How are you doing in your career?

[SpitfiresKent]

Arthur Sleep

 

[Ajh1977]

@SpitfiresKent if you like the name check out some of my teams in the academy, I've done various teams from different nations with funny names, 12 in all. Other than the legends teams and cople cc all the others are just for comedy value. Eton&Harrow is the latest one.

 

[nightprowler10]

Progressing through at a great pace. I was made the Sussex captain, played two matches, and then got picked to play for Pakistan against the West Indies! Started playing the first Test last night and Gayle has been carting us all around the park. I only got to bowl 4 overs but I was able to sneak a delivery through Roach's gate to bowl him. Anyway, we bowled them out for 213 and were quickly 183/4 when I came in. I put up a 50 run partnership with Misbah, and then another 50 with Ajmal before skying one square of the wicket. Windies are batting again and Gayle is putting on a show with another century. So far in my Test debut I have:

1/14 in 4 overs [K Roach]
68 (86)
0/30-odd in 14 overs (Windies 2/250, Gayle has 150+)

Really enjoying the challenge while bowling in this Test. A slightly loose delivery is being sent for a 4 or 6. Batting, however, was easier than I thought it would be. This is almost exclusively due to two factors. 1) It is still easier to play a grounded shot than it is to defend, so I never bother defending anymore and 2) AI field settings for when I bat against a pace bowler are idiotic, allowing me free reign through the covers. So I basically play everything to leg/fine leg unless it's wide in which case it's going through the cover area. The most AI will do to respond to this is pack the legside and put the everyone else on the boundary. This has allowed me to score 2 100's and 3 50's in county cricket despite being terrible at batting for the most part.

 

[barmyarmy]

A new record. 5 golden ducks in a row...

 

[ada1972]

Agree with np10, defending is more risky than playing your shots. I find this in matches and while practicing/experimenting in the nets. This really needs to be looked at for the patch. I would love to be able to jam the bat down last minute to a great delivery, or confidently play myself in by blocking, but at the moment there is less risk to just try and hit it.
Also about the fielders, batting can sometimes become very formulaic, with hitting the covers, or backward square. Think this has just as much to do with not wanting to risk a non trigger shot near a fielder. Once that is fixed, I think batting will become so much more about trying to hit (small) gaps between fielders, rather than just being able to hit it to a couple of large areas where there are no fielders at all.

 

[tandy45]

In my ps3 career, as a 16 year old off-spinner playing on amateur I'm currently blitzing through the first class and 20/20's although my batting is still suspect. Loading up my pc version tomorrow now, and looking at creating a fast bowling batting all rounded on pro mode. Finding that it isn't as rewarding,as I'd expected playing on rookie mode in career and playing my non career games on PRO.

 

[Ajh1977]

I have had an incredibly frustrating evening on db14. Firstly getting out 3 times between 30-49 due to the hitting ball in the air issue, but even worse during the 5test series v SA in 2 tests I bowled over seventy overs for 120+ runs taking only 8 wickets, that's not the frustrating part, it shouldn't be easy to take wickets, but I hit the batsman on pads probably 10+ times dead in line bowling full deliveries only to have not one given out, it was worse than tennis ball bounce, it was as if I was bowling with a golf ball on concrete. The only way I could take wickets was to have a deep fine leg, square and deep forward mid wicket and bowl deliberately crap balls down leg side. At one stage after bowling 20+ ov for 30 runs with no wkts I looked at my big pitch map and you could have thrown a hankie over the dots, all on the stumps for line but length wise it was either full toss or bounce over the stumps.im not generally a moaner(I hope) but either there is something that need tweaking or I'm doin something wrong, is there a different way you have to bowl in tests? Because in all other formats I'm taking wkts bowling my way but the test pitches just seem to not really turn despite 2300rpm but bounce too much! The test series was in England so it shouldn't be that bouncy!!

 

[Mondy]

I've gone back to the game, because for all it's flaws it's still the best cricket game ever made and I think I've found away to bat that minimizes the catches and me screaming at the monitor. A number of you probably already do this, but I thought it would be worth passing it on:

(A) Never defend. In Veteran Level you're more likely to get a nick to a ball that should be hitting the middle of your bat. In one sense I like that the block can't be used as a get out of jail shot, but there still feels to be something random about the balls I nick and the one's I don't when playing defensively.

(B) If short cover is in, move the batsman to the off side and play shots exclusively on legside when facing pace bowlers. If Forward Square Leg is also in place, do not play the pull shot - let the short ball hit you instead. You may get bowled a couple of times moving this far across, and you are a candidate for LBW, but if you have decent timing, you should hit nearly everything. Don't worry if you get beaten outside off stump. You're unlikely to nick the ball.

(C) If short cover is not in play then cover drive off the back foot and move the batsman to the onside when facing pace bowlers. I always play the cover drive on the back foot now. For some reason I seem to middle the ball better and there's less chance of nicking it. I've found the cover drive on the front foot to be a dangerous shot. If I am playing exclusively on the off side I will rarely cut the ball. I basically don't play that shot at all. More often than not you will nick it to the keeper. Instead I let the short ball hit me, or play and miss the cover drive.

(D) Play medium pacers and spinners on the front foot. I just find them easier to play on the front foot. The easier shot off these bowlers it to clip to leg. Cover drives and on drives often result in nicks. It does depend on the ball. That said, if your confidence is up and your willing to wait patiently for the ball to come to you, most shots can be played - assuming a short fielder isn't there.

(E) Don't be afraid to hit the ball in the air. But only if there's absolutely no fielders on the side you're looking to hit it. And don't play two of the same shots in the air in a row. The second one, for whatever algorithmic reason, will end in you nicking it or skying it.

(F) Never straight drive. Well... maybe when the bowler is bowling around the wicket and the mid off is back, but generally straight driving needs to be shelved if you want to survive.

Just some pointers. I've found my scores to be more consistent - though I still can't crack a ton - and my dismissals to involve errors on my part rather than super duper fielding on the part of the AI.

However, the fact that you have to do these sorts of contortions in career mode to enjoy the game shows the inherent flaws in the batting and fielding system.

Mondy

 

[VampyreSquirrel]

My Career has been put on hold for the time being. Every time I play a shot that should be four straight between my batting partner and the stumps it's stopped at the last second by the bowler (being dropped), then I get going and get up to about 20 or 30 runs and then I'll be caught and bowled off a very well timed straight drive. I only play pulls and cuts with the aggressive trigger pressed, I don't play leg glances if there's a player at short leg, and I try to avoid playing straight aggressive shots off fast bowlers because it's too difficult to time it properly.

 

[grkrama]

right now even though its possible to make runs with batting it ends up feeling like a chore than something to enjoy especially in career and at higher difficulties.

Its a 2 part problem of, grounded shots and field settings, one thing i would also like to add is defense shots need to be buffed a bit in-terms of their analog power levels as well to send the ball a bit more to grab singles.
as well as random edging needs to be looked into, cause if the defense shots themselves were good the problems we are facing with the other 2 systems could be digested a bit because if the short fielders were put in i could defend it out for some time, but now defending does feel a bit random at higher difficulties veteran and above especially against spin and medium bowlers.

while it should not become a invincible shot like other cricket games before, it should be at-least a bit more safer than normal shots.

Hope this is also looked into for the patch apart from field settings and normal shots. @BigAntStudios, @hbk619,@fiction.

 

[Ajh1977]

I think that's a fair point @grkrama. If the aerial shots were toned down, the defensive shots tweaked to be a little safer and the fielding/ai was better, batting would be perfect, I'm grateful for BA's support post release, and I think with these issues fixed, a few more stats thrown in, the full academy made available in career and a few minor tweaks to get more spin with pitches really playing a part in proceedings, it would be as good as it gets for me.

 

[McGerk]

Have started two players on Career (PS3) - both starting on Pro. I've also yet to play the game outside of career mode.

Firstly two seasons with a Legspinning, bowling allrounder usually hitting out at #9. Was enjoying bowling as a whole but shelved the player after being picked for Aussie domestic at the end of season 2 in county cricket. The lack of skill/application needed to take wickets was getting tedious. Had scored very few runs overall but the batting felt less broken than the bowling so my next and current career is a specialist #5 bat.

Am now midway through my third season of county cricket and my numbers don't exactly inspire:

First Class: Ave 9.7, SR 56 (zero 50's here... the odds have been too high on nicking out before I face the 100 balls I'd need for a 50)
List A: Ave 17.4, SR 103 (3 50's and a number of 40's)
T20: Ave 15.5 SR 140ish (no 50's but top-scored with 40+ a few times)


Though I do feel I've become better at the game over time, my first class figures seem to still be going backwards as I experiment looking for an approach that works while still allowing me to play the game I set out to play (approaching each match situation on merit and playing accordingly). Am usually dismissed while trying to gradually play myself in during FC cricket. As many have mentioned, defending can be the easiest way to gift your own wicket away, though I've had success on occasion and played some longer, slower innings that have ended due to lapses in concentration rather than seemingly random edges. I find that this is what makes the game addictive for me despite my awful average. That said, last night I nicked out 3 times in 4 balls across a first class and a list a match trying to play out the first ball or two to gauge the pace. Next List A match in frustration I clubbed 36 off 12 (all over long off/extra cover)... which really kind of sums up batting for me. Making runs is easy. Staying in is hard. Batting realistically is harder. Unfortunately have little interest in first class runs at a strike rate of 160...

...But in the interest of actually making some scores I'm still thinking of making a player who simply never blocks :/

 

[VampyreSquirrel]

...But in the interest of actually making some scores I'm still thinking of making a player who simply never blocks :/

I've tried this... it doesn't work for me. My FC stats are terrible, but that's because I nick out or play onto my stumps (especially on leg glances ), I've yet to find a way to get going in FC career games after 100 hours of play. I've only made one fifty and tend to go out on 0-45.

 

[T.J.Hooker]

I think possibly an issue with blocking is that they don't want it to be too easy to stonewall in online play. This is one case where the interests of online and career mode are not aligned, because stonewalling in real cricket actually is quite easy as long as you can bat at least a little bit, and the consequence of making the mechanic slightly too difficult seems to be that nobody can manage to occupy the crease in a realistic fashion.

 

[ellgieff]

I think possibly an issue with blocking is that they don't want it to be too easy to stonewall in online play. This is one case where the interests of online and career mode are not aligned, because stonewalling in real cricket actually is quite easy as long as you can bat at least a little bit, and the consequence of making the mechanic slightly too difficult seems to be that nobody can manage to occupy the crease in a realistic fashion.

That's an interesting idea - but most online play is short forms of the game, anyone stonewalling is probably going to lose. And it's a legitimate tactic in longer forms of the game.

If correct, it's another reason to hate Doom. I don't need another reason to hate Doom, I used to really like it.