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Team Selection |
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New Players |
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Player Selection |
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Player Fitness and Injuries |
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Match Conditions |
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Player Form and Training Points |
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Batsmen and Batting |
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End of Season negotiations |
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Bowlers and Bowling |
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Before you start the
game proper, it is firstly worth considering which team would suit
you best. If you want to go all out for the best players, then
Surrey, Yorkshire and Lancashire are your best
bets. However the last of these is probably the best to choose if you don't
want to lose players on England duty too often. |
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Of course, if you have
an allegiance to a particular county in real life, you'll end up
picking them all the time! This is not really a bad thing, as player
team skills seem to even out the longer you play through the game. |
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One thing that I have
noticed from playing the game is that Glamorgan always seem
to do well, so it might be worth a go with them. |
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In the
end, the quality of the players of your squad will dictate the
balance of your team. Whichever team you choose, it is worth first
studying your players' career averages. Generally, for a batsman, 40
is a good county and 30 is a good OD average. For bowlers, 25 or
below is excellent in both forms of cricket. |
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Of course, these figures
should be treated as a rough guide, as quality may only be judged on
most recent performances. This is where the recent statistics
button is useful. However, since these figures are not available at
the beginning of a season, there is a bit of guesswork required. |
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The figures also do not
take into account bowlers' economy rates which are especially
important in the one-day game. These must also be analysed - below 4
is excellent, 4.5 is good-ish and 5 is quite poor. The figures also
vary slightly for International cricket, where quality of opposition
is much higher. This means a batsman with an average of 38 in the
county game may only be able to achieve an average of 25 in the Test
arena. |
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On top
of this, you'll have to develop a knowledge of pitch conditions
based on past experience. For example, if the pitch is described as
in 'good' condition at the start of a match, it's likely to break up
as the game wears on. Therefore, it may be wise to play a spinner,
or even two. This is particularly important on the sub-continent
when touring with England. |
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Otherwise, it would be
advisable to play to your strengths - i.e., pick your best players. If
you've got four top quality seamers, play them along with an all
rounder for one-day games, or even a part time bowler for first
class games. Star bowlers such as Darren Gough or Dominic Cork
should be the first on the team sheet, and the rest of the attack
based around them. |
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Dominic Cork, Derbyshire |
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Secondly, it is
important to consider the state of the outfield. Usually it starts
off slow or very slow right at the beginning of the match. This
means it's usually slightly harder to score runs until it becomes
faster. coupled with the outfield is the weather, which may have the
effect of dampening it, slowing it down, or drying it out, which
would speed it up. Therefore, if your seam attack is good, and
you're confident that the pitch will stay in good condition for a
while it may be worth bowling first and attacking like mad in the
hope of getting some wickets. |
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Don't worry if you lose
the toss, though, because if you manage to bat through the majority
of the first day without losing too many wickets, then your batsmen
can make hay whilst the outfield becomes good, and hopefully, the
sun shines. |
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The best batting
conditions are when the pitch is good, the weather's sunny and the
outfield is very fast. Bowlers will almost always be made to work
hard in these circumstances, and the runs will come at a pace.
Conversely, conditions are best for bowling when the pitch is
turning, the weather's very cloudy and the outfield is slow. Often,
winning the toss can be a huge advantage as the captain winning it
can dictate the pace of the match. |
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BATSMEN
AND BATTING |
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The team
you have chosen should, ideally be be batting heavy. Otherwise,
you'll end up 75 all out with Mike Atherton stranded on 45 not out!
In ICC, every player has their own attributes including preferred
scoring areas and favourite types of bowling to bat against. These
can be useful when playing a more detailed version of the game.
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As a general skeleton of
your batting line up, it may be wise to select two specialist
openers at 1 and 2. These are more resilient players who can stick
out the new ball bowlers for a bit. A quick note about openers,
don't, whatever you do, put a pinch hitter like Glen Chapple or
Dominic Cork in first like Lancs do in real life. In ICC, they
usually fail, and their form will fall as a consequence. At three,
have a bit of a madman like Freddy Flintoff, Graham Thorpe or
someone similar who'll knock a quick fifty before getting out.
This'll give a good base for numbers four and five to come in and
consolidate a bit. |
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Numbers four and five
should be your best batsmen, like Fairbrother at Lancashire, Hussain
at Essex and Brian Lara at Warwickshire. These are the crucial
positions, as they should, ideally, be your major source of runs
throughout the season. Numbers 6 to 11 will be made up mainly of
your all-rounders and bowlers. Generally, it should be the case that
from 6 onwards that players are ordered by their batting average.
You may also have to fit your wicket keeper in here as well. The
majority of keepers in the game are pretty good batsmen with
averages of around 25. Place these at 6 if you're not playing an
all-rounder. Of course, if you've got Andy Flower or Simon Willis, then
all the better - play them higher up the order. |
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Brian Lara, Warwickshire |
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Star Batsman |
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All rounders can be
extremely useful. Look out for young ones with ratings of
'Excellent' for both batting and bowling and snap them up at the end
of the season. Then you can train them up to be very beneficial to
your team. They may be able to dig you out of tough situations and
get you a good few wickets. As for bowlers, don't rely on them too
much for batting. Anything Darren Gough or Andrew Caddick may get
act as bonuses (Note: some bowlers are quite good batsmen - look out
for Peter Martin, Stuart Thomas and the like who sometimes achieve
first class centuries!). |
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Selection of batsmen may differ according to match conditions,
type of match and quality of the opposition.
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Match
Conditions |
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On a good or
very good pitch, it may be worth selecting players with a
preference to fast bowling because the computer team is likely to
select mainly pace bowlers.
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Conversely,
when pitch conditions are 'good', it may be worth choosing batsmen
good against spin, such as John Crawley bowling because the
computer team is likely to select a spin attack.
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Type of
Match |
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In
first-class games, it is more suitable to select more
slow-scoring, but good quality players such as Mike Atherton as
there is more time available. In one day games,
the batting line up is much more subject to experimentation. It
may be worth including a young player or two to build up their
experience levels. |
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Opposition |
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Before each game,
research your opposition's batsmen. Are they much cop, or are they
in terrible form? Select your batsmen accordingly - choose
appropriate skill and experience in your team. When playing lesser
opposition such as Combined Universities or Minor Counties, you
may be able to afford to play one or two younger, rawer players to
give some of your mainstream players a rest. Watch out, though.
Once I saw Scotland, and on another instance Cheshire get through to the Semi finals of the C&G! |
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BOWLERS
AND BOWLING |
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In ICC, bowling is much more
complicated than batting. There are many different types of bowler which
will suit different situations. However, it's your bowlers' skills which
are the first and most important factor in selection. Don't favour a young
youth team graduate over a more experienced bowler, unless it is
absolutely necessary. It may be a good idea to blood your young bowlers in
less crucial games. Remember, experience is an important factor in this
game. Usually, a player will not pull out his best performances until he
has played a certain proportion of matches, perhaps about ten games. |
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A good
bowling attack - squad to aim for. |
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Three Seam bowlers averaging
under 28 for first team play. |
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Two more Seam bowlers
averaging around 30. |
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One top quality spinner.
(Average around or under 30) |
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One or two all rounders,
perhaps a spinner. (Average around or under 30) |
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One or two youth team
graduates as back up. |
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Remember that though subject
to much variation, this line-up would give you plenty of options as well
as back-up in case of crises. Of course, this is by no means the only way
to success - as you get more experienced at the game, you'll develop your
own strategies based on the team you have moulded over the seasons. The
bowling tips following, however, will be based upon the squad shown above. |
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OK, down to business. Like
batsmen, select bowlers on the quality of the pitch, and how you think the
pitch may deteriorate. If the pitch is average at the start of day
one of a CC game, it may be worth bowling your spinner, as the track is
likely to deteriorate fast. On the subcontinent, when touring with
England, the pitch becomes spinning by tea on the first day! Play two or
perhaps one and a spinning batsman, such as Mike Atherton, in this
situation. |
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If the pitch is good,
you may want to play your top spinner and hope you win the toss and bat
first, thus giving him the chance to bowl on a worn pitch on the last day.
However, it may be worth selecting your spinning all-rounder alongside
your seam attack to perform the same task. This will give your team more
batting strength in case you lose the toss and have to bat last. |
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If the pitch is very good,
it's a bit of a gamble as to whether the pitch will spin, so it's
probably better to play a spinning batsman just in case. On the whole,
though, your seamers should do the job. |
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Remember to link pitch
conditions with the weather. A lot of sun means the pitch will bake and
become conducive to spin. Lots of rain slows the outfield down. When it's
cloudy, bowl your seamers as they are likely to get some swing. |
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Try to get a bowling attack to
gel as soon as possible. If you are winning with a certain line-up, keep
to it as much as you can. Obviously, though, there'll be injuries and
perhaps international call ups. This is where your backup bowlers can come
in handy - make sure you've got one or two top quality bowlers and another
two reasonably skilled ones, perhaps youth team graduates. Make as little
change to a winning attack as possible, though. |
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Don't ever discard part time
bowlers such as Michael Vaughan, Graeme Hick and Mark Butcher. They can be
particularly useful at times, picking up wickets when you're in a hole. If
you can't break a certain partnership, bring one into the attack and bowl
at leg stump on zero aggression. You'll be surprised at how often this
actually works! Even terrible bowlers such as Graham Thorpe and Neil
Fairbrother can pick up the odd wicket every now and then using this
tactic. |
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In fact, in the case of Mark
Butcher, you can almost play him as a fourth or fifth seamer alongside
your main bowling attack, and with a bit of training, he can be turned
into more of an all-rounder and an England regular. See the
best players page for
more info on Butch and other players worth looking out for. |
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As the game progresses,
the computer generated young graduate players become more and more
important as they increase in number in the database. It's hard to
judge their potential because the new player ratings can often be
vague and variable. You can do some things to find out how good they
are - mainly sign them for a season or two to check their
performance. However, there are other little hints the computer
drops - are they included in the default line-up at the start of the
season? Do they go on winter tours with England? Are their wages
quite high? (see cheats
page) If so, they are likely to turn out as good players. Ensure
they constantly have a training point or two when they're on your
books. |
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You can also sign young
players to save money you would have otherwise used to buy more
expensive established players. Remember to sign any players under 25
on three year contracts to gain full economy on them, as their
performance is reviewed and a new salary calculated at the end of
their contract spell. If you sign someone on a 1-year contract,
you'll have to pay them a higher wage if you want to re-sign
them next year. Signing them on 3-year deals means their salary
stays consistent throughout their spell. |
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New
Players |
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Player Fitness and Injuries |
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In an ideal situation,
you'd want to stick to a successful line-up as much as possible.
This is, however, not always possible due to players being in poor
condition and injuries. Individual player condition is ranked out of
100. In general, the lower the number, the worse condition the
player is in. Players over 35 are more likely to sustain injuries,
and likewise players under 25 are less likely. |
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You can do a number of
things to regulate player condition. The first, and most popular
would be to rest a player for a spell once his condition drops below
around the 88 mark. A resting player's condition will not drop, only
rise in number. There is, however, a problem with this - beside
losing one of your squad for a match or two, in-form players can
lose their form when not playing (see player form). Bring the player
back once they're up above 90. |
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A second method, only
applied by the strongest of county sides, is squad rotation. This
generally relies on the player having a large squad with a lot of
strong players. There's nothing stopping a smaller squad trying it
to a certain extent, though - 18 players might be enough if you've
got some good players. This method requires some flexibility, as you
will need to base team line-ups on players available on a game by
game basis. |
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Play almost your
strongest squad in the first few games before the league cup
qualifiers and England one-dayers come along. This intense period in
the season means player condition drops like mad, so keep an eye out
so as it does not drop too much, say, under 90. Put in some weaker
players against Combined Universities etc, replacing the more tired
players in your team, and you should still absolutely batter them.
In the second part of the season, after the league cup qualifying
stages, you could develop separate strategies and player line-ups
for one-day and four day games. Going out of the League Cup early
may not be such a bad thing, as those quarter and semi finals later
on sap your squad's energy. After all, there is more financial
benefit for a good finish in the County Championship than winning
the League Cup. |
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For more
information and tips on injuries occurring to your England team,
click here. |
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Player Form and Training Points |
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Like condition, player
form is rated out of 100. However, because form can increase or
decrease as a result of playing in matches, this ranking is set to
start out at 40, which can be translated as playing at 40% of the
player's maximum potential. The lowest point this can decrease to is
one, at which point the player is totally demoralised and completely
out of form. I have seen a player's form drop to zero, but I think
this is another way of expressing form to be 100% in the game,
perhaps a glitch which can come about due to player editing in ICEd. |
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There are two ways to
increase player form. These are training and match experience. I
think training, from experience, is more effective, especially if
the player is given two training points. If a player's form becomes
very low, that is, below 25, drop them from the team and their form
will gradually increase back up to 40, even if they are not
currently assigned any training points, though this will decrease
the amount of time it takes. If a player's form climbs above 70,
then it is probably a good idea to re-assign their training points
to a player in poor form. |
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If you are England
captain, make sure that before you leave on international duty you
take any training points off your county's England players and
re-assign them to non-internationals. This way you can make the most
of the training points feature, and county players will perform
better whilst you are away. |
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Of course, you'll want
to pick the players who have the best form rating. However, you
should always bear in mind that a good player will always be better
than a bad player in good form. The best way to keep a balance in
your team is to take your time, make deliberate, decisive decisions
regarding squad selection and constantly check back to the training
screen. There'll always be changes to make to your training regime,
so review it every week rather than every month when the screen
loads up automatically. |
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End of season negotiations |
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At the end of every
season, you'll get the chance to renew and terminate contracts and
buy new players. This, as you could imagine, is as much a part of
the game as team selection, training points etc. |
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First up is contract
renewals and terminations. Go through each player individually,
looking at their career stats, but more importantly their current
ones. If you signed someone on a three year deal and they are
consistently underperforming (eg average under 20 for batsmen, over
35 for bowlers) and have done for the last couple of seasons, it is
probably better to get rid of them. However, bear in mind that good
players have bad seasons, and injuries can decrease overall player
form. If expensive players are of no benefit to your team, they are
not worth keeping. |
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The subject of
England internationals is an interesting one. When they do
appear in the available players pool, is it worth signing them?
Well, it varies from player to player, but my advice is if you have
the money to spare, snap them up. In some cases, due to high cost,
though, you run the risk of pinning your hopes too much on them
being fit all season, and your 13 other squad players will struggle
to fill the gap left by them when they are on international duty. On
the plus side, the more consistent ones can often win you matches
and get you out of sticky situations. |
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Overseas
internationals pose a similar dilemma, as some of their asking
prices can be ludicrous. Keep away from the really expensive players
as they never perform as well as you expect. Take the example of
Sachin Tendulkar, his skill does not necessarily live up to his
average. Exceptions to this rule are South Africans Kallis and
Klusener, who more often than not deliver the goods if not batting,
then in bowling. Brian Lara is also the best batsman in the game,
but often has an off season or two. In the 2003 database on
CricketWeb,
Brian Lara lives forever! He's also English, but can play only
international cricket after he leaves Warwickshire. |
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In the bowling
department, Shaun Pollock, Shane Warne and West Indian pace pairing
Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh usually perform well. However, I
can't remember if it's possible, but it's worth checking England's
opponents for the forthcoming season. Don't, whatever you do, sign
an international from this nation. Don't sign Muralitharan after the
first season, for example, because you'll pay his wages but he'll be
on international duty for all of the English season! This
means he's a waste of good money. Instead sign someone from
another country. All other nations other than England's opponents
play each other during the winter period, so you won't have this
problem. |
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Player Guide Part 2:
Captaining England |
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