Story My World Test Championship

[Rohit Basu]

Hope this is the right place for this thread - I'm planning on playing an entire World Test Championship in DBC17, starting very soon, and recording it here. This will be the format:

Qualifying Round 1:
Three groups of four teams, based on geography. Each team plays every other team in their group once, and the winners and runners-up progress to Qualifying Round 2.

Qualifying Round 2:
The six teams from QR1 are joined by Ireland, UAE, Afghanistan, Scotland, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. Teams are split into four groups of three teams each, and each team plays every other team once at home, and once away. The winner of each group progresses to Test Championship Qualifying.

Test Championship Qualifying:
The four group winners are joined by the eight remaining Test nations. They are divided into four groups of three teams each. Each team will play four Test series of three matches each - two against each other team in the group, one at home and one away. The winners of each group progress to the Test Championship Division One, and the bottom placed team in each group progresses to the Test Championship Division Two. The runners-up in each group progress to the repechage.

Repechage:
The final format of this has yet to be decided - the teams will be drawn into pairs, with the winner from each pair progressing to Division One, and the loser from each progressing to Division Two.

Test Championships:
Division One is made up of six teams divided into two groups of three. Division Two is made up of eight teams divided into two groups of four - the remaining two teams having been pulled from a best losers competition. Each Division will be decided by Tests between the winner of each group.

This is a pretty mammoth task as you can see, but I'm in no rush ...

Group 1 of Qualifying Round 1 involves Papua New Guinea, Oman, Singapore and Malaysia, with matches to take place at neutral venues: Kowloon in Hong Kong, North Sydney Oval in Australia and Bay Oval in New Zealand. The first round of matches, taking place from 1-5 February 2017 involves Papua New Guinea against Oman at Kowloon, and Malaysia versus Singapore at Bay Oval.

In this qualifying round, 16 points are awarded for a win, 8 for a tie and 5 for a draw. Additional points can also be scored in the first innings of both teams. When batting, 200-249 runs scores 1 point, 250-299 scores 2, 300-349 scores 3, 350-399 scores 4 and 340+ scores 5. When bowling, 3-5 wickets taken scores 1 point, 6-8 scores 2 and 9-10 scores 3.

Why don't u create a online tournament in test veteran mode I am interested

 

[cd779]

I used to play in that stadium

I hope the likeness of it is reasonable - pictures online were a bit hard to come by.

Why don't u create a online tournament in test veteran mode I am interested

I'm a single player gamer, without an Xbox Live subscription

 

[cd779]

Qualifying Round 1, Group 1, Test 1 - Papua New Guinea against Oman at Hong Kong
Day 2 - Stumps - Papua New Guinea 210 and 132-2, Oman 327.

The conclusion of day one and the entirety of day two showed the thrill of Test cricket as Oman batted their way into a healthy lead before allowing Papua New Guinea back into the game. Zahoor Mustafa, the Omani opener, led the way as he finally fell for a significant 75. It was notable that Oman chose only one out-and-out bowler for the match, and it proved to be the correct choice as they put on nearly fifty for their ninth wicket, the all-rounder Niaqat following his excellent bowling performance with 48, an innings which ended with him missing an attempted slog which would have brought up his 50. Cameos from Ilyas and Sreekumar meant that Oman finished their first innings halfway through the second session on the second day with a lead of 117.

That left Papua New Guinea needing to bat for a session and a half before the close of play - but they faltered early. First, opener Morea fell for a duck attempting to block a superb inswinging delivery from Kader, who had taken a 5fer in the first innings, and then Siaka missed the ball completely, allowing it to richochet off his foot and onto the stumps to leave Papua New Guinea two wickets down for a score of just 21. That was the situation at tea - the favourites to top this group staring defeat in the face and possibly even an innings defeat. However, Asadollah Vala and Sese Bau had not read the script. Through luck and skill, they ended the stay still at the crease, with a partnership of 105 from just over 200 balls. This was a much lower scoring rate than had previously been seen in this first match of the Championship, and included just three boundaries. However, most importantly, they kept their wickets until the end of the day, and overtook Oman's first innings lead, ensuring that day three could see Papua New Guinea begin to take control of the match themselves. There was some controversy too - with Papua New Guinea on around 60, Kader bowled towards Bau and had an appeal for LBW turned down. His captain decided not to review it - but replays showed that he would have been out had the decision gone to the third umpire. This showed later in the innings, when Oman wasted both reviews within six balls, again both for LBW calls. The first was denied as the impact was outside off stump, and the second was denied when the faintest of faint marks showed up on HotSpot. There is all to play for on day three.

 

[Deleted member 46200]

Qualifying Round 1, Group 1, Test 1 - Papua New Guinea against Oman at Hong Kong
Day 2 - Stumps - Papua New Guinea 210 and 132-2, Oman 327.

The conclusion of day one and the entirety of day two showed the thrill of Test cricket as Oman batted their way into a healthy lead before allowing Papua New Guinea back into the game. Zahoor Mustafa, the Omani opener, led the way as he finally fell for a significant 75. It was notable that Oman chose only one out-and-out bowler for the match, and it proved to be the correct choice as they put on nearly fifty for their ninth wicket, the all-rounder Niaqat following his excellent bowling performance with 48, an innings which ended with him missing an attempted slog which would have brought up his 50. Cameos from Ilyas and Sreekumar meant that Oman finished their first innings halfway through the second session on the second day with a lead of 117.

That left Papua New Guinea needing to bat for a session and a half before the close of play - but they faltered early. First, opener Morea fell for a duck attempting to block a superb inswinging delivery from Kader, who had taken a 5fer in the first innings, and then Siaka missed the ball completely, allowing it to richochet off his foot and onto the stumps to leave Papua New Guinea two wickets down for a score of just 21. That was the situation at tea - the favourites to top this group staring defeat in the face and possibly even an innings defeat. However, Asadollah Vala and Sese Bau had not read the script. Through luck and skill, they ended the stay still at the crease, with a partnership of 105 from just over 200 balls. This was a much lower scoring rate than had previously been seen in this first match of the Championship, and included just three boundaries. However, most importantly, they kept their wickets until the end of the day, and overtook Oman's first innings lead, ensuring that day three could see Papua New Guinea begin to take control of the match themselves. There was some controversy too - with Papua New Guinea on around 60, Kader bowled towards Bau and had an appeal for LBW turned down. His captain decided not to review it - but replays showed that he would have been out had the decision gone to the third umpire. This showed later in the innings, when Oman wasted both reviews within six balls, again both for LBW calls. The first was denied as the impact was outside off stump, and the second was denied when the faintest of faint marks showed up on HotSpot. There is all to play for on day three.

Looking good surely the association nations would play either two or a four day format?

 

[cd779]

Looking good surely the association nations would play either two or a four day format?

Yep, in real life I believe the ICC's first class competition is four days. However, in this I'm using a format for a World Test Championship that I found online (but tweaked slightly) which involves both the current test nations and a decent number of associates. This round of qualifying includes 12 associates, and the next round includes two test nations with 10 associates.

 

[jacksondavis316]

Loving this! keep it up!

 

[Deleted member 46200]

Yep, in real life I believe the ICC's first class competition is four days. However, in this I'm using a format for a World Test Championship that I found online (but tweaked slightly) which involves both the current test nations and a decent number of associates. This round of qualifying includes 12 associates, and the next round includes two test nations with 10 associates.

I guess five days adds a little more perspective and keeps the base format for all teams. Would love to keep seeing how the smaller nations compete over the matches. Keep up the good work.

 

[cd779]

Qualifying Round 1, Group 1, Test 1 - Papua New Guinea against Oman at Hong Kong
Day 4 - Close of play - Papua New Guinea won by 53 runs.

The opening match of the World Test Championship showed off the game at its finest, with plenty of twists and turns throughout the four days of play. Favourites to top this group, Papua New Guinea, were disappointing in amassing their first innings score of 210, without a single player reaching their half century. It's weakness was proved as Oman went on to take a 117 run lead after the first innings - their batting as well as their bowling impressing. The game had already changed from seeing Papua New Guinea as its leaders to Oman being on the overwhelming favourites - but the match was only halfway done. Papua New Guinea took their time - rather than the 52.4 overs in which they had been bowled out during their first innings - to reach 427 in their second innings, and set Oman a target of 311 to win. Even this was a disappointment for Papua New Guinea after a magnificent stand of 225 runs for their third wicket was followed by several underwhelming scores, despite an excellent cameo from Charles Amini. With the pitch beginning to break up as Oman were put in to bat towards the close of day three, they aimed to score as many as possible before it got worse - but slumped to 82-5. Their middle and lower order helped them to a respectable score, and once or twice they seemed like threatening to reach their necessary total, but it was not to be. With two teams progressing from this group, the result of the next match, between Singapore and Malaysia, could enable one of those teams to reach the second qualifying round. After this first match, Papua New Guinea sit on 20 points with Oman on 6.

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My own notes:

• This is a much better game than some on here have been suggesting. I could definitely tell the difference between these players and the top teams that I've previously used, as well as the difference between top enders and tail enders. Where my concentration fell, so did my wickets.
• I used my own set of sliders from this match to replicate a 'realistic' pitch condition - there is a set of sliders for each nation in which I intend to play matches during this championship. I'm not sure which slider affected this (I didn't change pitch bounce) but the back foot was more effective against good length balls than with default sliders. It was also fantastic to see large cracks appearing on the pitch on day 3/4 - it was a shame not to see how that turned out on day 5. It also seemed like the AI bowlers were aiming for the cracks slightly, but that may be my imagination!
• Having said that, I do have some issues with batting (aside from the obvious no cover drives). Most notably, nearly all of my edges were from playing to the off side and on the back foot to short length balls. I'm not too fussed with the short lengths - it feels balanced between risk/reward, although I very rarely tried to play them onto the off side. But the number of edges to the offside, combined with the tendency of the AI to put most of their fielders on that side, made playing to the leg-side the best possible chance of getting runs. In fact, both centuries in this match were achieved with, at most, 6 runs on the off-side.
• The AI doesn't have much variety in their field placements. I managed to get close with Oman because they took away a man at mid-on for the latter stages, and I used aggressive ground shots to pepper that area. Having said that, I guess that tactic worked in the end as the chase fell short!
• Finally, had this interesting clip to share ... The SFC Chris's Xbox clips on XboxDVR.com I managed to get some sort of edge which sent the ball so high in the air that I managed to run two (with low stamina) before it got down to the wicket keeper! But more importantly, it wasn't given out. Am I going mad - I definitely hit this into the air right?

 

[Acid Burn]

The Top Edge getting Caught not given out is a known bug .

 

[blockerdave]

The Top Edge getting Caught not given out is a known bug .

i've had them only given not out if they have hit the body first. if it's a straight top edge they were given out.

 

[passwordistaco]

i've had them only given not out if they have hit the body first. if it's a straight top edge they were given out.

Yeah this, there were a couple times when I thought it should have been out but looking at the replay it had come off the arm guard.

 

[blockerdave]

Yeah this, there were a couple times when I thought it should have been out but looking at the replay it had come off the arm guard.

mine should have been out, they were edged, but the bug seems if it hits the body first then the bat (not just edge), it's given not out. but if it just hits the top edge, it's given out. that was my experience anyway. a couple of each. @MattW I don't think i reported this so tagging you here.

 

[Gamer Pradosh]

mine should have been out, they were edged, but the bug seems if it hits the body first then the bat (not just edge), it's given not out. but if it just hits the top edge, it's given out. that was my experience anyway. a couple of each. @MattW I don't think i reported this so tagging you here.

Watching streams have seen few hitting handle to glove region and going way high but given not out..Maybe in that case gloves alone considered as body?

Another case was where the batsman swept off spinner [human] and was clear bat only but that bat graphics went inside the ground, maybe that caused the error not sure..

 

[Jerm]

mine should have been out, they were edged, but the bug seems if it hits the body first then the bat (not just edge), it's given not out. but if it just hits the top edge, it's given out. that was my experience anyway. a couple of each. @MattW I don't think i reported this so tagging you here.

Nope i've had a straight onto the bat leave, straight up in the air... not out!

 

[cricket_online]

The Top Edge getting Caught not given out is a known bug .

i've had them only given not out if they have hit the body first. if it's a straight top edge they were given out.

I had a top edge off a hook/pull shot where the ball went high up in the air and was caught around Backward Square Leg area. Wasn't given out and nobody appealed. The AI bowlers/fielders continued as if they had fielded a regular shot and the game went on as normal.