Youth Players

[Long Hop]

Just something that's been on my mind for a while now really, but thought I'd post it up and see what other people think.

My basic problem with ICC games for the last few editions, although it seems more exagerrated on 2011, is the contrast between Youth Players who start on the game and the ones who come through mid-season each year.

The players who start on the game will, logically, be the best in each side's Youth Team because they're already in and around the first team squads at the age of 17-20 as most of them are, and yet they always seem to have 2nd Team averages in 20s for batting and 40s/50s for bowling. Here are just a few examples from a save I've loaded up:

Lewis Gregory (Somerset) 18.72 bowling/52.95 bowling
George Dockrell (Somerset) 39.17 bowling
Reece Topley (Essex) 30.47 bowling
Paul Stirling (Middlesex) 23.85 batting/44.1 bowling
Chris Metters (Warwicks) 19.13 batting/37.21 bowling
Moin Ashraf (Yorks) 36.86 bowling

All of these guys are highly rated at their clubs, but even if I whack them on Technique Coaching from Day One, they'll still be overtaken by randomly generated new players who come in mid season and are instantly First Team standard, which is just madness. I don't want to see these two newly generated players in every team from the moment they're on the game, as it's just plain daft that these guys are supposedly new Academy players and are leaping ahead of all the young players already on the game: Potential is not current ability.

My other slight bugbear with the Newly Generated players is that some of them are as old as 23 when they come through: bearing in mind you've now started including Club Academy players as young as 15/16 (Gibson at Yorks, Miles at Gloucestershire) and that most players have now made their debuts by the age of 20 at the latest, I don't think Academy players should be much older than 18.

I have no idea really how potential works on ICC, but I'd be interested in seeing people's comments on how this could be addressed.

[alex.scargill]

Just something that's been on my mind for a while now really, but thought I'd post it up and see what other people think.

My basic problem with ICC games for the last few editions, although it seems more exagerrated on 2011, is the contrast between Youth Players who start on the game and the ones who come through mid-season each year.

The players who start on the game will, logically, be the best in each side's Youth Team because they're already in and around the first team squads at the age of 17-20 as most of them are, and yet they always seem to have 2nd Team averages in 20s for batting and 40s/50s for bowling. Here are just a few examples from a save I've loaded up:

Lewis Gregory (Somerset) 18.72 bowling/52.95 bowling
George Dockrell (Somerset) 39.17 bowling
Reece Topley (Essex) 30.47 bowling
Paul Stirling (Middlesex) 23.85 batting/44.1 bowling
Chris Metters (Warwicks) 19.13 batting/37.21 bowling
Moin Ashraf (Yorks) 36.86 bowling

All of these guys are highly rated at their clubs, but even if I whack them on Technique Coaching from Day One, they'll still be overtaken by randomly generated new players who come in mid season and are instantly First Team standard, which is just madness. I don't want to see these two newly generated players in every team from the moment they're on the game, as it's just plain daft that these guys are supposedly new Academy players and are leaping ahead of all the young players already on the game: Potential is not current ability.

My other slight bugbear with the Newly Generated players is that some of them are as old as 23 when they come through: bearing in mind you've now started including Club Academy players as young as 15/16 (Gibson at Yorks, Miles at Gloucestershire) and that most players have now made their debuts by the age of 20 at the latest, I don't think Academy players should be much older than 18.

I have no idea really how potential works on ICC, but I'd be interested in seeing people's comments on how this could be addressed.

We do get good young players after season 2020.They just can break any team apart.

[Long Hop]

We do get good young players after season 2020.They just can break any team apart.

Thanks for the reply, but this wasn't really my point. I'm not saying that new players are too good, but they are too good too quickly.

12-18 months into any single game, England will have 2-3 new players in their teams, which is plain madness- if anyone who hasn't yet made their First Team debut plays for England before 2015 in real life then they'll be an absolute prodigy. Even someone like Alastair Cook who made the step up very quickly took three years between First Class and Test debuts.

These players generally wipe out any chance of the 2nd Team Players who start on the game actually making anything of themselves, as they just have too high a 2nd Team average to bother with.

[alex.scargill]

Thanks for the reply, but this wasn't really my point. I'm not saying that new players are too good, but they are too good too quickly.

12-18 months into any single game, England will have 2-3 new players in their teams, which is plain madness- if anyone who hasn't yet made their First Team debut plays for England before 2015 in real life then they'll be an absolute prodigy. Even someone like Alastair Cook who made the step up very quickly took three years between First Class and Test debuts.

These players generally wipe out any chance of the 2nd Team Players who start on the game actually making anything of themselves, as they just have too high a 2nd Team average to bother with.

That is a valid point,also every year new players gets england contract even after old players not perfoming badly.

[Berkley]

That is a valid point,also every year new players gets england contract even after old players not perfoming badly.

That doesn't mean that youth players have less talent than old players.I would go for youth.

[yorkshireforever]

you said some players or around the age of 23 when the develop into the first team, we'll im from Yorkshire, and our 2001 county championship captain didnt play for Yorshire until he was...23!

[Kongquistador]

12-18 months into any single game, England will have 2-3 new players in their teams, which is plain madness- if anyone who hasn't yet made their First Team debut plays for England before 2015 in real life then they'll be an absolute prodigy. Even someone like Alastair Cook who made the step up very quickly took three years between First Class and Test debuts.

I have this same problem in a game of 2010 I have going right now. I'm partway through the 2012 season and one of my players is already well established in all forms internationally. He actually wasn't my player in his mid-season debut, but some computer team failed to pick him up for whatever reason and he was obviously a genuine article so I grabbed him (29,000 first contract, incidentally). He made his test debut midway through the following season after playing a total 12 career FC matches. He has basically played every test and all bar 1-2 ODIs, as well the odd t20. Another player, the other prodigy from the 2010 midseason, just made an ODI debut. I expect to see him in the test side, and there are several other youngsters who look solid: FC avgs ~50.

Also, I know this has been mentioned before, but there are way too many non-opening RHBs, and very little else. I started making a list, which I'm going to continue to update for a season and then post the results. But it seems to me that 60-70% of all players generated are non-opener RHBs, and there are particularly few bowlers of any stripe.

[MattDMX]

You are right about the ages of regens in game. The vast majority are 20+ whereas imo they should 17-18-19.