Hey LM... I haven't managed to wade my way through the swathe of suggestions, but as I'm sure you've heard before, this is an amazingly ambitious plan that I really hope pays off for you. I'm sure (copyright infringements aside) the majority of people would have no issue putting some money into the game, whether it be for the game itself, or for some sort of TAOC foundation for the furtherance of the brand and for the further developments and updates. I mean seriously, we all pay at lease some money to play all these EA Cricket and Brian Lara games that are so badly thought out, that we immediately regret paying the money, but do it again the following year.
All I'd like to know is whether there will be some sort of interactive fielding mechanism, like a more detailed version of the last Brian Lara, where you have to time the catches, and time your throws so you don't underthrow OR overthrow the stumps.
Also, it would be great to control the keeper after he's caught the ball, as it would be great to do one of those underarm shies for the stumps, Mark Boucher style, after a batsman has tried to charge down a quick- or medium-paced bowler. I know that the keeper will automatically do it for the spinners.
Anyway, most of the other guys have handled all my bowling/batting concerns, so I thought I'd try get more info on the fielding department.
One thing for the bowling side... I think one of the few things that EA got right this year is to make the really quick bowlers, i.e. Lee, very quick. I just hope you're going to try to do something similar, because there's something so much more threatening about facing a pumped up Lee, at 150+, than facing the death stares of Nel, at 135+.
Thanks for all the responses you give, it's really cool that it gives us an opportunity to start building a picture in our heads about what's coming.