So, another idea for a Cricket Captain 2002 playthrough:
I will play as Durham (the weakest-rated team in the game), and I will only ever be allowed to sign new domestic players through my youth team. My goal is to achieve as much success as I possibly can before the game inevitably glitches out after five or six seasons. As you can see, I will be playing in normal (not easy) mode.
2002 Season
New Signings:
Glenn Greaves (R)
Overseas Player: None (I can't go and sign one in the first season)
I had to sign a new batter if I could, because Durham's batting is notoriously poor in this game. Greaves has a three-year deal for £23,500 per year, and I've maxed out investment on the youth team in the hope of more players like him coming through over the coming years. My sole goal for this season is to survive in Division One of the National League, as doing so will help us invest better in player development, and in an overseas player of quality.
So how did that go? Well we were knocked out in the group stage of the Super Cup, but that was fine because we were treating that as match practice for the National League. The C&G Trophy went better, because we were fortunate enough to get drawn against a Minor County, which meant we could biff 434 from our 50 overs. Even
our bowling could defend that. We did get knocked out by Hampshire in the next round, but hey ho. And the County Championship was a write-off; last place and it wasn't even close. But the National League... well, that went much better. We eventually finished
fourth overall, just two wins behind eventual winners Worcestershire.
His name doesn't appear here, but one of our star players this season was Glenn Greaves, who managed 680 List A runs at exactly 40, and a strike rate of 104.13 batting at number six.
2003 Season
New Signings:
Alex Franklin (R)
Released Players:
Gary Pratt,
Christopher Mann,
Andrew Pratt,
Marc Symington
Overseas Player:
Saqlain Mushtaq
So our first problem this season was that Alex Franklin arrived with a broken finger that would keep him off the field until June. Based on the fact that the game had inked him in to bat at number four, this is quite the loss to our team. All the same, we managed to record a win in the first round of County Championship matches - a completely different experience to before.
More details from this playthrough are coming soon.