Batting Vs Aktar, Lee etc

[mukusmanukus]

Hi, I got BLIC 05 for PS2 recently and having got pretty comfortable at county level I moved up a notch to test. But having faced pretty much all of the fast bowlers in the game I still haven't got a clue how to play against them. They're just way too fast! Aktar seems to bowl his stock delivery at around 100mph (104 being the fastest) and then interchanges it with the odd 45-65mph slower ball , how do you anticipate this?

I end up having to play most deliveries as if excepting the reg 100mph ball simply because if I wait and try to judge the pace once the ball has left the bowlers hand it's impossible to react in time if it is a fast delivery. This basically means any slower ball I face is always massively mis-timed and ,at best sees my batsman confidence meter constantly sap away and at worst results in an agonisingly slow LBW decision.

And this is all just when trying to block, I havn't even tried playing any attacking strokes.

I had a go practicing against fast bowlers on the 'double wicket' mode but the fact is I can't physically react fast enough.

Could anyone here give me some advice on how to play vs the fast bowlers in the game?thanks.

BTW- Just like to say hi to everyone, this being my first post.

 

[gary0808]

I too struggle at palying Akhtar but my advice is just kepp plugging away at it.

Welcome to the forum

 

[Pakistan4evr]

If it is a yorker just play striaght drive!

 

[alfa_beta]

Here's how I play fast bowlers like Akhtar...

1. Defend all full straight deliveries that might hit the stumps.

2. For the deliveries that are not on stumps or may not hit stumps (like short pitched balls), play as if you are expecting a fast ball around 100 mph - if the speed indicator is full or near full. That means pressing the button as soon as bowler releases the ball. This way you will always get runs whenever bowler bowls at normal speed and in case the bowler bowls a slower one - the worst that can happen is you miss the ball.

3. When bowler bowls with speed indicator not full, capitalize on it as the ball will not be a 100 mph thunderbolt and you should be able to score off it.

3. When bowler's confidence level is high, try to play as if the bowler is going to bowl at 65 mph coz that's the speed of the 'special' deliveries for all bowlers. I have seen when bowler's confidence is full, they always bowl special ball (at 65 mph) within the next 2-3 deliveries. And good thing about BLIC is that there's no front foot and back foot shots. Thus you simply press 'X' and you will hit the ball - be it a bouncer or a yorker.

Using this approach you will miss quite a few balls but you will hammer enough balls to score at more than run a ball. Best shot against fast bowlers is slash/cut/drive shot over 3rd man for a 6 whenever bowler bowls short or outside off. Don't worry you will get the hang of the game pretty soon.

 

[puddleduck]

If you follow what Alfa_beta said you should start to find them easier and easier. Just have to make sure that when it's straight you try to play down the right line as well so when it's slow your bat is already in the way

 

[mukusmanukus]

thanks for the tips folks, I'll give them a go.
alfa-beta: I know what you mean by the cut over 3rd man, very good against spinners that bowl wide too.

 

[aitzaz]

Well here it is u ppl know how i scored a century against a team playing with Akhtar? Never try to be defensive play maximum straight drives with mix variety of attacking shots

 

[alfa_beta]

thanks for the tips folks, I'll give them a go.
alfa-beta: I know what you mean by the cut over 3rd man, very good against spinners that bowl wide too.

It's a very effective shot in BLIC but extremely unrealistic imho... after all how many times do we see spinners hit for a 6 over 3rd man??? Same for fast bowlers - it can happen occasionally but not as easy as in this game.

This is something Codemasters need to work on. They should look at cricket games and figure out what are the scoring areas in general. E.g., 3rd man is a prominent area for picking up singles in odis but not for flogging 6s. Similarly most of the 4s come through straight drives, cover area or mid wicket and most of the boundaries to 3rd man are edges or glides to 3rd man that just beat the keeper when there are no slips. For fine leg, you generally pick a single unless the file leg fielder is posted quite wide or you edge it or glance it just past the keeper. Most of the 6s are hit in the V (over long on and long off) or through mid wicket region with an occasional mighty hit over covers or point region.

I can go on and on but the point is that the shots in BLIC should reflect reality rather than create their own weird scoring areas that simply don't exist in the real game. Hope codemasters look into it.