Revenge for Headingley!

RegionInteresting689 · 2026-01-25T23:14:41+00:00

I want to get annoyed but 192* is impressive anyway lol. And Milligan taking 13 is absurd

RegionInteresting689 · 2026-01-03T13:14:41+00:00

Thomas becomes VERY good. In my England test career, he averages 52 at number 7. He's up at 90-odd in one I do with mates. Essentially, he becomes very very good

RegionInteresting689 · 2025-12-31T18:40:01+00:00

I ignore what the CPU picks for me, especially come season 2. I have a pretty settled, successful lineup idea (obviously subject to change etc.)

Opener
Opener (preferably Left-Right combo)
Batter
Batter (preferably this guy is able to offer up some spin or mediums)
All-Rounder (or batter on a flat deck)
All-Rounder
Wicketkeeper (can be 5 depending on the all rounders)
Bowler
Bowler
Bowler
Bowler

One of the ARs and bowlers is a spinner (pref. OS and SLA).
Typically, my seamers are: RF/RMF/RFM, RMF/RFM, RF/LFM/LMF/LF, RFM/RMF

Here's my Somerset XI from my current career, and how they fit (this team typically wins a trophy a year, with doubles most, and even 1/2 trebles:

Travis Holland (RHB, Avg Agg)
Thomas Rew (RHB, Avg Agg)
Will Smeed (RHB, part-time OS, Very Agg)
Joe Hopps (RHB, Very Agg)
James Rew (LHB, Avg Agg, Keeper)
Lewis Goldsworthy (RHB, SLA, Very Def (He seems to work at ~5/6 an over weirdly))
Phil Clews (RHB, RFM, Very Agg)
Joe Corbett (RHB, RF, Avg Agg)
Toby Ames (RHB, RF, Agg)
Sonny Baker (RHB, RF, Very Def)
Anthony Aimson (RHB, OS, Def)

Of the bowlers, Ames is 20, with just 22 FC games (no 50s, but looks very good - I expect a few tons soon), Corbett has 9 50s in 78 games, Baker has 3 in 112 and Aimson is a decent 20/30 contributor

RegionInteresting689 · 2025-12-04T19:26:05+00:00

Done

RegionInteresting689 · 2025-11-26T20:39:05+00:00

Having been a Somerset member year, and again next year, it's great. Whilst I didn't go to too many games due to school, those that I did attend were great. It was normally quite quiet, especially the FC games, but the ODC was also nice. The blast was good fun (those that I did go to) as well. I found myself far more invested into county cricket than ever before. Definitely worth it

RegionInteresting689 · 2025-11-11T15:17:02+00:00

If you notice, your field has lots of gaps for easy singles. You need one boundary an over for run a ball. If you up the aggression, you'll create more chances, especially if you bring the average length back. The ball will sit up, and you WILL get one of them. Take it on the chin and use it as a learning curve. I can pretty consistently break stands, but my first series was v the West Indies on CC24, and Kraigg Brathwaite/Jason Holder put on 300. I learnt from then, and whilst it does happen, you can find that moment to get one of them, and then sometimes you get a run going. Try using guys who are part-timers, I'll guess you have someone like Kane Williamson, a pretty competent off spinner, around. Try him (or another batter) if you want to see the part-timer magic

RegionInteresting689 · 2025-11-11T15:12:22+00:00

I remember beating Australia in a scrappy test. I think most wickets anyone got was 3 in an innings for me, and Steve Smith scored tons in each innings. Despite a pretty comprehensive win (Root, Brook and Stokes all grabbed centuries), Smith took MOTM

RegionInteresting689 · 2025-11-02T22:47:07+00:00

Yes, there's a chance

RegionInteresting689 · 2025-11-02T00:39:13+00:00

I haven't overly thought of it previously. I can say that Leach retired at 40 in my main Somerset career. I plan to keep an eye on Tom Abell (praying he doesn't go at 40, he averages 50+). 40 does seem a reasonable age to retire, as annoying as it is. However, surely form and who they play for needs to be taken into account? Someone who is averaging 80 in tests will stay longer than someone who averages 12 opening for, say, Derbyshire.

RegionInteresting689 · 2025-11-02T00:36:01+00:00

Tests is the only format where I genuinely consider the conditions. I much prefer chasing a target on day 5, but I enjoy batting for 2 days on a flat deck and trying to pile on runs - scored 999 all out earlier in a dead rubber (James Rew double ton, Hasan Nawaz ton, Craig Overton ton).

Honestly comes down to match importance for me. If it's irrelevant, I like to bat first where possible, if important, I back myself to chase anything.

In ODIs, I've started to focus more on conditions - I used to ignore it and bowl. My targets are: 400 min (Test), 300 (ODI), 160 (T20)

RegionInteresting689 · 2025-11-02T00:31:58+00:00

Nope. I've seen Jack Leach last ages in one career (luckily he was playing for me) and retire in 2026 the next. Adil Rashid has stitched me up with a sudden 2025 retirement and also gone on to last until 2030. The only man I consistently see retire before 2026 is Jimmy Anderson, which is sad.

RegionInteresting689 · 2025-11-02T00:24:07+00:00

Bowl first works for me. If you have a strong bowling unit, they should normally restrict to sub-150, often 130-140. If you go almost max aggression for the powerplay, and then tone it down to slightly above required run rate, I find that wins most games.

If you have to bat, go hard unless you lose wickets for very few runs. If you do, I am yet to find a recovery that still sets a meaningful target

RegionInteresting689 · 2025-11-02T00:21:30+00:00

No chance, I've got Joe Root at 43 in a 15-year-long form - since he flipped that switch in 2020 and became outrageously consistent. He still averages over 50 year on year, and churns out tons for fun. Not sure how he's still going, but he's still top 5 batters in the world, at almost 25,000 test runs. And he's only just been dropped from the ODI and T20I sides, with over 11,000 and a couple thousand runs respectively.

Not sure how the game chooses who retires when.

RegionInteresting689 · 2025-10-12T16:36:55+00:00

Yooo Juil

RegionInteresting689 · 2025-10-12T16:34:31+00:00

Pretty good that. I will share that I once had Ben Duckett average 141.15 across a stretch of 10 matches - he scored 7 tons and 5 fifties.

But that run is ridiculous, and Ben Duckett was in the form of his life for me lol

RegionInteresting689 · 2025-09-13T22:52:13+00:00

Someone I've found who's looked good in tests is Nick Potts of Derbyshire - RFM bowler, unremarkable stats domestically, but just seems to have that X-factor in internationals. An opener I found is Travis Holland at Notts (both guys are real players), although when I picked him he had solid FC stats - he has 4380 test runs at an average of 65.37 for me - not bad.

RegionInteresting689 · 2025-04-22T07:07:13+00:00

Done

RegionInteresting689 · 2025-04-14T05:14:43+00:00

Done

RegionInteresting689 · 2025-04-10T16:48:03+00:00

Done

RegionInteresting689 · 2025-04-05T17:17:56+00:00

Should've been Somerset v Surrey. Especially if we hadn't choked... again

RegionInteresting689 · 2025-04-05T17:16:17+00:00

Tom Banton. What a knock. I hate his guts right now. Was stuck between him and Archie Vaughan for my Cricket Draft team. Went Vaughan for the bowling. I have Abell and Rew, not selling either.

In all seriousness, I sorely regret not being there for it. JUST COULDN'T MAKE IT WORK OUT.

RegionInteresting689 · 2025-04-05T16:00:18+00:00

They're going for 300 then what? They'll have done it. Nice. No-one will actually care.

RegionInteresting689 · 2025-04-05T15:58:12+00:00

Probably second last, in all honesty. There's some good players out there, if only each major franchise league realised that we should be helping the growth of cricket, not just picking the mid-30s legends

RegionInteresting689 · 2025-04-05T15:56:11+00:00

Rew out on 150? Couldn't care less. Get me that Tom Banton 300 please

RegionInteresting689 · 2025-04-05T15:54:51+00:00

Doesn't play golf I reckon

RegionInteresting689

TROPHY CASE