How are you doing in ICC? (any version)

[dajesmac]

Wow, Watson is never a rock for me-he can play well but never scores slowly, always plays a flashy innings and gets out.

I'm also currently playing the West Indies in a series on my Australia save (just demolished them 5-0 in the Tests, one of my best ever results) but my lineup and theirs were completely different to your save.
Which version are you playing and what year are you in(I'm in Jan 2013 on ICC 2010)?

He's an absolute gem for me, batting wise. His bowling can either be miraculous or horrendous.

I'm playing ICC11, and up to about 2013 I think. I have played the game so often that I know which players I should be selecting, but I deliberately opted to go for a realistic squad. Trying to win games with Pattinson, Cowan, Cummins, Doherty etc in your XI is hard. Forrest, Wade and Warner are all serviceable though. I would have used Lyon but he disappeared from the game after an injury.

 

[dajesmac]

Having an epic World Twenty20 Campaign. Instead of loading a career, I went straight into the 2012 WT20 mode and picked as realistic a squad as I could.

1) David Warner
2) Aaron Finch
3) Shane Watson
4) David Hussey
5) Brad Hodge
6) Michael Hussey
7) Matthew Wade
8) James Faulkner
9) Xavier Doherty
10) Ryan Harris
11) Doug Bollinger
12) Nathon Lyon
13) Pat Cummins
14) Steve Smith
15) George Bailey

So anyway, in contrast to my usual approach to Twenty20's (set it to 8 bars and auto the entire game) I decided to take a ball-by-ball approach, both for batting and bowling. I'm sure others do this but it's completely foreign to me. And as it turns out, you play alot better. I've won every game so far barring one bad day against the Windies, with them chasing down by target of 172 in 16 overs.

Aaron Finch has been by far my most reliable batsman. Scores of 55, 6, 31, 71* and 38, and he's been the sheet anchor. The 6 was in the only game I've lost, perhaps illustrating how important he's been.

But anyway, in the last Super Eights match against South Africa, I concede 5-174 in the first innings, Faulkner (1/28 off 4) and Doherty (2/20 off 4) being good while Bollinger and Harris had shockers. Warner is bowled early in the chase, and Watson is bowled soon after, leaving me two down in the first over. Finch bobs up with 38 off 34, Hussey stays with him for a 77 run partnership, but the run rate is still too slow. Even having used mostly max aggression so far, I needed something like 95 runs from the last 9 overs. Finch falls, and Hodge walks to the crease.

I'd resigned myself to another loss. Hodge and Hussey knock it around a bit but I was still behind the run rate, needing about 11 RPO. But then in one single Johan Botha over Brad Hodge changes the game. 6,4,4,4,6,1. 25 runs off the over. Australia need 28 runs off 24 balls. Tense! I'll let you know how it finishes .

 

[dajesmac]

Hodge brings up his 50 in 25 balls, finishes with 65* (31) and Hussey with 60* (46) and Australia wins with 8 balls to spare. What a boilover.

 

[dajesmac]

Ended up making it all the way to the final, to once again play South Africa. James Faulkner has been a gem, picking up 14 wickets in 7 games. Chasing 149, I always seemed in control of the chase, needing 13 off 11 runs to win the World Twenty20 with 8 wickets in hand. An awesome McLaren over which yielded just 3 runs really put the pressure on me, and I needed 11 off the last over. We started with 3 singles, which made me crap myself, 8 off 3 needed. A Hussey boundary, then he's caught behind. 4 off 1. Hodge comes to the crease.

Bang. Four.

 

[Aislabie]

^
How's Cummins doing for you?

 

[CG123]

kerplucken Nottinghamshire knocked me out in the semis of the CT. Their 8th wicket put on an unbroken 81 run partnership at better than a run a ball, to chase down my 267 for 8. I'm pretty sure the AI just didn't want me to win the quadruple crown, because that was BS at it's best.

Ponting averaged 88 in FC cricket and 55 in OD cricket (including T20s). Weerakoon averaged 19 in FC cricket and 18 in OD cricket at an economy rate of 4.3 (again including T20s). Pietersen was a massive fail though, averaging 38 and 31 in the respective formats.

There's this guy called Derek Kenway and he's the ultimate OD finisher, even though his second team average is only 24. Last season he averaged 78 @ 121, and this season he averaged 53 @ 109 (20 matches each season in OD/T20 cricket). Anything like 10 and over for five overs, and he'd haul it in easy. He'd just hit clutch shot after clutch shot in the death overs. It's so random though, because of how low his second team average is.

(This is on normal btw)

 

[hedger_14]

God, I haven't played ICC in so long. Good to see people still playing it though

 

[jacobfelix]

Nottinghamshire knocked me out in the semis of the CT. Their 8th wicket put on an unbroken 81 run partnership at better than a run a ball, to chase down my 267 for 8.

Same thing happened to me a few days ago when I was playing my ICC06 Surrey save, 2049 season.....though in a CC game.....I had set Notts a target of 238 on the last day....they slipped to 123/8 and I was waiting for things to happen .....but their keeper D.Tate-youth paceman C.Sprake put on 117 for the 9 wkt to seal a miracle win.....Tate was 80 n.o and C.Sprake 42 n.o....Frustrating....

When they were 155/8, Tate was dropped at slip....

 

[dajesmac]

^
How's Cummins doing for you?

He doesn't really ever get that good. He can be a bit of a handy wicket taker but bleeds runs, 5 RPO alot of the time in tests and rarely below 60 off his 10 in ODIs.

----------

Just debuted Tom Beaton, as a laugh, in an ODI series. Made 15, 7, and then a commanding 123 runs in 148 balls batting at no3, against Bangladesh. Got out in the 49th over.

 

[CG123]

God, I haven't played ICC in so long. Good to see people still playing it though

I play for a few weeks at a time, then I don't play at all for a few months. Atm I'm doing heaps of study, so every hour or so for a break I just go and play a few games.

----------

Same thing happened to me a few days ago when I was playing my ICC06 Surrey save, 2049 season.....though in a CC game.....I had set Notts a target of 238 on the last day....they slipped to 123/8 and I was waiting for things to happen .....but their keeper D.Tate-youth paceman C.Sprake put on 117 for the 9 wkt to seal a miracle win.....Tate was 80 n.o and C.Sprake 42 n.o....Frustrating....

When they were 155/8, Tate was dropped at slip....

At least yours didn't have a direct effect on one of the competitions. In that season just gone I drew five matches when they were 6 - 9 wickets down in their second innings, twice they were 9 wickets down.

 

[CG123]

I should have got rid of some more of the randoms, because a 65k batsman become available a few rounds in, but by then I'd already spend all of my money. I was looking at the other squads before, and my 2nd XI is better than most of their 1st XIs. The CC and the NL should already be lock-ins by season three, so it's just a case of of not getting knocked out in the CT and the T20.

 

[jacobfelix]

ICC 2006 : Playing as Surrey

So, half of my 2049 season is finished. Slipped to 4th in CC.

Challenge Trophy :

Quite an achievement to be in the Final. 3 losses out of the first 5 games & going to the finals was a dream. But won every match from thereon and the rest of the teams too started their inconsistency.

Poor Sussex!!! 6 wins out of 6 games.....all they needed was just a win from any of their last 3 games to enter the final....and they went on to lose all.

However, Nice competition though. About 5 teams finished on 12 points. In fact, after 8 group matches, last match remaining.....Sussex were 12 points & there were atleast 6 teams with 10 points apiece...fighting for a place in the final....

 

[CG123]

So I've pretty much just made a mockery of ICC2005, taking out seven titles across season's two and three. It more or less only takes two player transfer windows (not including the one before the first season) to build the ultimate squad, because the AI are just so stupid in it. I'll probably stop playing this save now, because I've effectively "clocked" it, since my squad's not going to get any worse.

I broke the all-time record for Hampshire highest score as well - 675. We had them nine down in their second innings. I'm sure like every third match ends up being a draw after their lower order rally's in their second innings. FTR the only reason why Owais Shah didn't score the most runs was because once I'd locked-up the titles I just rotated players.

 

[dajesmac]

130 run ten wicket stand with Siddle and Lyon. Epic!!

 

[jacobfelix]

ICC2006 : Finished my 2049 season as Surrey

Not much of a change though when compared with the last season. Retained all the 3 titles but slipped to 3rd in Pro-League.

The 12th CC game against, eventually 2nd placed Lancs, where I won by a thrilling 2 wkts seemed to be the deciding factor in the end analysis.

Now its over to the 2050 season In came SouthAfrican opener Keith Van Jaarsveld ; Aussie paceman Dean Stemman ; Kent paceman Jack Mutch & youth opener W.Rickman.....

Here's my performance over the past 6 seasons :