T20 struggles

[Jobi1K]

Congrats Chris_ ! Form definitely seems to be a really important thing. As I posted up thread, I surprised myself by managing to get to the knockout stage of the English T20 in my first season on this edition with a lot of really good wins, but then all my T20 big guns came back from The Hundred in 2-star form or worse and I lost the quarter final comfortably.

Strangely though, in that game I mentioned in my last post where I had a huge last 4 overs and made it past 200 for the first time in this edition, the batters involved were all in fairly average form, mostly 3 stars, but just all settled quickly and hit a real groove. In the next game though, same batting line-up but with them obviously showing better form after that brilliant last match, and with same weather/pitch conditions, I was only able to make 31 off the last 4 overs, losing 3 wickets in the process, and finished with a total of 159 which the opposition chased down easily.

It's just a very unpredictable format, which I think is pretty true to life, and for me this edition has got closer to reality than previous ones – really enjoying it!

[Chris_]

After a couple of seasons falling just short in the knockout stages I managed to win the T20 with my county this year, yippie!

Instead of switching bowling approach around I tried going consistent and kept every bowler on 1 bar from start to finish. This kept 1 slip fielder even after the fielding restrictions were lifted, as the field defaults only got updated if I toggled a bowler to a different aggression and then went back to 1. I like having the 1 slip as I get a lot of catches there but didn't want to use higher aggression to get it.

Where possible I'd choose to bowl first if I won the toss as I prefer chasing a target than setting one. I managed to bowl the other team out in 14/15 overs a few times, and had quite a few of their scores kept under 100. That made it easier coming in to bat second as I could keep batsmen on lower aggression and not lose many wickets. I found it tougher when opening the batting, particularly in poorer conditions, as it was tricky to know what aggression to go with there. Generally if I opened batting I'd start on 6 bars (highest in the middle) and move them up to 7 (first orange) when getting settled, going higher in the orange if I needed to chase a few more runs in the final overs.

I rarely had any success with maximum batting aggression as most players just swung and missed each ball, scoring less than if they'd just hit half of them. I think there was 1 match where I won by a run after maximum batting worked in the final over to get around 20 runs but that certainly was the exception.

As Yorkie said, the main thing seems to be form. Go into the T20 with decent form already and get some early wins and you can keep the momentum going. Enter with bad form and lose some early matches and that just causes a downward spiral as your players get stuck on 1-2 star form. As with Yorkie, I'll aim to play my best T20 players from the start but I'm also not afraid to swap them out if form goes to hell; I've had a defensive batsman at 4 star form score more at a faster rate than a very aggressive T20 specialist who only has half a star of form.

The form thing can be particularly annoying for the later knockout stages. You can do great in the groups but then by the time the QF/SF come around the players who did well for you before might be completely out of form if they've played badly in other competitions / internationals. The 100 can be a real pain for this as you have no control over how your players do there. Sometimes I'll set a player aside and keep him on high form with extra practice coaching a few games ahead of the knockout stage if I really, really don't want to risk their form dropping off, but generally a player that vital for T20 might not be playing in heavy cloudy first class matches in the interim anyway.

[Yorkie]

Never had much bother with T20 format right back to 2015 version, but must admit it is still a little hit and miss.

Sometimes your luck can be in, other times maybe not.
I always look at it as a game of 2 halves, meaning the bowlers must also play their part! It’s near on impossible chasing down huge scores with the run rate escalating away and painful too.

Player form is paramount (and obviously playing conditions) but I’ve had much success using ‘other’ Aggressive players in great form. I’ve never been afraid of dropping my ‘regulars’ if their form is dismal and replacing with fringe players on amazing form. I’ve won the T20 World Cup this way with England and the T20 competition most seasons with Yorkshire.

[Jobi1K]

Currenly playing a Big Bash season and I finally managed to crack the 200 barrier, in what I reckon must be about my 25th T20 match in this edition! Didn't particularly do anything different to my usual approach - playing ball by ball and shifting the aggression around mostly within the orange zone - but my top order just got in a groove and scored at a decent pace without losing many wickets. I went 1 bar off full aggression for the death overs, and ended up paggering 55 for the loss of just 1 wicket off the last 4 overs, finishing on 211/3. Don't remember ever having a last few overs like that - can't imagine it was anything more than luck!

[saviopaes]

Playing Brar can be tricky at times, it seems he has a good team but he has had some major collapses and big losses against my teams.

[saviopaes]

I do feel that there's something very off with the T20 engine.

I've played a lot online in the last few days and I'd say that on the new version 130 is a defendable total whereas it used to be minimum you needed 140.

160 used to be about par but now it's around 150, anything above and that's good.

Wickets also seem to tumble at insane rates. I just took 5 wickets for 3 runs Vs Brar and none of these batsmen were tailenders. Hardik Pandya got 5 wickets in 12 balls vs me earlier.

Whether I'm batting or bowling the batting team gets to 70 or 80 for 1 or 0 after 10 overs and then limps to 140. Some of it can be my tactics but I don't get how most players I'm playing are also getting into these situations.

All is well my end in the t20/test and 4 day gamea. Guess a few tweaks here n there and you'll be good to go. I'm still figuring out the ODI/OD gameplay, cannot wrap my head around that format till now. Mixed results at best.

[galvatron]

I do feel that there's something very off with the T20 engine.

I've played a lot online in the last few days and I'd say that on the new version 130 is a defendable total whereas it used to be minimum you needed 140.

160 used to be about par but now it's around 150, anything above and that's good.

Wickets also seem to tumble at insane rates. I just took 5 wickets for 3 runs Vs Brar and none of these batsmen were tailenders. Hardik Pandya got 5 wickets in 12 balls vs me earlier.

Whether I'm batting or bowling the batting team gets to 70 or 80 for 1 or 0 after 10 overs and then limps to 140. Some of it can be my tactics but I don't get how most players I'm playing are also getting into these situations.

[galvatron]

I'm still finding online incredibly difficult to bat. Some wild collapses happening. Usually after the powerplay or the 10th over.

I've only reached 200 once in 43 games as well. Which seems surprising.

No one reached 100 either which is surprising as the openers often remain not out but don't seem to push on.

[Jobi1K]

On a bit of a run in T20 at the moment. I'm finding targetting one of the bowlers to be a fruitful tactic.

Does anyone have any success putting the agression on top red for the batsmen? When I do it they either swing and miss or get out.

Ah yeah I always target bowlers in that way. If one goes for a few in their first over I'll give my batters an extra bar or two of aggression in the next over against them, and it does often pay off. I quite often do that in FC games as well, particularly if I'm feeling the need to up the scoring rate a bit. Definitely worth being ruthless and trying to exploit any small sign of weakness!

I find batters don't tend to last all that long on top red though.

[Jamesy1984]

On a bit of a run in T20 at the moment. I'm finding targetting one of the bowlers to be a fruitful tactic.

Does anyone have any success putting the agression on top red for the batsmen? When I do it they either swing and miss or get out.

I play ball by ball now offline and if I haven’t scored enough runs off an over near the death I sometimes try it last ball of the over, desperate tactic as doesn’t often work but needs must. I must say playing ball by ball I find myself with more wickets at the end of an innings usually

[Wilted]

Does anyone have any success putting the agression on top red for the batsmen? When I do it they either swing and miss or get out.

Only as a desperado tactic if I need 20 or so off the last over, which rarely works. I find scoring is quicker overall with 9/10 aggression due to not losing wickets and maintaining confidence.

[amacca1234]

On a bit of a run in T20 at the moment. I'm finding targetting one of the bowlers to be a fruitful tactic.

Does anyone have any success putting the agression on top red for the batsmen? When I do it they either swing and miss or get out.

[Lynx54321]

This is an interesting table, I haven't recorded any stats but I'd feel pretty comfortable saying that an economy under 8 in the death overs is far from unusual in all the saves I've had on this years game when in reality only 3 players have achieved this over a large spell. In fact I'd say I reckon I frequently take wickets galore in those overs. I wonder if its too hard to score in the powerplay and death overs and slightly too easy in the middle overs.

[Jamesy1984]

I only ever play offline – the horror stories on this forum have put me off ever trying online! I'm happy enough in my own little world!

And I always play all T20 and one-day games ball by ball – as you say, it's the only real way to be in control and responsive to what the opposition is doing. Does explain why it takes me up to a couple of months to complete a single season!

To be fair there are a lot of good guys online you just have to avoid people with bad disconnect records or anyone who seems abusive. Online game can be really fun but you can’t really expect anyone to play ball by ball apart from last few overs

Just don’t do test ball by ball lol

[Jobi1K]

Some people won’t like this but playing ball by ball offline in T20 seems the best way to play and also at the back end of a one day game. Every ball is crucial and you need to adapt to what the opposition is doing.

I know it’s not feasible to play so much ball by ball offline.

I only ever play offline – the horror stories on this forum have put me off ever trying online! I'm happy enough in my own little world!

And I always play all T20 and one-day games ball by ball – as you say, it's the only real way to be in control and responsive to what the opposition is doing. Does explain why it takes me up to a couple of months to complete a single season!