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Cricket Manager is a cricket simulation game started by Catgames and Cricinfo. It started from May 2005 and its popularity has ever since been increasing rapidly. It is a British site but has members from over 10 countries across the world with almost 1,000 on each server from India, Australia and England. The game takes similar form to other sports-management games produced by Catgames.

How to play

After enrolling at the cricket manager site in one of the ten servers, you are given a team of 20 players, typically made up of 8 or 9 batsmen, 7 or 8 bowlers, 2 or 3 wicket keepers and 1 or 2 allrounders. The team you are given is placed in a conference, league and division depending on the highest ranked computer-controlled team. It is your job to pick your best team on their ability and form, and choosing the right tactics as per the conditions. Each player is rated out of 100 on various attributes, such as hitting, throwing, control etc.

Tactics

In Cricket manager you have the ability to decide how your team plays. You are given the pitch conditions, weather conditions, and the umpire. Given these factors you can choose your captain, your level of batting and bowling aggressiveness, the length of your bowling spells, and whether you play mainly spinners, medium pace, or fast bowlers or even swing bowlers. Furthermore, in advanced tactics, you can set up plans at the 15, 25 and 40 over marks in the case that, for example you have almost bowled out the opposition, or they are scoring at a fast rate. You can also choose which field your captain sets at these over marks.

Players

Each player is rated out of 100 on attributes encompassing Hitting, Throwing, Catching, Running, Control, Stamina, Aggression, Power, Team Work, Morale, Fitness and Arm, as well as having an Overall Rating for Batting, Bowling and Fielding. Overall Ratings are a not as important as individual ratings, a batsman with good individual attributes but a low overall rating will be much better than a batsman with a high overall rating and low individual attributes.

Individual Attributes

Hitting: How cleanly your player hits the ball, and whether that player can actually hit the ball. A study undertaken by grumbleguts@yorker showed that a batsman with low Hitting facing a bowler with high Throwing will be bowled 9 times out of 10. So you can see how important it is for batsman, not so much for bowlers.

Throwing: The strength and accuracy of a Fielders throw, also the main individual attribute for Bowlers, as Bowlers will need high Throwing to correlate with their arm and how well they can bowl the ball.

Catching: How good your player is at catching. Important for your WK as it will affect the number of byes given away in a match.

Running: How fast your player is between the wickets. A pairing of one batsman with relatively high Running and another with relatively low Running often results in a run-out – so be careful how you select your pairings of batsmen – i.e. openers.

Control: How good your bowler's control of line and length is and/or how well they place their shots. This is an important aspect for both Batsmen and Bowlers, as high Control directly effects the Economy rate of bowlers, and the ability of batsmen to make the most out of pitches that suit them (Fast, Normal).

Stamina: How long a player can keep going for. Important attribute for openers, as you would want them to stay out there, see off the new ball and hopefully begin to cart some bowlers around the park. Stamina also adjudicates how long a Bowler can keep on bowling, relating to Tactics of bowling formations, i.e. a bowler with low stamina will find it difficult to keep up his performance when using a long-middle strategy.

Aggression: How aggressive a player is. Aggression is good for low-order batsmen with high power (pinch-hitters) but is found to have a detrimental effect on a bowler’s economy rate, as the bowlers strive to take wickets they lose Control and as a result may be a bit expensive.

Power: Power is very important for Batsmen as it is directly in relation to the tactic of Raise the Run Rate. High Power means that your batsmen have the meat to hit long 4’s and many 6’s. When taken in conjunction with other attributes (like Hitting, Stamina, and Control) it is, in many managers opinions, the most useful attribute.

Team Work: How willing a player is to rotate the strike and work with the team. Having a high Team Work means that a Batsman will be ready to do what is need for the team, instead of himself/herself.

Morale: How happy a player is, and how mentally fit they are to live up to their abilities. Good morale affects captaincy choice, so choose wisely. A captain need to have a good captaining attribute as well as good morale.

Fitness: How fit a player is.

Arm: Traditionally a player with a good arm can throw in accurately from distance ie the boundary fielders need a good arm to be most effective. Over bowling significantly reduces a Bowlers Arm stat, to a level where they will eventually have to be rested.

The Matches

The matches are played at 3 a.m. and pm UK time. Friendly matches are played at 3 p.m., while league and tournament matches are played at 3 a.m.. They are of 50 overs ODI format. The games are realistically simulated, and after a game has been played you can look at the scorecard to see how your team has done. The simulations are very realistic; better teams with better tactics will normally beat inferior teams, but not always. Similarly better players in better form will normally perform better than those players who are not as good, but not always. If a team wins the morale of the players go up, which means that they are all likely to do a bit better in the next game.

Weather Conditions

Warm: Without the breeze the heat would cause sweating A batters day, with a workhorse effort required from the bowlers. Definitely bat first on a day like this.

Clear: Thin clouds move slowly across the blue sky An ideal day for cricket, when winning the coin toss does not necessarily matter. Can bat or bowl first on this kind of day.

Cool: A fresh breeze catches you when you are in the shade Cool conditions may aid the bowlers, but can they use it to their advantage? Bowling first is an advantage, batting does no harm to your chances either.

Damp: The moisture in the air is cold when a strong breeze hit you A damp day will generally favour the bowlers, with additional swing and seam movement. Ideal to bowl first in these conditions. The matches that played in damp weather ar normally shortened by 10-30 overs and the Duckworth-Lewis method is used to determine the winner.

Fine: A fine English summers day with a healthy supply of fluffy white cloud to shade your eyes An ideal day for cricket, when winning the coin toss does not necessarily matter. Can bat or bowl first on this kind of day.

Hot: The sweat is dripping off your forehead without a breath of fresh air The ball will not swing, as there is no atmospheric help for the bowlers to work with. A good choice to bat first.

Muggy: The air is thick with the heat and humidity allows for the ball to swing a bit more than it would on other days, giving bowlers a bit more of an advantage. Good idea to bowl first.

Wicket Types

Fast: A pitch which fast bowlers love, the ball will bounce if the bowler wants it to and that will often pick up pace off the pitch, making timing shot a lot more difficult. Saying this however, batting should become easier the longer the batsmen stay in. A bowl or bat first pitch in my opinion.

Normal: An ideal cricket pitch, with both good consistent bounce for the batters and early movement for the bowlers. On this type of pitch it doesn't matter if you bat or bowl first, as long as you have the batters or bowlers to justify your decision.

Slow: A pitch that will suit medium paced bowlers and spin bowlers, as the ball will grip on the pitch and may get a bit of swing early on. The ball will also turn a bit during the middle stages of innings. Can bat or bowl first, although your line-up should consist of at least 2-3 medium/spin bowlers.

Damp: Ball will keep low on this pitch and will do a lot for the quicker bowlers ie seam movement and a bit of swing. Definite bowl first pitch to see how much you can knock the opposition over for.

Green: Ideal bowling pitch, will swing and seam during most of the match, although it is a very good toss to win, as bowling first and keeping the score down should mean that you can chase down the oppositions total

Dusty: Spinners dream and a fast bowlers nightmare. No movement or swing from fast bowlers who must put in a workhorse performance to keep runs down, generally, the ball will spin and bounce a lot on this type of pitch, with good slower bowling getting good results. However it is a bat first pitch, as the pitch may break up making it difficult to score in the second innings.

Sticky: Ball will hold up on the surface and will not come onto the bat, keeping the scores down a bit as free flowing shots will have to be well timed to get this ball to go to the boundary. A bowl first pitch, seeing how much you can restrict the opposition to.

Aspects of the Game

Injuries & AWOLs

Cricket manager simulates an unprofessional league and thus the players frequently go AWOL or become injured. Therefore you won't always be able able to pick your best side if one of your bowlers is AWOL for a week with 'A night in the cells' or having been 'grounded by his mother', or your best wicketkeeper is injured for 2 weeks with 'badly bruised crown jewels', 'slightly chaffed buttocks', or 'a badly damaged haircut'. Players are less likely to go AWOL if they have high morale, which is affected by winning games, using Morale building options in Training or by regularly logging in to your team to check. Using Holiday Mode also affects Morale, however the General consensus among regulars is that holiday mode is useless.

Credits

After registration you are sent a verification code to your email address. When you have verified your account, you automatically receive 1000 credits. To be successful in the game, you need credits, because credits allow you to buy new players on the transfer market, to train your players, and to organise friendlies to gain match practice. Credits can be bought by several methods of transaction including SMS, phone, direct debit, and credit card. For example 2250 credits costs $5.50 AUD and 1500 credits costs 1.50 pounds. You get 10 credits for every league game you win, and further credits for winning competitions.

Transfers

To make your side better you can buy new players from the transfer market. First you must transfer list a player from your current side, and then you can bid for a player on the transfer market. You do not bid money, but items; the lowest possible bid is a bottle of dud (500 credits) and the highest is the shirt off your back (15000 credits). It is possible to successfully bid for reasonable player with a bottle of dud, but the really good players, 65+, who are never originally players in your side and you must purchase, are worth much more. The highest bidder wins, and in the case of a two equal bids at the top, the winner is the manager with the lowest rank. If your bid is not successful, you do not lose the credits you used to bid.

Notes:

1) You do not receive credits for the player you transfer out, and can not bid for players from other teams.

2) The computer bids for players as well as human controlled sides. These bids are valued at 499 Credits, so it is still possible to buy a player that has already been bid for for a "Bottle of Dud".

Training

If you train players then they will get better. Training costs 30 credits a day, and the hourly training session is divided up into four periods of 15 minutes in which you chose what area of the game the players train. if you train players, their overall stats will improve, but if you don't, then their overall stats will decline. You can train your players in Hitting, Running, Catching, Throwing, Control, Teamwork, Sprinting, Weights, Aerobics, Sit-ups, or any combination of these, up to 4 slots.

Combinations of Training regimes help improve certain stats, and quickly too, so experiment - however, turning off Training reduces a players recovery time for injury.

Some known combinations are:

Hitting: Hitting/Power, Running: Stamina/Running, Catching: Catching/Control, Throwing: Control/Throwing, Control: Control/Catching, Team work: Team work, Sprinting: Running/Stamina, Weights: Stamina/Power, Aerobics: Stamina, Sit ups: Stamina/Power

Morale

This usually takes place the night before the match, and is a morale-building exercise for you team. You have to figure out which option your players like best. Players personal pages reveal their preferences and choosing a player's preference will have a positive effect on his morale. Things like going out for a drink may boost morale, but they may also influence a player not to turn up due to over indulgence, so there are some downsides.

Morale building options are, A Trip to the Beach, A Night Out on the Town, A Day at the Golf Course, Playing Video Games, A Nice Rest, Some Rehabilitation. Morale options such as A Nice Rest reduces the chances of a player going AWOL, whereas Some Rehabilitation reduces the chances of Injury.

Friendlies and Friendly Game Days

Friendly games can be played at a cost of 100 credits to the 'challenger', the person who challenged their opposition to the friendly match. Friendly matches are played every day at 3 p.m., depending if you have a friendly scheduled. If the one of the two sides already has a game scheduled on the friendly game day, then friendlies can be played on a normal game day, 12 hours before the next game. if a friendly is cancelled, the 100 credits are reinstated.

There are two types of friendlies: Points Friendlies and No-Points Friendlies. The friendly type is determined through the friendly table, which ranks managers based on their performances in friendly matches. If a manager challenges another manager within 10 ranks of themselves on the friendly table, the resulting match is dubbed a points-friendly. The winner of a points-friendly is given 8 Friendly Table Points while the loser is given 4. In a no-points friendly, the winner receives 4 points and the loser doesn't receive any points. Friendly Table Rankings are determined through a tally of Friendly Points and Runs Scored in Friendlies.

At the end of the season, the team most successful in competitive friendlies is at the top of the ladder and receives 5000 credits. The runner-up receives 2500 credits.

Notes:

1) The player who pays for the challenge, and only that player, receives an extra days training benefits the day the game is played.

Manager Rankings

The Manager Rankings is a system developed to find the best managers in a server. After every league game, a manager receives a number of points depending on their league, division and the rankings of their opponents. The managers with the most points are ranked at the top of the manager table. Points are awarded in the following format:

The reason for this increment of points as you progress through higher leagues is the fact that competition will be much more stiff. League 1, Division 1 is generally considered a collection of the best teams in a server. Although there are many good teams that are still progressing through the lower leagues.

Added to this you get extra points depending on the ranking of your opponent: (Your Division Pos - Opposition Division Pos) + 15

The Top Ranked Manager at the end of the season receives 5000 credits while the 2nd Ranked Manager receives 2500 credits.

Cups

If you are a good enough manager, you can get into several competitions. The top 64 managers based on the Manager Points System go through to the Elite Cup. The winners of each division win 500-1500 credits depending upon their league and are entered into the champions cup. Both of these cups are based on a knockout system. The winners of these tournaments receive 5000 credits while the runners-up receive 2500. The finals of these tournaments result in a gap of 6-7 days after the end of the season before the new season starts.

Promotion and Demotion

Each server has several conferences. These conferences are all divide up into 3 leagues of 4 divisions. League 2 contains 3 regions for each division and League 3 contains 4 regions for each division. After each season the top four teams are promoted and the bottom four are demoted except in: League 1 division 4 where six are demoted, League 2 division 1 where only two are promoted, and League 3 division 1 where 3 are promoted.

A Pictorial Representation

Tournaments

OOTs

What is the OOT?

The Our Own Tournament (OOT) is an unofficial Cricket Manager friendly tournament designed for the enjoyment of the Cricket Manager users.

The OOT costs nothing to enter but you must pay 100 credits for each friendly that you issue, so the cost will depend on how many other users are in your league. Credit prizes are awarded for winners and runner-ups.

There is an OOT for each server. Everything you need to know about the OOT is in the new OOT forum.

Basically, it's just a fun friendly tournament, so if you pay for friendlies, then you may as well join in.

Signup threads for OOTs are put up towards the end of the season on each server, in the OOT forum.

There is a different virtual cup for each OOT competition. The winner of league 1 wins the honour of having the respective cup in their team's name for the season.

National Representation

National Representation Tournaments are where Cricket Managers represent the country they support in the international cricketing world. Ideally, each server has two National Representation Tournaments running each season; these should involve the countries of India, Pakistan, England and Australia. Signup begins before the beginning of the Tournament and there are three-five representatives per country (depending on the series). After all participation slots are filled, a fixture is released detailing who challenges who.

The format of the tournament is simple and is based on a series of organized exhibition matches. One challenges the team they are required to challenge in the fixture. The results are recorded by the organizers and the team then proceeds to play the next team on their fixture list.

The fixtures are split into a number of Tests, which are basically Round Robins. All wins in a Test count only towards the victory of that particular test. If a particular country has the majority of wins in a test, they are awarded the match; the team with the most Test Wins is awarded the series. At this moment no credit awards are given for victory. The number of tests varies and is based on the number of participants…

The challenge system is such that it only costs 100-300 credits (depending on number of opposing teams and which country is declared the ‘home’ side) to go through an entire tournament.

The Selection Committee Rule

Signup for each tournament is always open for only a certain amount of time. In this time, teams are expected to get the number of participants they need:

In the case that the teams do not reach the minimum number of participants (usually 5), signup will continue to be available for those particular teams. For example, if only 3 Indians sign up for a series which requires 5 Indians, but the slots in all other countries are full, signup will only remain to be open for Indians.

In the case that the teams get more than 5 participants, the chairman of selectors format is used. Every user that has signed up for a nation is allowed to vote for any other user (not themselves) as chairman of selectors. They do this vote by sending a pm to the organizers for their server. The person that gets the most votes will become chairman of selectors.

This chairman will then need to select the 5 teams that will represent his/her nation based on past OOT/National Representation Performances and team success in the past. The chairmen then announce the teams on the forum, so the organizers can create the fixture (note that people can decide to not vote or not run in the election).

There are special cases in which a 2nd V could be introduced. In the case that an England vs Australia series has 7 Aussie entries and 9 English entries, 7 Englishmen can participate in the series. This requires the chairmen to select a First V (who will be playing for the actual trophy) and the Second II (as there are 7 people who can play in total). Generally, First V tournaments are considered more important but the cost-friendly Second Tournaments can be a way for teams to prove their worth to chairmen.

Moderators

Moderators in Cricket Manager help to patrol the forums to make sure that nothing breaching forum rules is posted. They also help newcomers to start playing the game. The moderators for each server are:

• Omah - Cricinfo & Overthrow
• Hawkeye - Yorker & Maximum
• Fezza - Boundary & Freddie
• Nelson - Beefy & Lara
• Varun - Pavilion

Trivia

• During the first week there was only one server. Now there are 10 servers with over 4000 people in each server.

• The highest rated user at the end of the first season on the Cricinfo server was theblackbag; read an interview with him here.

External links

• The Cricket Manager Site
• Cricinfo
• CatGames
• click here for screen shots of the game
• Cricket Manager Unofficial Tips Site

• Cricket computer games
• Cricket websites
• Short form cricket