England in the 1990s... again

[Aislabie]

My favourite thing I've ever done on this forum is this playthrough of 1990sThi England, but the more time passes, the less happy I am with how it turned out. I ended up barely following the decisions of the real life 1990s England team, and by the end the vibe was one of just following the adventures of really quite a good cricket team. That's not the '90s England cricket fans love to tell people that they suffered through. So I'm going back to the beginning with some brand new rules:

1. Every player who played Test cricket during this period in real life must play in this timeline. This includes players who made their debut before the 1990s but played again afterwards - they have to feature at least once for me.
2. Every player who made their Test debut in the 1990s must play in their real-life debut Test match, even if they have already debuted for me.
3. Players who were unavailable in real life will be unavailable to me: this should include those who were ineligible (Hick, etc), those who were banned (the Rebel Tourists), those who retired, and wherever possible those who were injured - although I don't have an especially full record of who was injured when.
4. No player whose Test career lasted longer than 24 months in real life can continue playing for me after the end of their real life international career (this should prevent any Nick Knight situations).
5. I am still allowed to pick real-life uncapped players if I want to.
6. This time, series lengths remain the same as in real life - we'll just have to find a way of making it work where it's not a nice convenient 3 or 5.

I'm also going to cut down on the unnecessary fluff - this will be results and stats and not much else.

 

[Ed Smith]

So. A more miserable version of the previous save? I'm in.

 

[Welwyn]

Think you may find no.2 makes it a little too restrictive. Was tempted to do something around this with AI basically being the wild-card around selection.

 

[Aislabie]

Think you may find no.2 makes it a little too restrictive. Was tempted to do something around this with AI basically being the wild-card around selection.

The idea is that if a player has done well enough to earn selection irl, then they should probably be selected for me

 

[Aislabie]

England Squad for the Tour of the West Indies

Graham Gooch

Rob Bailey
David Gower
Nasser Hussain (uncapped - 1st)
Allan Lamb
Wayne Larkins
Robin Smith
Alec Stewart (uncapped - 1st)

David Capel
Chris Lewis

David Ripley (uncapped)
Jack Russell

Phil DeFreitas
Gus Fraser
Devon Malcolm
Gladstone Small

Eddie Hemmings
Keith Medlycott (uncapped)

This was just the real life squad as far as I know, with a reserve keeper thrown into the mix - we're starting pretty basic

 

[ddrap14]

if a player has done well enough to earn selection irl

The issue here is that wasn't the criteria in the 90s for England

 

[Aislabie]

West Indies vs England - First Test at Sabina Park


We've gone with almost the real-life team here - however, I'm never comfortable selecting a four-man attack that comprises four seamers, so we are taking Eddie Hemmings in as the spinner, in place of the extra batter in Allan Lamb.



There were a few really encouraging performances in this Test - Gooch and Smith's partnership was a display of real quality batting, and Devon Malcolm bowled with real hostility for his maiden five-wicket haul. Both debutant batters made 50s, but we still ultimately never looked like forcing a win.

 

[Aislabie]

West Indies (0) vs (0) England - Second Test at Bourda


Team management are very keen to get Allan Lamb back into the team, so Nasser Hussain is the unlucky player to miss out on selection.


Unfortunately, the first four days of the game were abandoned due to rain. Failure to negotiate a one-day international game led to some really pointless match practice that will forever go down as a Test match.

 

[Aislabie]

West Indies (0) vs (0) England - Third Test at Queen's Park Oval


With Capel having been pretty ineffective in the first Test, England goes back to a four-man attack - but keeping a spinner in the side.



Absolutely battered there, a desperately disappointing result. For a little while, it looked like Graham Gooch might be able to bat us out of trouble, but the considerably better side won.

 

[Aislabie]

West Indies (1) vs (0) England - Fourth Test at Kensington Oval



Disastrous news for England here: although he kept on batting at the time, a ball taken to the glove by Graham Gooch during his second-innings rearguard has resulted in a fracture. That means Allan Lamb as stand-in captain, and Alec Stewart as stand-in opener. Keith Medlycott replaces the ineffective Hemmings as England's spinner, and a weary-looking Fraser has been replaced by Phil DeFreitas.



Ultimately another tame Test match petered out into a draw. It was a resilient performance from England's batters, who all contributed to England being able to halve the match - but that doesn't get them any closer to halving the Test series.

 

[Aislabie]

West Indies (1) vs (0) England at Antigua Recreation Ground



England must win this game, and it's resulted in a couple of changes: the Guyanese-born Leicestershire action man Chris Lewis makes his debut in the hope that he can seize the big moments in the game. Capel also comes back in for another crack - maybe this will be the game when he figures out Test cricket?



Well, Capel didn't crack it with the ball but he did make an important 48 with the bat to extend that all-important first innings lead. With the ball, Malcolm and Small were the stars, bowling hostile lines and lengths all Test long. Lewis also made a big statement on debut: his first Test wicket will forever be Viv Richards. So England halve the series at 1-1: it's not enough to reclaim the Wisden Trophy for the first time since 1973, but it is enough to take some big positives from the series.

 

[Welwyn]

Excellent start. Still worry that unless you start inventing injuries, players making their debut for out-of form players irl, who are playing well for you in game, will cause you a real issue.

 

[Ed Smith]

Excellent start. Still worry that unless you start inventing injuries, players making their debut for out-of form players irl, who are playing well for you in game, will cause you a real issue.

I dunno. That does sound very England in the 90s to me

 

[Aislabie]

After the first series of the new sim, this is what the Big Spreadsheet looks like.

It will rarely if ever fit into a single screenshot again

 

[ddrap14]

It will rarely if ever fit into a single screenshot again

10% zoom has entered the chat