lazy_chesnut
International Coach
I was fiddling around with player batting stats with a view to making a test match patch for the game. Basically I reduced England's batting stats by quite a lot, so they were about 50% their original value (I left power quite high to allow you to still hit boundaries).
So I was playing a test match as England against the West Indies on a damp pitch (the only one where the ball bounces a sensible height instead of ballooing over the stumps every time). When I was batting I noticed some things about the game which are so encouraging it's unbelievable...
You have to play the ball on length to allow any chance of a decent total. If the bowler bowls a good line and length ball, pretty much your only choice is to tap it back to him, or try and maneuvre a single.
If the ball is delivered at half-volley length with a bit of width, you can spank it for four. Short and wide and you can cut. Full and straight and you can try and drive it straight, or sliding down the leg side you can play it of your pads.
If you try to say play a good length ball to extra cover, your likely to edge it, miss it, or hardly get the ball off the square.
You actually have to choose your shots on the ball's merit.
Just when I was enjoying it (I enjoy getting all out for 124!) something amazing happened: the AI brought the field up. I was about 6 wickets down for about 60, and was faced with 3 slips, a gully, and a silly point. The bowler was bowling tight for the most part and I couldn't hit the thing off the square. Every now and again, the bowler would give me one to hit and I could get a few runs. I was actually under pressure for once.
Then something even more amazing happened. I got caught out bat-and-pad by silly point. I prodded forward to a good length ball, trying to dab it into the covers rather than play it straight back, played slightly down the wrong line, the ball took the edge, hit the pad, popped up into the air and silly point caught it.
Screenshot below.
It was the best representation of test cricket I've seen since the original Brian Lara Cricket. I was working for my runs, trying to play in the V when my confidence was down, then cutting loose with higher confidence and worse bowling.
This game could be good. If the AI could bat sensibly then it would be fantastic. I'm feeling better about this game - if we can get a patch to sort out AI aggression and field placings, it will be genius.
So I was playing a test match as England against the West Indies on a damp pitch (the only one where the ball bounces a sensible height instead of ballooing over the stumps every time). When I was batting I noticed some things about the game which are so encouraging it's unbelievable...
You have to play the ball on length to allow any chance of a decent total. If the bowler bowls a good line and length ball, pretty much your only choice is to tap it back to him, or try and maneuvre a single.
If the ball is delivered at half-volley length with a bit of width, you can spank it for four. Short and wide and you can cut. Full and straight and you can try and drive it straight, or sliding down the leg side you can play it of your pads.
If you try to say play a good length ball to extra cover, your likely to edge it, miss it, or hardly get the ball off the square.
You actually have to choose your shots on the ball's merit.
Just when I was enjoying it (I enjoy getting all out for 124!) something amazing happened: the AI brought the field up. I was about 6 wickets down for about 60, and was faced with 3 slips, a gully, and a silly point. The bowler was bowling tight for the most part and I couldn't hit the thing off the square. Every now and again, the bowler would give me one to hit and I could get a few runs. I was actually under pressure for once.
Then something even more amazing happened. I got caught out bat-and-pad by silly point. I prodded forward to a good length ball, trying to dab it into the covers rather than play it straight back, played slightly down the wrong line, the ball took the edge, hit the pad, popped up into the air and silly point caught it.
Screenshot below.
It was the best representation of test cricket I've seen since the original Brian Lara Cricket. I was working for my runs, trying to play in the V when my confidence was down, then cutting loose with higher confidence and worse bowling.
This game could be good. If the AI could bat sensibly then it would be fantastic. I'm feeling better about this game - if we can get a patch to sort out AI aggression and field placings, it will be genius.
