Stadium weather and conditions

[Sureshot]

Chris and I have talked about this, and we think it's a good idea.

Couple of notes:
We will try and do this for 2015, but it might have to wait until 2016.
IF we get it in for 2015, it will only work on new saves as it's a database change.

In any case, I think it's a good idea to build up the research.

Feedback from Rumblah

Australia:

- MCG should be flat and offer nothing because it's a drop in pitch
- SCG should be a raging spinner, playing 2 spinners is often considered
- GABBA very tough early, once you're set it's great for runs but notoriously hard to get going on
- Adelaide deteriorates to favour spin in days 4 and 5 but is an absolute highway for the most part
- WACA should be a pace haven. Great bounce for the bowlers and insane pace
- Hobart should be a green minefield


Sureshot

[Graham_5000]

This is a brilliant idea - I'd love it if wicket pace were also introduced at some point. A fast bouncy wicket can be both good for scoring quickly on, and also aid quick bowlers, even if the bounce is true.

South Africa:

Wanderers, Johannesburg: Fast and bouncy but pretty decent for batting early in Tests. The "wet" summer also helps the quicks as most of the rain falls as short, sharp thunderstorms in the mid afternoon, several times a week. One can often score quickly here, but the quicks can also run riot too.

Centurion, near Pretoria: Fast and bouncy (often a green mamba of a pitch). Great for quicks so many teams go with an all pace attack. Weather is similar to the Wanderers - perhaps in general slightly tougher to bat on than the Wanderers.

Newlands, Cape Town: This is the only pitch that falls in the dry summer region of SA. Good for batting early on, but breaks up a bit - is one of the only pitches to turn a fair bit by day 5. In early summer, overhead conditions vary greatly throughout the day. Overall I would say that it is good for batting for the first half of a Test (unless overhead conditions are unfavourable), and then there is something for everyone on Days 4 & 5. Bizarrely, 240 is the highest successfully chased-down ODI score!

Kingsmead, Durban: This is SA's wettest ground in summer. Traditionally a fast bowler's ground, although in recent years it has been a little slower and even turned a bit late on in Tests. Overhead conditions are normally good for the quicks though.

St George's, Port Elizabeth: Think Cardiff with less rain! Slow for an SA ground and often hard to score on. Reverse swing on offer late on, as the abrasive surface often roughs up the ball. It spins a bit here sometimes too. In terms of weather, Port Elizabeth is pretty mixed in the summer cricket season.

East London: Similar to Port Elizabeth.

Bloemfontein and Paarl: Great for batsmen! Matches are not played here that often.

[kishorea]

Great initiative, Chris and Sureshot!

I second Graham_5000's suggestion about adding new pitch attributes, but I realize that that may involve the match engine and may have to wait.

The only thing I can think off the top of my head is the morning session swing in North Indian venues during winter matches due to the early start and cold, misty conditions.

I don't recall enough details of matches in different venues, it was in my childhood that I used to follow cricket so closely... But I'd actually be interested in digging through some of the match reports from the archives to help build this database.

[muhammad saad]

Pakistan
1)Rawalpindi: Very helpful for seamers all through out the 5 days , get to spin on day 4 and 5 as well.
2)Karachi: Absolute road with a bit of spin on day 4 and 5 , however for day nighters its a different story as the ball moves around in the evening.

[Dick Van Dykes Disco Dog]

Great plan guys - more proof if you needed any (I didn't!!) that this forum and the ideas discussed are taken forward whenever possible by the devs.

[Rumblah]

Fantastic news guys. If you'd like more info on conditions or maybe more than a dot point on the Australian pitches let me know.

[morgieb]

Rumblah's suggestions make sense, but I'll add that the whole SCG = turner thing isn't really true these days. Melbourne has a bit in it for the bowlers AFAIC, the main impact of the drop-in is that the pitch is a lot slower and lower than most wickets in Australia. Before a few years ago Hobart was a massive road, and in Perth you can generally get good scores if you settle in.

Two other wickets - ANZ is a drop-in as it was built as a league stadium, traditionally the wicket was very slow, so not really ideal for T20 games (which is all they play there). Manuka is a postage stamp, and therefore very very good for batting.

I'll also do England (though of course as you guys actually are English you probably have a better grasp of things than I do):

* Lord's - flat, most assistance for the bowlers tend to be atmospheric.
* The Oval - ditto for the first 3 days, but will generally take turn late in the Test.
* Cardiff - low, slow bunch of terribleness.
* Edgbaston - varies IIRC, noted for the loud crowd if anything
* Trent Bridge - loads of swing and seam, not super green or anything but you will get rewards especially on cloudy days.
* Headingley - used to famously be a greentop, these days plays like the average wicket I think.
* Chester-le-Street - greentop, especially at county level.
* Old Trafford - generally takes turn, usually pretty bowler-friendly on the whole (this one I'm not so sure about)

[morgieb]

Other nations (could be way wrong on a few):

* UAE - typical subcontiential wickets. Pretty flat, can be quite low and slow though so a certain kind of spinner will really like these decks. Tend to break up a bit later in the game so definitely the sort of pitch you'd bat first on.
* Sri Lanka - SSC is a road. Others tend to have quite a bit of assistance for all bowlers, traditionally Sri Lankan pitches are spicier than Pakistani and Indian ones. Also there tends to be a shitload more rain here than in India or Pakistan IIRC.
* Bangladesh - roads, roads, roads. Unless you're playing there in the wet season.
* West Indies - traditionally fast-bowling havens. Now spinner paradises on average. Antigua is a massive road, though.
* New Zealand - in recent times a lot of these pitches were green on the first day before drying out and becoming very good for batting later on in the game. Not sure on the traditional characteristics of the pitches specifically though.

[SomersetCricketer]

I'll do a couple of English ones
Rose Bowl, Chelmsford, Oval, Taunton - all usually very good for batting most of the game, Taunton in particular is a batsman's paradise
Lords - Aids the swing/seam bowlers due to the slope, and can turn as well in the latter days
Headingley, Trent Bridge, Old Trafford - Usually bowlers pitches, and can swing too

[LastWicket]

Slightly off topic, but I would like to see an option to choose a Balanced pitch in addition to Seam, Spin, Bat and Random.

[Planted E2]

Headingley is still very green most matches, and normally brings up results, Edgbaston is generally quite slow and sticky, note: Ashes test and T20 finals day.

[KK Star]

I have a CC2015 save of India.
Can Cricket Captain add a feature where the HOME NATION can set the pitch of their preference because I notice that pitches at Feroz Shah Kotla and Eden Gardens do not favour spin until the 4th or 5th day but in reality they turn even on the second day.

[KK Star]

This might not be related to the topic but I want to share my experience.
In the India v South Africa tour in 2015-16, India beat South Africa 3-0 in the test series.
Frequently I see a result of 2-2 or even 3-1 in favour of SA as I have quite a few domestic saves.
The performances were quite contrasting. South African batsmen were hitting centuries and posting totals of 400+ whereas in reality they found it tough to post 200+
Later when few years progress, India or Sri Lanka tour Australia or SA or NZ and they thrash them!
So, my point is that local players are adapted to local pitches. A batsman from the sub-continent would suffer in the longer format in Australia or England where pitches suit fast bowlers. Similarly, a batsman used to playing fast bowling would struggle against India or Sri Lanka if they even have decent spinners as pitches offer help.
It is just a suggestion for future updates.

[powercord84]

I think KK raises a great point about players being better in their own environment - and it does play into the pitches/conditions consideration.

The Ashes shows it time and time again, Australians can't handle swing when we go to England (as much as it hates me to admit it), and the Poms can't handle the extra bounce in Australia. So if you are going to bring in more impact from pitches and conditions, I think it would be equally as important to include a setting of some sort that makes AI generated players more likely to succeed in conditions that are found in the pitch of their home state/county/province.

[Graham_5000]

This might not be related to the topic but I want to share my experience.
In the India v South Africa tour in 2015-16, India beat South Africa 3-0 in the test series.
Frequently I see a result of 2-2 or even 3-1 in favour of SA as I have quite a few domestic saves.
The performances were quite contrasting. South African batsmen were hitting centuries and posting totals of 400+ whereas in reality they found it tough to post 200+
Later when few years progress, India or Sri Lanka tour Australia or SA or NZ and they thrash them!
So, my point is that local players are adapted to local pitches. A batsman from the sub-continent would suffer in the longer format in Australia or England where pitches suit fast bowlers. Similarly, a batsman used to playing fast bowling would struggle against India or Sri Lanka if they even have decent spinners as pitches offer help.
It is just a suggestion for future updates.

I agree with this to some extent, although there are some caveats.

Australia (barring a couple of recent tours) have been great travellers over the last couple of decades. India won in England in 2007, SA and England have done well in India (although not in 2015 for SA!) and also remember that SA were unbeaten away from home form 2006-2015 (this suggests that it is possible to dominate in unfamiliar conditions). In fact, SA struggled at home on a few occasions during this (unbeaten away from home) period - they lost twice to Aus at home & drew with England and India. In ODIs and T20s, teams perform well away from home on a more regular basis (an example of this is the tour you mention, where SA won the T20 and ODI series, only to then be beaten in the Test series).

Both India and SA (4th Test aside) struggled to post more than 200 in the Test series. SA were dismal with the bat, but India also struggled (obviously to a much lesser degree) with scores of 201, 200, 215 & 173. Even Elgar was deadly with the ball (he took 4 wickets for 22 in the 1st innings of the 1st Test). I think the pitches were unique for the Test series (pitches that India had a right to prepare as they did). I have never seen Indian pitches like that before. In the ODI and T20 series (which SA won), the pitches were less extreme, but still favourable towards spinners.

Basically, I think that most of the time local players have a slight advantage against equivalent opposition, but perhaps it is not as pronounced as one might think.

Incidentally, Cook's England side has the potential to be quite a force away from home I suspect, having just beaten SA. There are promising spinners, all-rounders, counter-attacking batsmen and grafters in the side...