get mashed.

Even then, defensive doesn't play stop the pain. As I said, the opposition will play the ball around a bit and keep wickets in hand until the required rate gets to roughly 8/over, perhaps with the occasional ball beating the bat or LBW appeal. Nek minnit, it's all out attack and they basically nail everything to or over the fence. The newly-minted hitting genius' also give up no LBW appeals or catchable balls, just consistent cheatsticking. Pushing the field to all out defence makes no difference, the fence still gets found a few times an over. I've tried attacking more to take a wicket to slow them down and nothing changes, boundaries galore and no chances.

It's just not really fun at all when your team either must score 300+ (if not, they lose) or the same bowlers who were keeping a team quiet at 3 or 4 per over for the first 30 overs get trashed in the last 20 no matter what field you set or where you bowl and lose when you've scored 320+. Weather and pitch - only occasionally is it relevant.

Not sure whether there is over-egging of the probabilities of hitting a boundary ball with wickets in hand or under-egging of the risk when the required rate is 8+ and the AI needs to attack. These incredible come from behind wins are getting somewhat regular and make the game boring. I just want to skip OD games entirely which, from what I can see, one can't do.

[cde]

If these posts show one thing it is that people have found different ways of succeeding in the OD matches. Personally I have found, over quite a few years, the OD matches to be simpler to succeed in than the T20s which will always retain an element of could-go-either way.

I would that I agree with the comment on the bowlers averages - they sound too high. I go for the very lowest I can get, aiming for low 20s for at least three of the main bowlers with 25 being the max for the other two. Also look to economy, though a batsman sat in the pavillion can't score runs! I will choose five bowlers over four and an all-rounder with an average above 26 and make up for it by choosing slightly different batsmen.

I too bowl 2 bars and bowl outside off with an off-side heavy field but plave most of the fielders to take catches rather than save runs. If a bowler with a good average does poorly with this tactic I drop them and just find another one. If I have a proven bowler in poor form that isn't improving I drop them quickly too.

I always bowl first unless the pitch is dead flat and even in internationals expect to keep a team to at least 240-250 on a bowler's pitch and 260-270 on a batsman's pitch. Around 50% of the time I will bowl a team out.

For the batsmen I look for aggressive or very aggressive openers, an average 3 and then as aggressive as I can for as many as I can. With experienced players and national selection I look to the players strike rate, not their rating by the game.

For an average pitch I usually start on 5 bars and move up to 6 when they are half-way settled, 7 when pretty much on full and ramp it up as I go along.

I find this format easier because in T20s ALL your batsmen have to be able to cream it from the off whereas you can use less aggressive players who score at about 70% before taking it to 110% when fully settled. there is also the opportunity to claw your way back into a game.

[cde]

Top_Cat I have a theory - wildly out, I imagine, aboit the lack of singles. I am probably wrong but in order to keep the game up to date with modern scoring rates the developers have increased the number of boundries rather than the pattern of play, if that makes sense.

One thing that makes me think along those lines is that in about six years of playing the game my tactics have not changed and neither have the scores I conceed risen significantly. My OD off-side tactics would kill me in real life because batsmen can hit almost anything anywhere and it has no element of surprise. It works in game because it is easier to program more runs than new shots or batting tactics. I think it's the same for singles.

[Yorkie]

I agree entirely with cde.
I find winning the One day game pretty easy with these tactics and can’t agree that this side of the game “is broken” I bowl at 2 bars for the first 10, then only 1 for the last 40 and I’m winning 95% of matches. Bowl first, bowl outside off, same with T20 games as it’s easier to match the run rate.
Economy is ultra important, so is spin/modified fields.
T20 can be a pain admitted, your batsmen need to be able to hit big from the off and hopefully be in good form but it’s still a game of “can go either way”

[Top_Cat]

Top_Cat I have a theory - wildly out, I imagine, aboit the lack of singles. I am probably wrong but in order to keep the game up to date with modern scoring rates the developers have increased the number of boundries rather than the pattern of play, if that makes sense.

One thing that makes me think along those lines is that in about six years of playing the game my tactics have not changed and neither have the scores I conceed risen significantly. My OD off-side tactics would kill me in real life because batsmen can hit almost anything anywhere and it has no element of surprise. It works in game because it is easier to program more runs than new shots or batting tactics. I think it's the same for singles.

May well be right. That mainly an off-side line and up in the blockhole seems the only way to get wickets or stem the runs is, as you intimated, a real hit against realism. Short balls or middle-stump line and you get pumped. What the point in even having them?

[galvatron]

I disagree with some of this.

When playing the computer, I find that it's often easier to defend a low total than a high total as the computer often gets the pace of their innings wrong.

If the CPU is chasing over 300 they usually go hard to begin with and never get behind the rate. If they're chasing 250ish they start too slow and end up too far behind. This is more common in international than club cricket - when the batting is weaker.

I also find chasing lower totals harder too (offline) but I agree on the lack of singles.

I don't think the same full and outside off stump line works offline as well as it does online as the CPU batters still often hammer me everywhere.