Bowled my first innings with two tops sides in a test match - Australia v England. Australia won the toss and chose to bat - green/soft pitch with overcast conditions. I wanted to bowl so I was more than happy. I had played around a bit with the mentalities too, based on a formula I've come up with. In general it felt fairly realistic, apart from Shaun Marsh hitting Jimmy Anderson for six down to fine leg on his third or fourth ball. The strike rates were fairly solid but the out shots were appalling in some cases. I guess they happen in real life but sometimes it felt too easy, or I'm just going back to my DBC 17 view that I'm just too good.
Noticeable difference to playing with lesser skilled sides, which I have been doing. Think I managed to get two or three edges in the entire innings, one a fine edge behind to the keeper (Nathan Lyon) another I'm not entirely sure I'd call an edge - more of a deflection off the bat by Warner onto the stumps.
Anwyay, bowled Australia out for 192 in 53 overs. Wickets were interesting. One that I would call a classic DBC 17 bat pad smash. Another that was a mistimed pull shot that looped up and the keeper came running in to claim - seen those a few times. I do think the keepers are too quick to move, or just too close to the stumps, which make these more frequent than perhaps they should be. Another 'bat pad' where a pull shot was under edged onto the pad and it looped up to short leg who took it at a sort of very, very close leg slip position. Two deflections/angled strokes to gully which seem fairly realistic. I did get a second bowled, possibly the most authentic looking bowled I've seen, as it wasn't just a complete miss by the batsman. Fairly straight delivery that nibbled off the seam and removed Pat Cummins' middle stump.
With the edges I'm not sure if the AI batsman are too highly rated or the bowlers are too effective at getting the ball to swing or cut. Maybe the conditions have something to do with that too in this case. End result seems to be a lot of plays and misses that thud into the pad. Whereas with lower skilled players it feels like a more natural sort of game. The old Cross Seam delivery, with the seam directed about 10 degrees either way is so effective at getting bounce and swing after 20-25 overs when the 'normal' swing deliveries aren't moving anymore. No matter how hard I try, granted it's a soft pitch, I can never seem to get a decent bouncer in.
It's going to be interesting to see if I get as many edges with the higher rated players as I do when batting with say Nepal or another associate side.
