sports game save files (METAL VIJAY RISING: REVENGEANCE)

thread to discuss your career / franchise save files in various sports games. for people who play single player in an era of online multiplayer…

the main impetus for this thread is (as mentioned in the Games You Played Today thread) I’ve been playing Cricket 22, Big Ant’s latest cricket sports sim. I figured it was time to start clogging that thread and start clogging this one! I’ve created a Tamil Nadu cricketer who’s trying to break into (and eventually captain) the India side.

stay tuned for…

WARRIOR IN EXILE: THE FIGHT OF VEERAPANDIAN VIJAY

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PART 0: VIJAY ORIGINS

since I’ve been obsessed with cricket recently, I was looking to see if there were any good cricket video games. there aren’t a ton - the latest is Big Ant’s title Cricket 22 (following up on their previous Cricket 19 and Ashes Cricket 17).

I really play sports games for the season-over-season narrative possibilities. I’ve created an all-rounder player — he’s a fast-medium swing bowler and traditional strokeplayer going by the extremely old-school Tamil name of

VEERAPANDIAN VIJAY

i’ve given him big biceps and a very formidable mustache. he bats wearing gold aviators and a sharp baseball cap instead of a helmet. he specializes in inswingers, outswingers, drives, and hooks, and bowls around 140kph at his peak.

my plan is to take him from the mean streets of Tirichirapalli to the Tamil Nadu team and eventually the Indian national team, where he will hopefully captain them to many Test match victories.

part 0

some info about the game first (edited from original post)

Vijay’s dreams of captaining India started off… slowly. In 2021, as a 19-year-old playing for Trichy district, he averaged a score of 15 in the lowest level of competition in the game. and his bowling wasn’t much better, with just 16 wickets in 16 matches.

He hovered around the same level in 2022, but his bowling improved considerably.

probably because I began simulating some of his bowling spells to get it over with. tfw the AI is better than you with your own player…

batting in this game is very hard, especially when your framerate dips below 30 (as mine did constantly). I found myself regularly unable to time the ball, so I eventually turned down the batting difficulty from Medium to Easy. (not my proudest gaming achievement…)

2021 high score: 51
2022 high score: 79*

2021 wickets: 16 in 16 matches
2022 wickets: 28 in 17 matches

2021 BBI: 2/22
2022 BBI: 5/13


eventually, after batting became EZ MODE, Vijay’s numbers improved greatly, and at age 21 he was finally on the cusp of playing for Tamil Nadu.
2023 numbers for Trichy:
Avg 31.81
High score 145* (my first century!)
31 wickets in 14 matches
BBI 5/15
BBM 7/62

being an all-rounder, Vijay’s selection to higher levels depends both on batting and bowling. At age 22, he ascended out of club cricket and was selected to the Tamil Nadu state team in Hazare Trophy and Ranji Trophy matches. (Indian state cricket)

Sachin Tendulkar debuted for Bombay at 14 and India at 16. Just, yknow, for comparison.

in a lot of ways, Vijay’s first couple of years were spent languishing in club cricket. but finally in 2024, it’s time to crack on at the state level… or is it?

there’s positives and negatives… on the positive, he became a regular contributor for Tamil Nadu in both batting and bowling.
Avg: 48 (across 14 First Class innings and 8 List A matches)
HS: 147
List A strike rate of 175.77
29 wickets in 10 FC matches
BBI 4/21

unfortunately, Vijay ran into some problems…

namely, between poor framerate and increasing the batting difficulty to Medium, I posted a string of poor scores. in 2024, they were restricted mainly to club matches: check that 9.89 average in the “Other” row.

that long dry spell between matches 26 and 54… That got Vijay dropped from the Ranji Trophy side — no more First Class matches for him.

In 2025, the problem spread to Tamil Nadu performances as well.

Averaging 8.80 (!) in T20 matches for Tamil Nadu

A shocking 2.67 (!!) for Karachi Kings in the Pakistan Super League

And finally, due to his failure to perform at the lowest level of competition, Vijay is dropped from the Tamil Nadu side altogether, and is struggling to see gametime even for Trichy.

sidenote: a little unrealistic for Pakistan Super League to be offering contracts to Indian players, not sure that’s allowed IRL due to politics… Indian players are banned from PSL and all other foreign T20 competitions, nor have Pakistani players ever played in the Indian Premier League…

actually maybe this is why I got dropped from Tamil Nadu…!! cricket 22 models corrupt and biased team selectors, 10/10 game

Luckily, when he was in a spell of good form, Vijay was offered a contract with the historic Middlesex County Cricket Club, playing in Division 1 of English county cricket. They surely think they’ve made a huge mistake by now. But Vijay packs his bags and heads to London, determined to play his way back into India from the outside…

PART 1: VIJAY LONDON DEBUT

Vijay part 1

Soooo on the one hand I upped the batting difficulty sliders, my guy got out cheaply a bunch of times in a row, and got dropped entirely from the Tamil Nadu side.

On the other hand, Vijay was signed by an English county cricket side (Middlesex, who play at the famous Lord’s stadium in London);

I learned how to savescum (just immediately quit the match soon as you get out, before it gets saved). this is allowing me to get more actual match experience since I’m only ‘allowing’ myself to get out when I feel I’ve improved, usually after 30 runs or so;

and even with hardmode bowling settings I am rocking it

peep these wickets…

https://i.imgur.com/gt16Sd9.mp4

all three: https://imgur.com/a/EPV5qkH

edit:

The unsung hero of the gameplay further in this thread is the graphics option DISPLAY RESOLUTION SCALING. By enabling this, I was able to drastically improve my framerate while also increasing my graphics resolution. The occasional attack of blurry-texture-disease is a small price to pay for a playable game!

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Vijay part 1 contd

having been dropped from the Tamil Nadu team, continuing with my County cricket debut for Middlesex. when we left off: had just taken 3 wickets in the 1st innings and was batting on a decent score in 2nd innings.

only because I save scummed after each time I got out stupidly, mind you. just wanted to get a bit more time at the crease to practice… my save, my rules!!!

i do reach my 50, learning along the way that I really can’t time spin bowling at all.

must have savescummed 5 or 6 times to the same bowler in the same over, just trying to get a decent shot off… eventually I decided “you know what, I’ll block.” and that, my friends, is wisdom.

eventually allowed myself to get out after going for a risky single. but Vijay did the badge proud. 77(136)

Coming up to bowl in their second innings, keeping things tidy, seeing a decent partnership and this batsman is about to get his 50… I thought “we’d better get him out quick…”

https://i.imgur.com/1YuBuFx.mp4

bang!!! bowled him first ball of the over, out on 49

TN’s not-so-favorite son Veerapandian Vijay: 1-7 (6 ov.)

unfortunately, us being an all rounder, we barely got our bowling feet wet and then our captain ignored us for the rest of the match while brave England captain Joe Root smashed a century. Lose by one wicket, that’s what you get! Give me the ball next time!!!

Player of the Match is a small consolation prize

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Making a beer snake, chanting “VEE-JAY VEE-JAY VEE-JAY”.

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VIJAY INTERLUDE: AFTER ONE MATCH… INDIA REALIZES THEIR ERROR

not currently on the Tamil Nadu team but “very close” to being selected for India…!? howzat…

career bowling numbers have improved year over year and are currently great, to be fair

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Vijay PART 2: PROVING HIS POINT

part 2

going into my player’s second match for Middlesex. V. Vijay turning heads with a 57 batting average and ~1.50 economy after the first match… can we keep it up for the second…

(realized my AI run rate slider was a little low, should see higher AI scores going forward.)

paltry crowds

(due to graphics settings)

, just like IRL county cricket

called on to bowl as early as the 15th over… moving up in the pecking order… end up extorting a couple of realistic drops from the slips fielders, and finally the wicket keeper takes a catch

https://i.imgur.com/v8oPhOc.mp4
https://i.imgur.com/ngIb5Ba.mp4

end of surrey 1st innings comes on day 1 late afternoon, decent bowling by Vijay, 3-18 (16 ov.) as they are all out for 141

up to bat, and made a respectable 50

i used my great savescumming skills to practice hitting some ‘aggressive grounded’ shots

https://i.imgur.com/fTRuZWj.mp4


and… got 4 wickets off the Surrey second innings.

much harder this time, went for about 3-4 runs an over due to the settings change, so felt like i really earned these… first time in a while a team has gone over 200 runs in an innings in this save

push to backward point was good, but bowled is better

https://i.imgur.com/iHOrFlx.mp4
https://i.imgur.com/WylPTFi.mp4

at the end of the innings we are chasing 230 to win, with 1.5 days remaining in the match… quit when i was just getting into the hitting, we’ll see how it turns out next time

full imgur album

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Vijay part 2 contd

continuing with the run chase… 230 to win and last we checked team was on 49, we were on 15*

i toggled off the HUD for batting and it actually helped a lot to only focus on the ball and not get caught up thinking about high scores. Relatively save-scum free innings actually,

just got into the flow of things and started timing the ball well. they tried to use two spinners (Moriarty and Virdi) with a very close-in field setup to choke off the run flow. but ended up being able to time the square drive nicely and got a fair few boundaries without trying too hard

https://i.imgur.com/N7iyfy0.mp4

50 came up in relatively short order, and then 100.

by this point I was confident enough not to defend, just try to play a shot on nearly every ball and see what happens. when they brought the fast bowler Curran back on, I actually had a go with holding Aggressive Shot…

ended up smashing him over extra cover for 6, and when he went leg-side, lofted flick over deep square leg for another 6.

kind of proud of myself for being brave enough to play the shot

eventually had a whack at a spinning ball and played onto my own stumps…

decided it was fair enough and let it stand.

ended up with a well deserved century, 122 off 178, and took his team nearly to the finish line. standing ovation from the crowd

https://i.imgur.com/JU1EpUA.mp4

and they took it from there to win handily. nice highlight reel of mainly my shots


https://i.imgur.com/uERb4jb.mp4

making an argument for team india with these numbers !!
first class batting average of 72.00
strike rate 61.4
bowling average of 9.00 (!!)
bowling economy of 1.99 runs/over
11 wickets in two matches

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VIJAY PART 3: KEEPING UP THE FORM

someone let me know if this posting style is getting on your nerves with all the images and videos… i know it can be a little lengthy but maybe it is interesting?

part 3

Cricket 22, continuing with middlesex match #3, vs hampshire. msx wins the toss and choose to bat, my dude comes in at 81-2

this match was really about learning how to survive spin and pace. they had multiple pacers going 140+ kph, the ball really zips. mostly seam bowlers but one swing bowler, and they set really aggressive fields. only one man outside the circle

the thing about setting really aggressive fields like this is you don’t have much coverage near the boundary, which means if you can pick the gaps, or just hit it over their heads, you can find the boundary pretty easily. Vijay survived long enough to get a 50 by doing just that (and also getting very lucky with nicked shots that raced away)

(and also savescumming duh)

most of his big hits were off the pacers.

as i continue to struggle against spin bowling, the timing is really difficult with those slow balls… i changed the settings to make the ball a little quicker from hand to bat. it helped some

https://i.imgur.com/nyx1nsl.mp4

https://i.imgur.com/MTUtNC3.mp4

https://i.imgur.com/n0Fea1e.mp4

eventually Vijay went to an absolutely beautiful bowled delivery on leg stump that I played too far outside off, completely misread it, swung around the legs and hit the stumps. had to say fair enough. 55(99), msx 270 all out

https://i.imgur.com/Iuz8NWR.mp4

bowling 1st innings, just experimenting on line/length and ended up getting the batter to play onto his own stumps on the 6th ball, on a ball pitched at a good length outside off stump

https://i.imgur.com/oXeX3fu.mp4

captain set some extremely aggressive fields

i’ve never seen them do three slips and a gully in this game, but that’s what they did.

luckily line/length was good enough to avoid runs mostly, and having the man at midwicket/square leg was useful for cover when the ball strayed down the leg side. got a couple caught behinds with the very aggressive field

https://i.imgur.com/O6lmwcG.mp4

https://i.imgur.com/W5dmuMe.mp4

1st innings 3-40 with the 1st wicket probably being the most valuable, hampshire all out 235

batting 2nd innings, got another 50 playing how i played before… the thing about pace bowling outside off stump with no deep extra cover or long on, is that you just hit it over the infielders’ heads. even smashed a couple sixes over cover, and slogged several 1-bounce fours – flicked off the pads and over square leg

and that makes for a very rapid century 50*(34)-> 101*(77)

https://i.imgur.com/xDxTdat.mp4

eventually my slogging ways caught up with me and Vijay nicked it to the slip. fair enough, that’s what makes risky shots risky. 131(100), msx scored 380-odd or something

2nd innings bowling, i feel like i really ran out of steam here, but still picked up 2 wickets for just 4 runs… the first one bowled outside off stump, AI just fishing for it

the 2nd wicket was probably the prize of the lot… went juuuust around the batsman’s legs and got a little feather touch on the leg stump… just enough to take the bails off… unlucky for him! look at that look of exasperation

https://i.imgur.com/lGy7eHz.mp4

https://i.imgur.com/CyGCVYH.mp4

and a run out too! my first time getting one off my bowling, that i got to participate in anyway

hampshire gets SKITTLED for 66! and it’s a comfortable win for MSX by a couple hundred runs.

with all this cheating we’re doing on the batting side, still not leading the league in runs somehow. or wickets for that matter! but am “being considered” for India, which is nice.

overall i think my change in settings (run rate) has worked to create more realistic scorelines for four-day matches, albeit i’m still a little wary of AI losing a lot of wickets early. it happens IRL too, just need to keep an eye on the frequency and maybe adjust wicket chance if it continues.

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oh i should mention that my character is named after the following

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VIJAY PART 4: BOUNCERS AND ONE-BOUNCERS

middlesex match 4: double century and bouncers edition

part 4

choosing to bat vs lancashire in 90% humidity and overcast conditions… means heaven for swing bowlers… means 2 wickets gone for just 4 runs… and shortly after we arrive at the crease, De Caires heads to the pavilion, out for just 10. Vijay is desparately needed to stabilize the innings

played this innings in a more stable way than past innings. trying to cut down on swinging wildly outside off stump; focusing on timing shots, putting away bad balls, and dealing with loose bouncers and various other deliveries.

(savescummed much, obviously. but as a learning process!!)


took discipline not to swing against the legspinner’s slow balls outside off stump – easy way to get out – and

apart from the times i did actually savescum

, I had some lucky nicks that somehow avoided the fielders


hit a few sixes over the offside against the outswing bowler Lamb, who was very expensive for the day: 9 overs, 68 runs, 0 wickets, 7.56 runs allowed per over. I was able to time his outswingers really well, I think there was one over I hit him for 20 runs or something.




between the sixes and one-bounce 4’s over the fielders’ heads, the 100 came up in just 96 balls. putting the team on his back!

action shot of a square drive. i never get these away to the boundary, so hitting this off a yorker outside off stump felt good

these english teams will field like 4-5 pace bowlers each specializing in a different thing. one of them specialized in bouncers. vijay is a brave tamil warrior who needs no helmet

and with us getting stuck into the innings, pretty soon… 202 off 191, and that just about takes us to the end of Day 1. first time we’ve batted an entire ingame day.

Robbie White scored a useful 60 (227) holding up the other end of strike. Strike rate of 26 baby! if Vijay took a single it was basically guaranteed I would be facing a different bowler the next time, because White would not score at all and the over would end.

check out that 247 run partnership for the fourth wicket…

I kept hitting after this but eventually let myself be gone LBW, off the yorker specialist. 259 runs off 260 balls! wheel chart for the innings, in order.

still don’t know how to play shots to third man (top left) or midwicket (bottom right).




from there, Middlesex ends up with 376 in the first innings


more next time… including a bowling breakthrough…

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continuing match 4, MSX 376 by the middle of day 2, lancashire up to bat

vijay part 4 cont'd

376 when your leading scorer posts 259 by himself: not a great total tbh! should have expected to see 400+. 4 ducks is just embarrassing

might have to tinker with the settings a little further

time to bowl and we start off with the usual stuff: outswingers outside off stump, short-of-full and front-of-good-length.
aggressive opener Phil Salt (a limited overs England international) seems to be striking the ball well, going about a run a ball, and that means he’ll be more keen to swing at stuff outside off stump.

the wide ball induces a drive and the drive gets an edge, and that’s Salt gone for 27. first wicket down!

https://i.imgur.com/IN5A556.mp4

what next… well there’s the number 3 batsman, Phil Balderson, a left hander. Vijay has always struggled against left handers, straying in line and giving up a lot of runs to the leg side. the captain hasn’t provided a square leg fielder so balls tend to go to the boundary quickly

I just don’t know what line and length to take against lefties tbh, my usual ball which swings left gets put away, and my ball that swings right, it’s hard to place the line

after some attempts bowling over the wicket, we decide to experiment with going around the wicket. that points the delivery into the batsman’s pads: riskier in some ways, but also gives more ability to precisely pitch the ball outside off stump

and with the line change, we eventually see a type of delivery that’s rare coming from Vijay… could it be…

https://i.imgur.com/mpoNrXQ.mp4

YES IT’S AN LBW! The umpire signals leg before wicket with little hesitation. he’s blocked the stumps with his pad and Balderson is gone for 44 off 103 balls.

huge wicket to celebrate for a number of reasons, not least of which, LBWs are surprisingly rare in this game: the AI seems to have a sixth sense of when to defend and when to leave the ball, and it’s rare to seem them miss a defense or a shot when it’s on the stumps and their pad is also in the way.

this strategic calculation, going around the wicket for lefties, is true to life!! Here’s an article that makes the same case for IRL cricket: right arm bowlers going around the wicket do much better against lefthanders

Coming ‘around’ to sort out the game’s lefties (sportskeeda.com)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRK3gYnv2Dk

That’s the end of the bowling spell for Vijay, it’s quite a while before he’s brought back on and in the meantime Cullen has taken two wickets. The score is around 166-4 or 166-5.


In the second spell, there’s the all rounder Steven Croft and South African international Kyle Verreyne in at numbers 6 and 7. Verreyne is swinging hard and dispatching anything outside offstump to the boundary — his strike rate hovers between 150-200 — while Croft is content to defend, take singles and feed Verreyne the strike. this partnership threatens and needs to be sorted out… never fear, Vijay is here.

but actually, Vijay is struggling! it’s rare to struggle like this against right handers, but Verreyne is latching onto the usual outswingers and driving them hard through cover to the boundary. he’s middling everything and his confidence is high, it’ll take something special to find the edge. It’s Day 2 and the weather is overcast and humid, which should help the ball swing, but it’s all moving a bit predictably and that subtle variation is hard to find.

After the first three balls of his second over go for four — all to the same place, the cover boundary — the captain comes out to chat with Vijay. we need a change of tactic…

…how about bouncers? we’re used to bowling in the region from good length to yorkers, but we rarely do short balls. and it might just do the trick!

Vijay’s first experiments with the bouncer are met with mishits and edges. they don’t carry to a fielder, but it’s proof that the theory is working. when you’re facing chin music, it’s hard to hit it over the rope, and often batters just swat to keep the ball out of their face. the trick is to use the two that you’re allowed per over judiciously, and vary it with other good deliveries.

and vary we do… with Verreyne off balance, pretty soon…

https://i.imgur.com/7GmkgJU.mp4

he pops it straight to the backward square leg fielder standing on the edge of the circle, and that’s Verreyne gone! the threat of his 23 runs off 12 balls is seen off, and now we’re well into the tailenders.

it turns out the tailenders really struggle with the short stuff. Croft has an impertinent whack to square leg on a ball he should have left alone, and Parkinson swats it down onto his stumps when he should have ducked. and that’s Vijay’s five-for!

https://i.imgur.com/HkBVWrX.mp4

https://i.imgur.com/B6QwCUB.mp4

after a run out, Danny Lamb, the swing bowler, is one of the last two men standing, trying to hold up the innings with a reasonable 35 runs.
but after terrorizing his bowling with sixes, Vijay clatters his off stump with a classic outswinging good length ball to clean up lancashire.
they’ve scored 243 by the end of Day 2 and vijay has taken a fearsome 6 for 71 (16.5 ov)

https://i.imgur.com/Q09usp9.mp4

our best bowling figures for an innings!

Second innings is nothing to write home about… Vijay comes in at 55-2 and continues his usual shenanigans, flexing his straight drive and reaching his 50 in a speedy 42 balls. he eventually goes fishing outside off stump on a shorter ball and plays it onto his own stumps, having fallen just short of another century – 90(86).

Middlesex all out 218



https://i.imgur.com/fcJxcBI.mp4

the captain ignores us for the whole second innings bowling. why do you hate stat padding, Cap? don’t ignore me just because i’m an all-rounder! i’m not tired, honest!

since we didn’t get to bowl the second innings, the whole thing was simulated

Vijay has signed, sealed, and delivered it; final scoreline:

MSX 376 & 218
LNC 243 & 210
MSX win by 141 runs
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VIJAY PART 5: INTEGRATING KNOWLEDGE, LEG SEEKING MISSILES

By this point, it’s looking pretty good for Vijay to get selected for either Tamil Nadu or even India, as long as we stay in form. I’m loosening up my personal requirement to perform well. I.e., less savescumming, more strategy and experimentation — let’s really focus on playing the game. 8)

part 5

It’s Nottinghamshire today at Lord’s, a bright sunny day, and they win the toss and choose to bat first. It’s time to integrate our lessons about short bowling from the last match.

Vijay’s brought in after 20 overs - probably making us the second or third change bowler here, which is a little ridiculous for someone leading the competition in wickets. At that point, Notts is already 35/4 and we’re in against Clarke on 13(43) and James on 3(28).

Both batsmen seem pretty settled after being in for so many deliveries, and the first wicket proves tricky. Bouncers it is…

https://i.imgur.com/r6wGQ1L.mp4

A high edge…

https://i.imgur.com/sYn8x2K.mp4

Out or not out?

Impact outside off = not out, by rule. a close call…

https://i.imgur.com/BRDbNV9.mp4

Another edge off the short ball…

https://i.imgur.com/EHIdIZi.mp4

And finally the wicket comes in the sixth over of the spell — the LBW we’ve been waiting for. Clarke gone for 38, it’s 72/5.

That’s all for the first spell and Vijay is sent to hang out somewhere near the fine leg boundary for awhile.


Having bowled seven overs at 1-21, Vijay next comes in for the 53rd over. The ball’s quite old by now and the new ball is nearly 30 overs away (teams are allowed to request a new ball after 80 overs are bowled with the old one). Sunny day + old ball = poor swing. (*exceptions apply)

The score is 123-6 and we’re facing James on 45, looking for his 50, and famed England bowler Stuart Broad. Just a hair away from the tailenders here… using the around-the-wicket strategy against the lefty Broad, who sees most of our deliveries.

Unfortunately, facing James in the second over of the spell, a single to the leg side leads to a wild overthrow, and those five runs take James to his 50 off 134.

game can really have clownshoes fielding at times — ball was thrown like a rocket straight to the boundary

Just gotta persist with the plan… keeping them honest with short balls and bowling good stuff otherwise… And the very next ball…

https://i.imgur.com/3UN1UKv.mp4

Good enough for the umpire, good enough for me! James gone for 50, it’s 131-7. The very next over, Andersson, the other bowler during the spell, takes out Chappell to make the score 132-8.

Now it would be great if we could crack the nut that is Broad. We know he’s not great with the bat…

https://i.imgur.com/LpcKhOS.mp4

Love it when a plan comes together — around the wicket + short ball = wild swing and caught behind. Broad gone for 6, it’s 134-9.

Notts has crashed, and they just await the final blow. And that blow is…

https://i.imgur.com/jJliSHt.mp4

…another LBW! the third of the innings for Vijay, Notts all out 141

(would that actually have hit leg stump? umpire’s call :wink: )

Bowling figures for the innings:
4-32 (13.3 ov)
3 maidens
economy 2.37

did we say LBWs were rare?

I’m also wondering whether the AI bowling is too good or the wicket chance is too high, still seeing a lot of early wickets drop. needs research

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VIJAY INTERLUDE: CRASH CITY

think I will be adjusting the Wicket Chance down and maybe also the bowl quality… compare scores I’m seeing to the real life ones

also my match has got some kind of bug where it crashes immediately upon resuming the match, i may have to sim the rest of this one, we’ll see

1 Like

DREAMING OF NZ

I’ve decided to start a women’s career save in New Zealand. Multiple reasons for this:

  • bug leading to game crash in the Vijay save
  • been meaning to play a save that’s less ‘roleplaying’ and more like myself - an idealized version of myself anyway
  • been daydreaming about leaving the USA and sort of obsessed recently with the Pacific exploration of indigenous peoples
  • been meaning to start a women’s career mode save. Women’s cricket is a bit different than men’s — shorter boundaries, lighter ball, etc — and figure it’s a good way to explore different game mechanics

PART 1: WHAKATĀNE

part 1

I was looking for countries to play a women’s career save in, and it turns out most countries have pretty poor women’s cricket infrastructures. Since I didn’t want to do an India save, my options were really between England, Australia, NZ. Out of these, I wanted to play in NZ. I decided to play for Northern Districts since they’re the part of NZ with the highest Maori population (per wiki), and when I was looking for clubs to play with, this caught my eye: pretty fitting for a women’s cricket save I think.

The Maori name Whakatāne is reputed to commemorate an incident occurring after the arrival of the Mataatua. The men had gone ashore and the canoe began to drift. Wairaka, a chieftainess, said " Kia whakatāne au i ahau " (“I will act like a man”), and commenced to paddle – something that women were not allowed to do. With the help of the other women, the canoe was saved.[3] Wairaka’s efforts are commemorated by a bronze statue of her at the mouth of the Whakatāne River, which was installed in 1965.[4][5]

It’s uh… little. population 16.7k, like 10 minutes across driving.


created my character who is basically a hotter version of me? opening batter who can bowl wrist spin but doesn’t. aggressive batting mentality and i’m looking forward to trying out batting style 3, which has different shots than the batting style Vijay plays (#6).

sidenote, this youtuber is one of my fav Cricket 22 youtubers, he has a very chill vibe.
CRICKET 22 | All Batting & Bowling Styles in Cricket 22! - YouTube

One #exciting rule I’m setting for myself on this save is I will be using savescumming basically never, or at least, only for really really bullshit things. I’m just going to play the game and see how I go.

right off the bat it feels like hitting to the on side is much better, and much easier to score 4s on the ground with the shorter boundaries. really like the look of this batting style as well, some #glorious drives

most recent patch seems to have made fielders smarter, see how they run to help each other out

https://i.imgur.com/lDp72n9.mp4
https://i.imgur.com/CAuEjGr.mp4
https://i.imgur.com/FX8io2V.mp4
https://i.imgur.com/GrlqK8h.mp4
https://i.imgur.com/wxHVtOi.mp4
https://i.imgur.com/pAfgAjm.mp4

in my first couple matches i’m not scoring anything crazy, the fact i’m not savescumming means dropped chances and nearly-getting-out has some more drama to it


and i do actually get out trying to play my shots, i guess i’m supposed to be the aggressive opener so i don’t mind too too much. towards the end of my play session i try to buckle down a little more and score some 50s

bowled


lbw’d

and 2 50’s

scores for the club level career so far

last note, check out this crazy aggressive field set. all your fielders are standing next to the wicketkeeper, how are you going to stop runs?

actually having a decent amount of fun here, it’s a very different vibe than the men’s career mode. the bowling is slower and the boundaries closer, it’s much more about strokeplay and picking the gaps, less struggling to keep up with the pace of the ball. i think maybe the fact that I created a specialist batter also matters here, as opposed to an all-rounder, her skills are much higher especially with controlling shot placement.

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some more NZ #clips, from a three-day match and a t20. continuing to play valuable opening innings, getting 50s basically at will, but still searching for that 1st century.

part 1 clips cont'd

had some good hitting in a three day match, in that triangle between straight and cover

one thing I’m noticing is that in this save, it’s much more likely to get a shot that absolutely speeds away to the boundary. i think it must have something to do with my Control stat, and if I time the ball really well… easier with the women’s cricketers maybe, since they bowl slower.

a fast and clean straight drive, really sweetly timed. i notice timing is everything on these
https://i.imgur.com/8WMvFpq.mp4

massive six into the practice nets !! i don’t think i’ve ever hit this one so strong, really got all of it
https://i.imgur.com/l59X9tv.mp4

this back foot drive with batting style 3 is so clean… check out that pose afterward
https://i.imgur.com/2MAHdNL.mp4

very fast flick smashed to the square leg boundary
https://i.imgur.com/zF3fZuq.mp4

all good things come to an end… run out for 77, my current high score on this save. this 1st innings knock put the team in a really good position.


the other team got out cheaply in their first innings and were forced to follow on. a follow-on is like… the opposite of a mercy rule? it’s basically a “let’s get this over with” rule. If Team A scores a massive total, and Team B gets a puny fraction of that, Team A can force Team B to bat again immediately afterwards. This is usually pretty demoralizing for Team B.

With their second innings score, they barely caught up to our first innings total (avoiding an innings defeat), but their low score meant it was an easy run chase, less than a hundred runs, and we won without losing a wicket. I think my second innings score was 45 not out? something like that.

After the three-day match was a T20 — temperamentally the exact opposite. You don’t really have time to get settled, you just have to jump in and start hitting. I struggled mightily in this innings and didn’t seem to time anything properly. lots of edges, lots of mishits.

I regret to say I broke my own rule and savescummed a lot in this match… just kept getting out to random deliveries. I was tired and should have gone to bed but just wanted to get the match over with.

anyways I scored 50 #4 in this match, eventually getting out for 57, but there’s no honor in it. sigh… the team won though.

This is one of the cooler things I noticed in this play session… they clearly patched to improve the fielding. Check out these AI fielders collaborating to save a boundary. If you watched Lagaan you will remember, if you take a catch but touch or land beyond the boundary line, that is by definition a six.

https://i.imgur.com/hcOCRhN.mp4

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Screen Shot 2022-05-16 at 14.45.17

sports rule

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aussie aussie aussie

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oi oi oi

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it’s been a while, but finally the bug causing Vijay career save to crash has been patched. onwards and upwards!

last we checked Vijay had gone 4-32 bowling in his fifth match in county cricket, and the batting is about to start

VIJAY PART 5 CONT’D: SLOGFEST

as the name suggests, there are a lot of boundaries and sixes that are hit. here is the imgur album with all the mp4s, do check it out, a lot of good whacks in here.

by far vijay’s most attacking innings and most successfully attacking innings. he especially punishes the fast-medium bowler Pettman who is consistently whacked for six. (i’m not even sure what he’s doing in the squad tbh…)
England international Stuart Broad is nottinghamshire’s most effective bowler on the day, but is sadly underutilized.

felt like i was able to play the greatest variety of shots i have played till date and hit to all parts of the ground.
savescumming granted but i still had fun.

full imgur album

it’s a 50 off 28

100 off 43

200 off 92

250 off 114

300 off 148 kind of day

vijay reaches current high score of 316 not out, middlesex declares the innings at 413-5 after 72.1 overs, vijay barely gets to bowl in the second innings but does get a wicket, and middlesex wins going away by 11am on Day 3

final score

MSX 413-5d 
NTT 141 & 235
MSX win by an innings and 37 runs
MOTM: Veerapandian Vijay (5-54 & 316*)

the wheel is beautiful

expecting selection to Team India on their next tour…


what do you all think of this new posting style? trying to reduce the amount of video embeds while also providing summary of the action. lmk

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