Hi again from Australia Boss.
I have to say from my personal opinion that in some ways CGP5 is a massive improvement on CGP4, and in other ways not so.
I started a test match Aus v WI in Melbourne on a normal pitch from scratch to ensure there was nothing affecting the performance.
Power shots were a lot easier than previously, I had Hayden get off the mark with a lofted cut over gully for six, the first six I'd ever managed to hit in Cricket 2005. In fact, I found the lofted power shots to be entirely risk-free. 100% success in hitting 4's and 6's, whereas in CGP4 there was the chance of a nick to the slips or it the shot not carrying over the infield. This was tested over two innings of 100 overs each, with even the tailenders able to hit lofted boundaries without risk.
I found the difficulty to pierce the infield with a standard shot without getting caught a bit of a problem. I appreciate the concept that if you drive a shot on the up that it goes in the air through the covers, but even classic half volleys outside off stump were either driven in the air to cover, or the straight drive lands in the lap of mid-off. The great drivers of world cricket like Hayden, Ponting and Gilchrist were thus deprived of a primary scoring shot.
Also, while edges in CGP4 were well spread and had the randomness that cricket has, I had just one nick off Brett Lee in two innings that flew through a vacant point, in conditions that should have offered the bowlers a chance.
But the most noticeable issue was the LBW. 15 batsmen across the two Australia innings fell to it, with most of those being for a normally pitched ball on middle and leg where the defensive button is pushed and the batsman plays the defensive shot where the bat is hung outside off stump, the front pad sticks right in front of middle stump and they're plumb LBW. The defensive shot where the back foot goes back and the bat plays down the line of the stumps is what I wanted them to play.
When it came to bowling, it looked as though the shotmaking of the AI was pulled back compared to CGP4. In a CGP4 test, Lara, Gayle etc had no problem coming down the track to Warne and MacGill and whipping them over the top, while in CGP5 Warne bowled 14 overs to Lara and conceded just 5 runs. The only two shots batsmen seemed prepared to play to any delivery were the cover drive and the sweep.
I hope I don't seem overly critical of your work as it's not my intention! I hope this feedback helps you to keep making great patches.
In summary, if CGP4 had an improved 6-hitting ability like in CGP5, and standard shots went along the ground more in CGP4, I would consider that the perfect patch.
I'll keep going with CGP5 and see what a dusty/hard or damp pitch brings up, especially in regard to the LBWs.
With respect from Australia,
Heyado