More draws in England's 4 day domestic competition? (semi off topic)

[Graham_5000]

I was looking at the current County Championship standings and was struck by the high number of draws. Compared with Australia, New Zealand and South Africa's premier domestic competitions, the higher number of draws got me thinking; is it down to the pitches, the style of play, or perhaps it is the weather? New Zealand also has a lot rain mind you.

County Championship Div 1 2015 so far (as of 07/06/2015)
35% of matches drawn, 9/26

County Championship Div1 2014
38% of matches drawn, 27/72

County Championship Div 2 so far (as of 07/06/2015)
44% of matches drawn, 12/27

County Championship Div2 2014
40% of matches drawn, 29/72

Sheffield Shield (Australia 4 day competition) 2014-2015
23% of matches drawn, 7/30

Sunfoil Series (South Africa 4 day competition) 2014-2015
27% of matches drawn, 8/30

Plunket Shield (New Zealand 4 day competition) 2014-2015
17% of matches were drawn, 5/30

[Dick Van Dykes Disco Dog]

I'd go with weather sadly - so hopefully it's easy enough to imitate on the game.

You could always sim a County and Shield season and compare the results

[LastWicket]

Whats the run rates like in Aus and NZ compared to in England? That might factor also along with the weather as it gives more time to bowl the opposition out.

In game the AI seem to always score at a faster rate than myself, but usually get lower totals so I get more time to build bigger scores. At the end of sessions I usually have less runs than the other games except when a side has lost a lot of wickets.

[Graham_5000]

I'd go with weather sadly - so hopefully it's easy enough to imitate on the game.

You could always sim a County and Shield season and compare the results

I might just do that actually!

New Zealand has a similar climate to the UK though, doesn't it? Perhaps I am wrong. I wondered whether the reason why New Zealand's 4 day competition had the lowest % of draws the season just finished, might be because of the aggressive brand of cricket they are developing; runs are scored at a fast pace, but wickets also tumbling?

England has an average of 9.5 rain affected days per month in the summer months according to Wikipedia. Grounds like Kingsmead, Centurion and the Wanderers fall within the area of South Africa that has wet summers; here there is an average of 15 "wet" days per month. Most of these are in the form of short, sharp afternoon thunderstorms though, whereas the 9.5 wet days in the UK are perhaps more disruptive with prolonged rainfall?

On a side note, I don't think Cricket Captain models South African weather that accurately. The regional differences are significant!

I don't know anything about the Australian climate, although I would imagine that Cairns and Darwin are pretty wet in winter, but with arid conditions further south?

Perhaps it is the pitches? I know The Oval, the County Ground in Taunton, and a few others are batting paradises (with turn coming into play late in games when conditions have been drier). A fair bit of green is left on some of the wickets in South Africa, but then this is the case at some England grounds isn't it (e.g. Headingley?).

[Graham_5000]

Whats the run rates like in Aus and NZ compared to in England? That might factor also along with the weather as it gives more time to bowl the opposition out.

In game the AI seem to always score at a faster rate than myself, but usually get lower totals so I get more time to build bigger scores. At the end of sessions I usually have less runs than the other games except when a side has lost a lot of wickets.

I'd love to work out if domestic run rates vary considerably between the four countries! That would be really interesting.

[GrahamB]

New Zealand has a similar climate to the UK though, doesn't it?

Overall, not really.

http://www.enz.org/nz-climate.html

[Graham_5000]

Overall, not really.
http://www.enz.org/nz-climate.html

Thanks for the link Graham. In terms of number of summer wet days most cities seem pretty similar to the UK in your link - perhaps a little drier in some places, wetter in others, but in general the summer and winter temperatures appear to be warmer than in the UK.

Why do you think there are so few draws in the Plunket Shield? The % draw rate isn't even half of what it is in England.

[GrahamB]

Thanks Graham. In terms of number of summer wet days most cities seem pretty similar to the UK in your link - perhaps a little drier, but both the summer and winter temperatures appear to be warmer than in the UK.

Why do you think there are so few draws in the Plunket Shield? The % draw rate isn't even half of what it is in England.

Not really sure. Could be a more positive approach as you suggest. Also, as the English players probably get paid a lot more, so they have a lot more at stake regarding future contracts?

[Graham_5000]

Yeah it is a weird one - I will update the statistic at the end of the County Championship.

Incidentally, how are you a "Youth Player" when you have 1605 posts? Is it a Millenium Bug type thing, where you start over at zero again?!

[GrahamB]

Incidentally, how are you a "Youth Player" when you have 1605 posts? Is it a Millenium Bug type thing, where you start over at zero again?!

Absolutely no idea - it's always been that way for me.

[Dick Van Dykes Disco Dog]

Absolutely no idea - it's always been that way for me.

I thought you were still at school

[GrahamB]

I thought you were still at school

Yeah - I'm a slow learner.

[Graham_5000]

Yeah - I'm a slow learner.

Haha - I think you probably need another thousand posts added to your name - aren't you a survivor of Dan Thomas' cricketgames.com forum?!

[GrahamB]

Haha - I think you probably need another thousand posts added to your name - aren't you a survivor of Dan Thomas' cricketgames.com forum?!

Yep! Been around pretty much since the beginning.