Bowling change worked a treat

This is a report. Originally posted by me here.

I’ve returned to Owzat’s International Cricket after a long lay off and had an experience playing a test between Australia and England that showed me the extraordinary detail you can get with Terry’s system.

I have a dream of playing a world Test Series but am trying to keep it realistic so have settled for a tri-series between Aus/India/Eng. I’m using cards from current set back to 2004 when I first bought the game. The first game is Eng v Australia with a test each in India (if I ever get around to other games the 3 teams will tour to Australia then England to play out all nine game … knowing my record I’m hoping to just finish the first test).

Anyway, first game was Chennai (I chose the ground randomly) and the pitch was a shocker for batsmen. Australia won toss and chose to bat as the pitch was only going to get worse.

I bowled Harmison and Flintoff in tandom for nine overs but Hayden and Hussey were banging them all around the park. I had one over left with the new ball and I scanned my English bowlers to see who had a negative Lift rating as the pitch was already cracked and there was a bonus for Lift.

Enter Ryan Sidebottom. First ball, and the dice roll hits his “Lift -1″. Hayden has a bad roll and bang, caught behind (b Sidebottom, c Read).

It showed why IC is a much better reflection of the nuances of Test Cricket than I have imagined. The following came into effect: the cricket ground, the pitch, the new ball, the selection of bowler and the types of balls he can bowl, and a solid roll (no luck involved!) of the dice.

My input, apart from rolling the dice, was the brilliant change of bowling at the crucial time to make the break through happen ;-)