I didn't play DBC14 when it came out: just picked it up last month as a matter of fact.
As far as recommendations go, I can offer you endless ways to improve upon DBC14. This is not me being harsh as no game can ever be perfect and any game can be improved upon. Besides, many others in this thread have recommended all there is to recommend really.
I will, however, share my biggest gripe with the game (something which has also been mentioned by others in this thread).
The Bowling
Or to be specific, bowling to the AI as the bowling mechanics themselves are quite a step up from previous cricket games. But back to the problem which I will explain.
Bowling to the AI is a monotonous experience because of some woeful AI tendencies. The AI will miss the ball a plentiful number of times but only when the ball it not heading for the stumps. When aiming for the wicket, the batsman will suddenly learn to use his bat and will start timing his shots with perfection. Batsman missed/padded 3 out swinging deliveries in a row? An inswinger aimed at the stumps sounds like a good followup, right? Should put the batsman in a spot of trouble, right? Not really. He'll just neatly block or worse, cream it for a boundary. So much for having a good bowling plan. Now, I understand that I can't expect to succeed every time I execute my bowling plan. But I should expect my plan to succeed some of the time. If not on the top/middle order batsman, then my plan should at least work on the tail. Sadly, not even the tail succumbs.
So not only is there no reward for good bowling, there is seemingly no difference in skill between actual batsmen and the supposed 'tail' of the batting order. At times, it honestly feels like the batting AI is just there to tease and frustrate. "Oh, you almost had me there! A bit more to the right and it would've knocked over my off-stump! Better luck next time, mate." And of course, when I do wander towards the stumps on the next ball, I am denied with a straight bat. Every time. So close yet so far. The ultimate blue balls.
Despite its many flaws, IC10 on most occasions did reward a good bowling plan and also had a clear distinction between batsmen and tail-enders in terms of batting skill. In DBC14, bowling to the AI is just not fun. When I have gotten wickets in DBC14, for a large majority of the time, it's because of mistakes made by the AI which were not influenced by my bowling: an unforced error, if you will. Obviously there is no sense of accomplishment in that. It's as if the AI can decide exactly when it wants to throw away its wickets. It does do this more often in shorter formats of the game (T5, T10, T20 etc.), but like I've said, it's got nothing to do with my bowling. The batting AI just tends to brainfart and make mistakes more often in shorter games.
It goes without saying that the bowling experience is an important thing to get right in a cricket game so please fix this monstrous AI in the next iteration. As I've said before, the mechanics behind the bowling itself are solid. Please don't let it down with shoddy AI.
P.S. I would like to offer one more recommendation for DBC17. Better menu music. Please. I could only tolerate Smiley in DBC14! If it comes down to it, I can contribute with something of my own.
