Fielding and bowling help in shorter formats.

[louis.hansbury]

I understand that this game requires a lot of attention to detail, however, I usually play this game every couple of days for a few hours or so.

OD
Batting - I usually start at about 4/5 bars aggression, then up it one when the batsman is 50% settled, then up it another one when the batsman is 100% settled. I go all out around the 45-46th over mark, or 42-43 over mark if I have a lot of wickets in hand. I find it hard to consistently get over 255-260. I know especially in the County circuit, scores of over 300 is rare, but I find constantly getting around 240ish rather annoying.

Bowling - I usually bowl at 2/3 bars aggression, aim outside off stump and set a field that favours the off side, I have 2-3 fielders on the leg side.

I won the OD cup with Lancashire in my first season, however, over the next two seasons, I've won in total 5 games.

T20
Batting - I usually go with 6 bars aggression for the first 3/4 overs, 7 bars aggression until over 15-16, then all out for the rest. I sometimes struggle to get over 140. I'd guess that my average is around the 130 mark.

Bowling - Usually the same as the bowling for the OD.

Over the 3 seasons with Lancashire, I've probably won 10 games, maybe 12 at the very best.

I have no issues with FC, but OD/T20 games are rather annoying. I've tried to play ball by ball, and adjust the field when boundaries are scored, but I find that in the OD games it can take a while to complete a game. I've had a look on the forum for 2016 and 2015 to try and find a plan for my fielding and batting, but to no avail.

I know that management games are meant to be difficult, but it is no fun when you're losing a hell of a lot more than you're winning!

Any advice would be hugely appreciated!!

[512fm]

What is your squad looking like? I generally don't play any batsman that have less than normal or average aggression in one day games, and recruited a few really aggressive players after my first couple of seasons for this reason. I've had lots of success in OD and T20 formats mostly down to the squad I've got.

[Sureshot]

It almost sounds like you're changing your field too often, don't try and chase where the ball goes. Probably better off having a couple of different fields, I'll have different fields set up for each bowler for each phase of the game (ie, powerplay / non powerplay).

Do you actually know where you're struggling, bat or ball?

I find that batting is harder to get right in short format, rather than 20 over. A lot of which can be countered by 512tm's comments above, about aggression type. Defensive players in OD/20 over can work, but they have to be good players and in good form.

[DaveK93]

I take a slightly different approach to you in both batting and bowling. I'll quite happily start the batsmen at 6 bars unless I'm losing consistent wickets, essentially trying to get on top early on. Should I start to lose wickets, I'll hold back, going to either 4/5 depending on batsman aggression and quality. Probably average 300+ using that, gone past 400 a few times.

Bowling wise, I'm happy with the default fields, and I'll generally bowl front foot, outside off. I'll start on two bars, then drop it back to zero if they start to hit out, or if I want to try and nullify the scoring. I personally prefer 5 seamers with at least 1 left armer, but if I have a spinner, I tend to make sure they are used before 33/34 overs, so they don't become easy prey.