Batting in career mode is a serious issue

[ellgieff]

As far as technique is concerned, i play semi pre meditated shots... I hold the stick on front foot, i hold the button for lofting, then i simply wait for the ball... If its short, i hit it to the leg side (pull) or to third man (cut), if its full i hit it straight or cover, depending on where the gap is... Just judge the length, not the line... However, if the ball is short and on the body, but u decided to cut it, the ball will harmlessly hit your body or leg ( outside leg, so no chance of lbw). Bottomline: U rarely get out if u get the line wrong... Plus added advantage is that, if the ball is good/full length and on the stumps and u accidentally hit a cut/pull shot, your batsman will still play play the shot successfully... As far as timing is concerned, its not that tough, just practice at the nets... Play the spinners late and keep the eye fixed on the ball for quickies (even during run up)... Works for me, hope it does for everyone

Wait, what? You're hitting every shot with the lofted modifier, and you're cutting or pulling full deliveries - and this is working for you?

Could you define working, please? Are you getting fifties/hundreds? Are you playing career mode, or matches? What difficulty are you playing on?

I'm not doubting you, it's just so clearly different from my experience in the game I'd like to understand more.

 

[Ch0rus]

Well i use the lofted modifier only when the field is up, after it goes back, there are huge gaps everywhere, just run a few runs until it comes up and then go back to lofting... Yes i am getting high scores 50s 100s even a 200... U should be able to cut good length/full balls if u stand on leg stump, but not quick perfect yorkers (which are rare)... No u cant pull these balls, what i meant earlier was u wouldnt get bowled, u would still play a leg glance (successful shot)... However reguarding my technique, i would like to emphasize the risk/reward ratio... There is little chance for u to get out (no chance if u judge the length correctly, assuming u picked a spot where noone is patrolling the boundary) but when u do get it right, u get a boundary... Difficulty pro, career mode... U will get the occasional edge due to poor timing or low confidence... All this is just my experience

 

[Ch0rus]

Go to the nets and try cutting every ball... 1st on the front foot, then deep in the crease off of the back... Stick to whichever gives u the better results... You'd be surprised at how many balls u can cut... Plus, if your timing is perfect on any given ball, you'd be able to play some impossible shots...

 

[inertSpark]

Go to the nets and try cutting every ball... 1st on the front foot, then deep in the crease off of the back... Stick to whichever gives u the better results... You'd be surprised at how many balls u can cut... Plus, if your timing is perfect on any given ball, you'd be able to play some impossible shots...

Actually this is something I've been doing a lot of lately - playing shots that I would not normally instinctively play. I've been quite surprised how many times you can get away with a cut or a pull, even when the field seems to suggest it ought not to be viable. The simple fact is that if you are spot on with your footwork and timing, you can find gaps that you wouldn't think were there!

 

[Biggs]

Played a BUNCH of Career and online games today. Career I've lowered the starting difficulty and have not once been caught out pulling or flicking the ball off the pads. Same for online, played a few casual "PRO" matches and had zero troubles keeping the ball on the ground, only getting caught out doing stupid stuff, pretty much. Plenty of edges to keeper too, none to slip, one great bat-pad during online.

Playing the PC version, it's so good.

 

[umurulz]

Played a BUNCH of Career and online games today. Career I've lowered the starting difficulty and have not once been caught out pulling or flicking the ball off the pads. Same for online, played a few casual "PRO" matches and had zero troubles keeping the ball on the ground, only getting caught out doing stupid stuff, pretty much. Plenty of edges to keeper too, none to slip, one great bat-pad during online.

Playing the PC version, it's so good.

The question is how do u play ground pull shots. I have been unable to play those since patch 2 has arrived. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Pat]

Yea not only pull, even cover-drives and cut shots always go in the air. And it's not even "almost" always, but literally always.

 

[inertSpark]

Yea not only pull, even cover-drives and cut shots always go in the air. And it's not even "almost" always, but literally always.

That's really not been my experience with cover drives or pulls etc at all. I think some of the changes made in patch 2 has placed a lot more emphasis on footwork as well as timing and to me this makes batting feel a lot more realistic when played right. This is sure to get up the backs of people who premeditate 90% of the time, but absolutely I have noticed that playing each ball on its merit results in a fair few shots along the ground. You can demonstrate this quite easily by playing a practice match but upping the difficulty to whatever you usually play. You'll notice from the feedback the mode gives you that the majority of uppish strokes result from a problem with either footwork, timing, or both. The obvious exception being straight drives, which we know there is a definite problem with.

Just as an aside. Footwork isn't as simple as forward or backwards. Stepping towards or away from the line of the delivery appears to make a huge difference too. Again, this is just something that I have observed in practice mode.

 

[Biggs]

even cover-drives and cut shots always go in the air. And it's not even "almost" always, but literally always.

Completely disagree. I have zero issue with cover-drives, sure the odd pull-shot goes in the air when I don't time it right (usually against full pace bowlers) but it's really not literally always. Footwork is key, but if you're hitting shots in the air "literally always" you're doing something wrong, not the game.

 

[zombieian]

I think it is safe to say there is a problem trying to keep the ball down when hitting straight. Whether that is down to poor timing or bad footwork is open to debate, but I've experimented with changing my timing and my footwork and the ball still goes in the air.
It would be good to see videos of people playing straight drives and keeping the ball on the deck. This is a polite request, I'm not disagreeing with people who say that there isn't a problem. If you're not having problems keeping the ball on the ground what is your secret? I would just like to see the evidence for myself.
Cover drives tend to go more aerial then they did post patch but there is usually more chance of finding a gap in the field.

 

[inertSpark]

I think it is safe to say there is a problem trying to keep the ball down when hitting straight. Whether that is down to poor timing or bad footwork is open to debate, but I've experimented with changing my timing and my footwork and the ball still goes in the air.

I completely agree with this bit, in context of straight drives at least. Straight shots (and by this I mean really straight) will find their way to the bowler's hand quite often, regardless how well you play the shot. Whether he holds on to it or not is a different matter.

As for cover drives though. For me, I don't really have a problem with cover drives as most of the time I see them going to ground well before they reach any fielder, save perhaps if there is a short extra cover and my timing/footwork is a bit off. Really the key is to get a feel for when the shot is appropriate and place your feet in the right place. If you time it well and middle it, it will go along the ground. This isn't speculation or conjecture neither. This is something I see every time I am batting.

 

[T.J.Hooker]

Completely disagree. I have zero issue with cover-drives, sure the odd pull-shot goes in the air when I don't time it right (usually against full pace bowlers) but it's really not literally always. Footwork is key, but if you're hitting shots in the air "literally always" you're doing something wrong, not the game.

It's a puzzling issue because as far as I can tell you're just flat out wrong. I don't have an issue with cover drives but it's purely because there's nearly always a gap there. When I check my perfectly timed cover drives on replay they all seem to be travelling a foot or two off the ground until they reach the edge of the circle. The ball never goes straight to ground, it just appears to until you check the replay, and whether or not you're giving catches depends primarily not on your timing (unless you've really stuffed it up) but whether there's a man in the way.

gkrama has posted clips of the ai batting and driving the ball straight to ground, but I'm yet to see this from a user batting video despite some players saying they can do it.

 

[inertSpark]

Respectfully, I suppose that regardless of what the AI is able to do, the issue really has a lot to do with what the individual defines as 'uppish'. To me, a foot or two off the ground is 100% not uppish at all. If it were waist height, I could see there being a problem, but calling a foot or so off the ground uppish is pure hyperbole.

 

[T.J.Hooker]

I don't think it's hyperbole at all when this is the height that the bowler keeps taking the catches that people are saying break the game. I don't think it's hyperbole when there literally doesn't seem to be a way of getting the ball to ground short of the inner ring.

Yeah, some of your well hit drives are going to be low skimmers, but not all of them, or even a majority.

 

[inertSpark]

Well then I suggest that the issue is with AI tuning, and not that the shot is a foot off the ground.