Completely stumped... Help!

[Trin1583]

Ok, in need of a little help here. I appreciate that this is going to look like a part rant, and to be fair it is, but underneath I am genuinely interested in getting some advice. Probably going to be a long rant, so hopefully there is someone willing to read to the bottom (n.b. all stats below relate to the county championship).

I bought CC2015 (the iPad version) on the advice of a friend given our mutual love of cricket. I'd never played before but loved the complexity of the game and the prospect of building a team. I picked Gloucestershire on Normal, I appreciate not the easiest start but they are my county team and I wanted a challenge.

Obviously it was tough going at first but slowly I built the team I wanted. The difficulty is that results stayed dire. I am a fairly obstinate guy so have kept plugging away but it is fairly dispiriting to continually end bottom of every competition. Seven seasons in and things are still going badly. Perhaps it will be best to give a full description of the team and what is happening.

This season I finally got what I thought would be a winning team:
Batsmen:
C Dent : av. 33. Not a great player but a decent substitute opener
E Callis : av. 38. Solid opener (also keeper)
B Taylor : av. 44. Key opener; quality player (also keeper)
T Ingram : av. 32. Reasonable middle order
R Wise : av. 52. Key no. 3.
C French : av. 38. Solid middle order.
P Skelton : av. 32. Decent sub, though not first team quality
N Taylor : av. 38. Untested youth but averaged 56 for 2nd XI
H Marshall : av. 37. Decent player though now getting on.
G Roderick : av. 51. Key player (also keeper)

All-rounders:
K Noema-Barnett : av. 33 (bat) 34 (ball). Solid all-rounder; better than stats suggest
T Smith : av. 31 (bat) 29 (ball). Key player
C Morris : av. 32 (bat) 25 (ball). Overseas player but rarely called on duty

Bowlers:
J Fuller : av. 33. RFM. Decent first change, also handy with the bat (av. 21)
C Miles : av. 31. RFM. Solid bowler
J Ewing : av. 26. RFM. Key opening bowler
S Emerson : av. 27. RFM. Young but looks good
D Hoggart : av. 26. LS. Key spinner.
A Page : av. 30. Solid bowler.

So all-in-all, a decent team. Rarely do I face another team which has better averages in either department.

Nor do I think I am being lazy in the way I play. For batsmen, if they are on form I start them at two bars, building up to four as confidence increases unless the pitch is looking dodgy. Off-form batsmen I basically do the same minus one bar. For bowlers, I usually do the first two overs to a batsman at five bars keeping line and length. I then take it down to four until they reach 25-30 runs. I then keep it at 3 bars until their half century at which point I go to two bars and start focusing on weaknesses. If they get closer to three figures, I start doing ball-by-ball to set them up.

Generally this seems to work for the first innings and I usually get a lead or at worst a slender deficit. However, the second innings of both teams destroys me. So far this season I've played 5 games and they follow a similar pattern:

Game 1, vs Surrey : I bat first and score 374 and then bowl them out for 279. I get skittles in the second innings for 115 but with a lead of 205 on a fourth day with a pitch on almost full bounce and two thirds wear with cloudy skies, I think I stand a chance. They reach 214-3 easily.

Game 2, vs Lancashire : I bowl them out for 272 and then score 498. Huge lead and almost two full days left. They then casually knock up 379-6 before declaring with half a session to go and almost win as I drag myself over the line at 32-5

Game 3, vs Leicestershire: Batting first, I score 420 and then bowl them out for 396. As usual I fold for the pitiful 184 and they trundle happily to 150-2 chasing 200, before my spinner tears them apart and they end up all out for 196. A close win by just 12 runs, but one that still highlights my team's weaknesses.

Game 4, vs Essex. They bat first to score 379 and I follow up with a credible 366. They then fly off to 272-5 before declaring and bowling me out for 215. A more reasonable match but still annoying.

Game 5, vs Derbyshire. I again bat first and score a solid 395 before rolling them over for 320 and a decent first innings lead. In the second innings I am destroyed for 120 but given I am bowled out in the last over over the second session of day 4, with a lead of 195 and only a session to go it looks like a certain draw. Fortunately they are able to smash 196-2 in the session to win in the final over of the day.

I am at a complete loss. What am I doing wrong in the second innings of almost every match? This problem keeps compounding as now all my players are basically on zero form (understandably!). I'm not even going to get into the shorter forms of the game; needless to say I am usually at the foot of the table.

Any advice would be much appreciated. Otherwise an otherwise good game is going to be reduced to the trash can...

(Sorry again for the long post...)

[Sureshot]

Hi,

Don't apologise for the long post, the more information the better.

Firstly, I strongly recommend reading this thread:

http://forum.childishdownloads.co.uk/showthread.php?18600-Tips-Rough-guide-to-formats

Looking at your averages I'd say you're short of another really good bowler and the batting looks a touch thin, some decent players, but backup looks a little lacking.

I did a save with Northants last year, I found I needed to be quite ruthless in who I signed/released. You get attached to those plucky players who make a good score every now and then, but only average in the 30s. I personally find it very easy to keep those players!

How do you use Coach and Physio?

In the second innings, do you use the same tactics? How aggressive are your openers?

[pearljammonkey]

Start batsmen on 2 bars, increase to 3 when they've hit 30% settled. Don't go over 3 bars aggression. In fact, i find it helps to turn agression down a bar when there is less than 20 minutes to a break as wickets tend to fall more often then.
Start next session on two bars aggression and repeat process.

[Trin1583]

Thanks; that is very helpful, in particular the link to the other discussion. One area I really haven't been looking at at all is whether my batsmen are defensive or aggressive and so have been a bit arbitrary where I have put them in the order (typically just putting better form higher) so maybe that will make a difference. One question I have on the back of your points about my squad, how many players would you suggest a good squad should have? And how do you afford it? I seem to be maxed out but perhaps I am overpaying for sub-standard players?

In terms of your questions, I use coaching on players that have low form (typically if they are below three stars). If they are over 25 years old, I usually just choose normal training. If they are younger I do general technique for bowlers and for batsmen I have chosen the opposite of their strengths (e.g. If they are better with pace, I have chosen spin) which in retrospect seems to be a mistake perhaps.

Physio I just use for those players with low fitness but I usually reduce my spending here by 10k so I only have one session to offer.

I use the same tactics in both innings. If I am well ahead I might be a bit more aggressive but that is probably the only difference.

[Sureshot]

I will sometimes go up to 4 bars in FC games, mostly only if the batsman is well set or the lead is huge. I'm playing as New South Wales at the moment, David Warner is in great form so I've even been going up to 5.

I think you've got the ages about right, though I might up it to 26/27, rather than 25, but yes, practice above that.

With regards to technique training, do you keep an eye on how the players improve (you get a message confirming they have improved in that area)? Generally, if a player hasn't improved in that area within 6 weeks I'll try a different area or a different player.

Balancing squads with some counties is a challenge. I'd look at how much you're paying for the players who don't play, or those that don't perform. I was paying something like 55k for Rob Keogh in my 2014 Northants save, but he never performed consistently, averaging in the 30s. Sometimes I'll look in my squads, see a fringe player who never players, but I'm paying high 30ks for him.

This is where good quality youth players can be effective.

With Overseas players, the Reserve player is free, so don't forget to sign one of those.