International Duty

[TheMoonUnitExperience]

One thing that I have recently realised is the way players are selected for international duty is completely wrong. In this game you lose them pretty much on the first match of the series and still get a fair few games out of your international players, when in reality England players may only play a couple of county matches and players are gone for international duty some time before the first game and are often rested by the England team. It would be better if you were told when your international players will be available at the start of the season. I am sick to death of being bowled out by Broad, Swann and Anderson, granted it works both ways with Trott and Bell scoring masses of runs for me but it makes the whole thing unrealistic and means when England players are gone, because you get so used to having them, it leaves a massive whole in the team as you will be less inclined to give other players a go. It can't be that hard to change surely?

[stanley_1994]

One thing that I have recently realised is the way players are selected for international duty is completely wrong. In this game you lose them pretty much on the first match of the series and still get a fair few games out of your international players, when in reality England players may only play a couple of county matches and players are gone for international duty some time before the first game and are often rested by the England team. It would be better if you were told when your international players will be available at the start of the season. I am sick to death of being bowled out by Broad, Swann and Anderson, granted it works both ways with Trott and Bell scoring masses of runs for me but it makes the whole thing unrealistic and means when England players are gone, because you get so used to having them, it leaves a massive whole in the team as you will be less inclined to give other players a go. It can't be that hard to change surely?

Almost all players of New South Wales team go for international duty,so hard to play with bench strength.

[TheMoonUnitExperience]

I am not sure about Australian states but I remember on the last game playing as Victoria several players being selected for international but I still had a good team. It's just the way it works in England is completely wrong. In my game, the Sri Lanka series has just finished and Bell and Trott have returned to me straight after the last game, this is just not how it happens and makes some sides with many England players very strong (eg Nottinghamshire, they are strong anyway but when Broad and Swann are playing they are too strong) whilst others with none are very weak in comparison. I am playing as Warwickshire and when Bell and Trott are gone my batting is very weak but when they are there it is very strong, and prevents a degree of consistency of players. My idea would be to create some kind of buffer period, of a few weeks, before and after international series in which players are still classed as being on international duty

[alex.scargill]

It can be made such that players should be available to play at both places at same time,else difficult to get solution on it.

[TheMoonUnitExperience]

I don't really see much of a problem with my idea for a 'buffer period' and I can't see it being too hard to impliment

[stanley_1994]

It can be made such that players should be available to play at both places at same time,else difficult to get solution on it.

The players playing 2 places at same time will spoil the quality of game.

[TheMoonUnitExperience]

I don't understand what you mean, if they are international duty they are not available for their county. I don't know how they will be playing in two places at once, do you mean them being selected in the squad but not playing an then being able to play for their county. , like Bresnan did the other week? If so they would improve the game as it would be more realistic.

[alex.scargill]

The players playing 2 places at same time will spoil the quality of game.

I meant we should be able to decide if we allow players to play for other league and so on.

[Berkley]

I meant we should be able to decide if we allow players to play for other league and so on.

We are just captain and not entire cricket board to decide such things.

[TheMoonUnitExperience]

We are just captain and not entire cricket board to decide such things.

I am not sure the captain gets to sign players, negotiate contracts and allocate the budget...

[bnd3]

It's also quite annoying when you have a player selected in every test match squad in a summer, but then doesn't play in any of them because he is twelfth man in every match.

[TheMoonUnitExperience]

Yes, often England releases unselected players if their county needs them. It should happen especially for finals and important games.

[Sureshot]

Some good points raised here. Particularly with regards to the twelfth man being released for his county. I like this idea more than making England players unavailable for their county more than they currently are.

As it is, it's not realistic, you're right. But it does mean you get to play with your best players more often (though of course that doesn't apply to all teams). It's certainly something for us to consider in the future (not something we'll patch for 2011), don't know how feasible it is with the current structure.

[TheMoonUnitExperience]

It's good to know you have taken the points here onboard and are going to consider them in the future.