Cricket Captain 2024 - Wishlist of Changes

[Wilted]

Every year there is a wishlist thread for the next edition. Drop your unrealistic pipedreams, minor tweaks and that one feature that was included over a decade ago and you can't believe hasn't been included since.

The Unrealistic

Women's Cricket
I think women's cricket has been one of the most talked about features over the last few editions. A World Cup, Ashes or WPL in the tournament mode would be a good start.

New Animations
The reverse sweep was an unexpected addition this year. The scoop could be added this year since it has become an almost textbook shot over the past few years. Maybe a diving animation for batsmen, a new catch animation for fielders or a bowler raising the ball for a 5fa?

Custom Tournaments
The only tournaments available are current editions of international tournaments. It would be great to have custom T20 comps and World Cups with custom teams.

Pitch Changes
Pitches seem very static at the moment. Graphically, they all look the same and they all play the same. Yes, you can pick a batter, seamer or spinner-friendly wicket but by day five, they end up the same anyway. I'd love to see grassy pitches, pitches that flatten out, pitches affected by humid/rainy conditions, etc.

Batting Gameplay
Batting has one adjustable slider and no strategy at the moment. Once a batsman is settled, you just hit autoplay until it's time to bowl, where you can change your line/length, customise fielders, rotate bowlers, and change aggression. I've previously mentioned a separate slider for running, which would give limited-over formats realistic options but toggles such as looking for gaps, leaving anything outside off, running two on weaker fielders' throws, etc. These additional strategies could be in a similar menu to the change bowler or change field menu.

Less Unrealistic Changes

Domestic ATG
At the moment you can pick ATG teams based on international teams. If you want a mixed team, you have a World XI pool of every single player in the CC database. This makes picking ATG teams based on domestic teams, especially T20 comps, very tedious and impossible to do without external programs. The workings for this are already there as I can filter the World XI database by English teams but not any other country. I'd love to create teams for domestic T20 teams and other domestic comps.

Drinks Breaks
There are a lot of minor features missing from CC that would add a lot to realism. The one that could have the biggest effect on gameplay is a drinks break. At the moment, CC is unbalanced in favour of batsmen. Massive scores can be accumulated with ease. A drinks break in the middle of a session/innings could recover stamina for bowlers and reduce settled-ness for batsmen similar to a session break. It's not uncommon to see a big partnership broken after a drinks break in real life.

Other Realism Additions
- mid-over lunch break when a wicket falls
- opposition nightwatchmen
-showing partnership milestones similar to individual milestones
- more variety in stadiums
- international players not flying home to play a four-day match in between an away Test and ODI series and somehow playing two matches at the same time
- international contracts are given out in international saves. This can mean they maintain extra training in the long gaps between series and ensure those players have a priority of being fit while playing in their domestic comp. My ODI squad should be able to bowl more than three overs in a row before getting injured since they used all of their stamina playing in the BBL.
- auctions for those comps that have them
- use existing players in PM XI and similar teams
- offer a draw handshake in the final session
- tour matches, intraclub matches, etc. for away tours to regain form
- target score for bonus points in related comps, similar to target score for D/L.

More Challenging Difficulty
While normal difficulty can start out challenging depending on what team you choose, it becomes easier as you build a strong squad and gain form. A higher level of difficulty would be a nice change of pace to constantly winning every series.

Simulate Innings
You can simulate a whole match but sometimes it would be nice to just simulate through to the next innings.

Database filters
I'll keep asking for adjustable filters until it finally happens. I'd like the option to see the best spinners available without having to scroll down the bottom of a massive list when sorting by bowling style and then wading through part-timers. Or just want somewhat recent results such as most runs in England in the last 5 years.

Auto 2nd XI
Make all unselected members of your domestic team play 2nd XI with one click rather than going through 15 players and adding the to the 2XI individually

Other Database Additions
The information available to domestic saves is available to international saves:
- End-of-year summary for international careers. Leading run scorers, etc for both your team and worldwide.
- Career summary that includes how many trophies you win, win/loss ratios against teams, total wins etc.
- Retirement announcements for international players.

World Cup Stats
World Cup and WTC stats and records, including runs, wickets, title wins, etc.
Tournament-specific career records such as looking at most runs in the BBL or most wickets taken in the IPL.
Expand selection of recorded stats such as 200s, 300s, hattricks, run outs, 4-wicket hauls (for T20s)
Total 4s and 6s count as well as %
Records for most international wickets/runs in a calendar year (domestic teams have this feature)
Batting stats filtered by batting position

Retirement Announcement
A heads-up would also be nice to have when players are going to retire too. A message on the contract screen along the lines of "S Boland has indicated they are considering retirement" would be a huge help in giving you the chance to be proactive and find a replacement in your squad. They wouldn't have to then retire but you know it's coming in the next few years and have the chance to train up a rookie or sign an established replacement. Especially when you get the shock retirement of one of your star players in their early 30s.


Actually Realistic Additions

Bazball
Re-tweak Bazball aggression. I think Bazball in its hyped-up form from 12 months ago is over. Individual players can be aggressive but no one mentions Bazball when Marsh and Head are scoring faster than Duckett and Stokes.

Named Grounds
Have the name on the ground somewhere on the scorecard.

Alternate ODI /T20 Kits
A lot of international teams have different kits for home/away/ODI/T20I matches. It'd be nice to see them used.

Do I expect any of these changes? Not really. Would I appreciate it if any changes (listed or otherwise) were included? Absolutely.

[Trevfromsussex&Oz]

Custom Tournaments for ATG Teams, how about using the draw for the early World Cups in 5-day mode? Pick the grounds and show them the early editions did this;. Maybe a custom tour mode. Differ between pitches and chose weather. At present we have ICC bland or BCI spin.

[S.A.& Kent]

I`m fully in favour of more ATG`s being introduced to the game, especially for those of us who like to play, what I call fantasy cricket series. The idea that only cricketers that played either Test, ODI, or Twenty 20 can become an ATG is in my opinion, an injustice, as there are many great players that never had the opportunity to receive an international cap. The problem, as I see it, was the lack of Test matches during the 50`s & 60`s, before One day and 20/20 cricket came along. For example, Godfrey Evans was England`s first choice Wicket keeper for almost 10 years, nobody got a look in, but there were a number of great keepers waiting in the wings, some chosen to tour, playing in what was called an England XI, like Brian Taylor of Essex.. There is also a case for S.N. Mohol & D.D. Govindraj, both Indian pace bowlers who never played test cricket because India relied heavily on spin, but both were selected for tours. As I`ve said before, there are many more I could name, from Australia, the West Indies & Pakistan that if included would ,in my opinion ,enhance the game. By the way, a great post from Wilted.

[Yorkie]

Job offers from County/State clubs to arrive at the same time my chosen International team job is offered, not at the very final turn of the next new season after I’ve spent hours trying to reinforce my current club. So frustrating.
The ability to chose either my One Day squad OR my Hundred squad when utilising the Hundred League feature. Same for my Club or Country when captaining both. Just put them to play on different dates especially the One Dayers/Hundred games!
After a couple of years there’s hardly any foreign players involved in the English Hundred squads. Inaccurate.
Similarly as mentioned previously, there’s never any Asian/Ethnic named regens appear in the English Leagues. This is poor and needs correction asap. These players are an integral part of the Championship season. Is this linked to the random sprite animations that occur when a Regen spawns? Possibly but you guys have the answer?

[ruby23]

I have only two suggestions. One is that a better font be used which looks clean with fixed width on the scorecard page. Second is to have a basic editor to change attributes of skill (as a percentage) and batting / bowling order of the player. Otherwise the game is robust enough to claim the stake for the best cricket simulation in the world right now.

[saviopaes]

always lovely to see so many suggestions, of which ther is a 0.09% chance that any of them will be implemented. Yet, we still suggest for the overall love and betterment of the game. Would personally love the WPL in offline/online games.... I already have a team name for my team (RCB)

[Salman]

Specific Player Career mode
A career mode game. Where we can select a specific player from any nations and play domestics or international matches if he gets selected by performances.
Trust me This mode will bring another level in the game.
How it will work:
So you select a player from any clubs and play domestic matches and tournaments.You only bat or bowl your player rest gets simulated.
You wouldn't need to control a whole team for a match and the game will be more enjoyable and more fast.
It will be very time saving and enjoyable as you wouldn't need to select the squads for every matches.

[r_j]

I'd love to see bowlers actually spread out. Far too often there's only 5 bowlers used in white ball matches (& 4 in the red ball) when it's now the norm to use at least 6 bowlers bowling a good chunk of the overs rather than just 5 x 10.

It'd also be nice when simming a match if the ai was to use your bowler rather than ignoring him if their bowling quality isn't good enough. I've seen keepers bowl ahead of the picked bowler as they'll have a higher rating.

I have a feeling it might be too late to ask for it this year, but I'd love to see comps like the Irish and Zimbabwe Domestic scenes added. The players are already all there and it would be a nice change to be only able to pick unheard players as overseas like what happens in real life. Cricketeurope also keeps up to date with the Irish scene such as squads being named with new names in so it could always be kept up to date.

Stamina should all be 100% at the start of the season rather than 50% or less. Really not helpful when you're playing a test series starting on the 2nd of April and all your players are half-fit despite last playing a week ago, while the cpu is seemingly at full health.

Dual nationalities is a big thing I'd like to see also. It'd be very helpful in making sure players like Cameron Gannon, Ian Holland, Daniel Doram, Max O'Dowd, Steven Taylor and many more can still play for their international sides without counting as overseas players for their domestic sides. Currently many of them have to either count as overseas players in CC or as English/Australian players like Ian Holland, Cam Steel and Gannon. It'd also be helpful for those who are eligble for both such as Ben Curran. It could even be down as Triple nationalities which would also help in the case of some players such as Andri Berenger and quite a few others such as Ian Holland, Cameron Steel, Michael Booth etc. Could also be expanded in future years to where a full member side can try and convince the player to join them if they're already playing internationally for a associate side, and if they haven't played internationally yet, they can be switch allegiances like Charlie Tear (Scotland U19, England U19, Scotland) or Tazeem Ali (Netherlands U19, England U19)

There's also quite a few things I'd like to see but I'll save that for next year, I would like more international sides added (as well as being able to play with them on tournament and series mode), especially those who have played in World Cup Qualifiers (so those such as Nigeria, Jersey etc). It'd help add to the game so much. Jersey players have also oddly never been added to the game even when they've played domestic cricket, such as Ben Ward (for Boland and Cape Cobras) and Nick Greenwood (Wellington and Lancashire's Academy). I especially find it strange that Greenwood hasn't been added all these years despite playing for them for a few years now and being a regular in all formats. It really kills the realism for me to not have a actual player in the game due to being a regular.

[MozzieOzzie]

Think I asked this for the 23 version, however I feel we should have a bit more flexibility when it comes to the finances. The idea being if you don't go and spend all your budget anything you save can be rolled over its so frustrating that some clubs have very low budgets when others can just spend their way to glory.

Second idea to imitate real life a bit more, using Nathan Lyon as the example. He committed to the full season with Lancashire but ACB have clipped his wings so now only playing 6 CC games, Lancs have then gone out and signed Chris Green to replace him for the T20 blast. Could this be an option some how?

[SalisburySyndrome]

I'd love if the big push for 2024 was on Franchise Leagues

- Introducing draft/auction mechanics;
- More player choice - maybe a way that you could pick from all domestic leagues;
- Replacement players when your selected overseas are unavailable;
- Being coach of multiple franchise teams;
- No more Pakistani players in IPL & Indian players in other T20 leagues.

[AVaughanCoverDrive]

Specific Player Career mode
A career mode game. Where we can select a specific player from any nations and play domestics or international matches if he gets selected by performances.
Trust me This mode will bring another level in the game.
How it will work:
So you select a player from any clubs and play domestic matches and tournaments.You only bat or bowl your player rest gets simulated.
You wouldn't need to control a whole team for a match and the game will be more enjoyable and more fast.
It will be very time saving and enjoyable as you wouldn't need to select the squads for every matches.

This is a different type of game entirely and would require a complete reconfiguration. If this is what you want, play Cricket 24 by BigAnt.

[AVaughanCoverDrive]

To anyone asking for improvements to the game, it won't happen. Look at this thread from 16 years ago, asking for improvements, hardly any of which got implemented.

https://www.childishthings.com/forum/forum/current-and-future-games/international-cricket-captain-2009-forum/53-2009-features-requests

The same game will be released year after year, with only cosmetic improvements, laughably charging £20-£30 for something that has less depth than some free to play mobile games. The only hope to a proper cricket management simulator is a new entrant to the market, or someone taking over the running of this game.

[Scritty]

A few changes I would like

- Better swing mechanics. I've watched hundreds, possibly thousands of deliveries int he viewer int he bott om left to see if a bowler is consistently in swing or favours out swing, whether they get reverse or need a newer ball. The former makes no sense. A M and FM bowler will just swing it both ways with about equal skill and regularity. This makes setting fields hard work. I've put in 3 slips and a gully, asked you to pitch outside off, PLEASE predominantly swing it away and use the inswinger (if you have one) as a surprise weapon. However they just run in and wobble it both ways, getting slapped through mid wicket. IRL I'd take a bowler that did that off and replace them with one with more sense, unfortunately in this game they all do it

- Please fix partnerships that continue to accrue after an injured player. It sums up the scores from the original 2 players and the one that remains after one is injured with their new partner. You can then get partnership records that involve more than 2 players.

- IRL seam bowlers can sometimes bowl more than 6 overs on the trot without needing an oxygen tent. The endurance of seam bowlers has always been a couple of overs too low.

- PLEASE add the ability for us to add OUR OWN player images. I usually play for 100+ seasons (My record in ICC2002 is close to 800 years at the moment, I think Sureshot has seen the image I posted on the Steam forums a couple of years ago when I passed 400 years) in ICC2020 I went about 45 years.
However the game needs personality, the players need personality. An image. Just a simple portrait rectangle, would add a lot of connection between coach and player. As it is, 5 or 6 years in a career half the players are regens and the game loses its connection to the real world. It's no surprise that Steam Workshop for most games is packed with mods that add character and customisation. We know you cannot add images due to licensing, but please let us add our own - as you used to.
People have massive monitors these days and tablets come with resolutions that are god-like. There is surely room for a 180x120 pixel portrait next to the batters and maybe one for the bowler?

- Overseas players need a rehaul. Still today I pick those with only 100% availability. and of the 3 or 4 I get a couple always get picked for internationals. Often before June has even begun. Either make that a lot less likely to happen, or let us get some funds back for replacements. The worst is my current save in ICC2023 where every player but one (including the reserves) has been picked for their international teams. None of them had any international experience before I bought them, and all of them had supposedly 100% availability all from different nations. I'm just left with one t20 only contracted player left. All that money wasted. It's the world cup year (which might be a mitigating factor) but all the same.

-Compensation for Hundred picks. I now have to have a squad of 26 (it tells me that is the minimum) 10 get picked for the Hundred and the club gets nothing in return. IRL The Hundred lives on corporate backing and runs at a huge loss that's picked up by corporate backers. Part of that loss is compensation picks for the counties that lose players they have spent 10+ years investing in and training. The Hundred has to give something back. It does IRL
The Fanos Hira report shows it makes 4.5 million operating loss a year. And he is careful to point out that it is actually likely much higher than that because that 9 million over 2 years did not include compensation payments to FC counties which it is estimated came to substantially more than 9 million.

The usual. More stats, better coaching options, ability to make sure you aren't wasting training points with your county when you are managing your nation (coming back to your county after a 3 test series to see only 3 of your 8 training points were being used for a whole 6 weeks - and there was nothing you could do about it is annoying). More precise training. new shots learned, new balls learned and as above, some consistency with swing bowlers.

Cheers

[Sargey]

Just copy and paste suggestions from the last few annual wishlist threads.

1. IRL youth prospects become star domestic and international players and don't get taken over by regens in 2 years.
2. No regens in first year. Instead populate first contract lists with recent free agents and u18 wc players

3. Freedom in selecting overseas signings. Instead of providing a list based on availability, give a larger list that includes associate cricketers and youth prospects at low salaries.
4. Accuracy in overseas player signing. For example, it is very rare for international players to play in Australia first class or one day sides. So having international regulars in state sides is not realistic. That said, you often see young UK cricketers play in the level below state cricket.
5. Similar to what was said above, dual nationalities.

6. Show the speed of the ball in the game screen.
7. Traits attached to the players to add depth. They can either be flavour text on a player profile or affect gameplay.
Examples:
Extra fast: you have fast bowlers that bowl 140-150, and then there are bowlers that hit 150-160. Someone like Shaun Tait would have this trait.
Drop it short: More likely to bowl bouncers.
Swing or Seam
Spinners that bowl lots of variations or stock bowl more often
or just personality text like 'leader', 'outgoing', etc

8. Stamina related. Bowlers stamina goes down too much. And starting a season on 50% is strange.

9. Central contracts for international teams.

10. Show opposition captain

[S.A.& Kent]

Is there anyone else out there, that think there should be 2 CC games, CC2024 and CC ATG`s. The ATG`s game should revert back to the pre bazball set up, introducing more players from the 1950`s 60`s 70`s 80`s and 90`s, and the CC2024 , carry on in it`s present format without ATG`s.