Arthur Crabtree wrote:So if the game is in India, it doesn't matter if I pick players who have done well in India? If my player is weak against offspin, he won't struggle if the opposition picks two offspinner? A number seven bat won't do worse if I expose him to the new ball?
Batsman are given a rating on certain possible strengths and weaknesses, all of them are 5 level distinctions. So with aggression, a player can be very defensive, defensive, normal, aggressive or very aggressive. In tests, this never used to appear to matter how a player performs, more aggressive players just score quicker; but in ODIs and T20Is, it will matter a huge amount. If IanP plans limited overs matches, picking Boycott and Cook to open for England is going to ensure you lose every game, as they are almost certainly going to be very defensive.
Batsman also are rated on how they deal with line, length and types of bowling; they will be either very weak, weak, normal, slight preference or very strong to those three types. Line = struggle outside off, etc. Length = front or back foot bias. Variety = struggle more vs pace or spin. So a players profile can read "very aggressive. Strong outside off, strong on front foot, strong pace (in reality a lot are left blank).
These types of game mechanics work in algorithms, so lets take a player who has medium aggression, no bias to any particular style or pitch of bowling. His batting rating overall wont change in the algorithms. A 80/100 ranked player is consistent, his quality will remain 80 for every ball. But then, and I dont know the exact coding uses so im not being specific, for each strength or weakness you might have say +5 for each grade effect that score. So an 80 overall player with a strong weakness against spin turns into a 70 overall player when the spinner comes on. A spin wizard turns into a 90 overall player. Same applies with aggression, a high aggression player might have a bonus 20% likelihood of scoring of each ball. Its all maths. Openers the same, there will be some form of penalty modifier for playing a non-opener at 1 or 2, so a middle order player put in to open might lose 10 percent or something like that of his ability to the new ball.
So in a way it matters, and in other ways it doesn't. Bradman could be rated 100/100 but weak against spin; if you played him at opener and he's facing spin, he could still be 90/100, which ranks him as some sort of world beating expert. Where as a Travis Head rated 65 and put in the same position has just been rendered the quality of an average Leicestershire player.
So in picking a side, pick your best players as they have higher base quality scores that make up for individual strengths; and where two players are very close, decide on weaknesses etc. And its probably much better to play an better bat to open if their are no worthy specialists..
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