Form

[kof98]

Good form alone won't win games (unless you have the best team) but it does help. So How do you keep your players as close to 100% as possible?

Bowlers

I noticed that if a bowler bowls without taking wickets in an innings (even one over) then his form will decrease. So bowling one of the main bowlers when there are not many wickets left is guaranteed to reduce their form.

e.g. in a one day game when the opposition is 9 wickets down and has no chance of winning. Using a bowler to get the last wicket will decrease his form but if a batsman is used to bowl then the bowler that would have been used remains at the current form.

Also a win is a very good win when only a few bowlers share the wickets and no other bowlers bowl. e.g 4 bowlers in a 1 day game (5th doesnt bowl) 3 in a 4 day game (4th doesn't bowl).

To improve the form of an allrounder only have him bowl when the chances of getting wickets are very good and there are lots of wickets to take. Keeping the allrounder in form will allow for an extra option when the main bowlers are not doing well and damage control is needed.

Batsmen

Everyone has to bat in an innings (usually) so this is quite simple. Runs increase form and not outs help too.

If a wicket falls when there are not many runs to get with wickets in hand then its better to send in a bowler than a batsmen who could get out and lose form.

match conditions

Should match conditions determine the team? Especially when looking at an international side playing overseas in warm up games...

If a good batsman is in form don't select him (to eliminate a loss of form)?
Bowlers in good form should not be selected?
Batsmen without form should obviously play on bastmen friendly pitches.
Same as for bowlers without form on bowler friendly pitches.

 

[kof98]

Here is an example:

After a slow start with some wickets lost, there was a very good partnership. This meant that most of the runs were scored already and there were only about 10 overs left to get any runs. So I sent in the out of form Batsmen (Thorpe) to get some runs. After another wicket I sent in the bowlers instead of allowing the in form batsman (Ervine) to be dismissed cheaply in the last few overs.

When Bowling I was worried when the opposition made a good start but after some wickets fell I realised that I would only need 4 bowlers. If these bowlers used all their overs then a batsman would have to bowl.

PS: does anyone agree/disagree with what I posted?

 

[LongHopCassidy]

Yes. Shouldn't you try and take advantage of good form, instead of clinging to it tenaciously?

 

[vic_orthdox]

I tend to rest in form players for Twenty20 games.

 

[kof98]

I don't think of it as trying to cling on to good form. To me it is useful in a situation where there is nothing to gain and everything to lose (like sending in a night watchman). So if there are only a few runs to knock off then I'll send in a bowler and if he gets out if won't matter much. Although sending in a very good bowler is not needed as there is also the slight risk of injuries while batting. A similar argument could be used for a situation when you need to get one wicket. If you introduce a new bowler then at best he could get one wicket.

Batsmen can easily lose form in Twenty20 games, whereas bowlers could easily gain form there. So I would agree with resting in form batsmen unless the team made it to the knockout matches. One day games are similar but not to the same degree.

3/4/5 day games games tend to help batsmen gain form and can result in bowlers losing form.

There is also the form of the opposition to consider in a test/ODI series. If I have reached a large total then I would declare once all my batsmen are out since there is no point in letting the opposition bowlers get easy wickets when I have enough runs.

Form won't win games, good players are required for that. However I try to keep my best players in form for the important matches. Allrounders especially seem to lose their bowling form quickly (under my captaincy).

 

[kof98]

Another example:

This situation would usually happen in a tour game. Since it happened in the first test match of the series (after something similar in the warm up game), it is a bonus. I hope all these small things will eventually add up to getting 20 wickets once during this series!

I set the opposition 180 runs in about one session (I declared at the start of the last session to reduce the time). They tried to get there which resulted in my batsmen picking up a few wickets.

 

[cpr]

Interesting tactic, using the batsmen to bowl.... I sometimes find myself in certain situations where i need to chuck the ball to a batsmen for a few overs

1) If i've gone for 2 spinners and 3 pace. Then after 15-20 overs the openers are tired but the balls too new for spin, so i need a temp medium pace to fill in for 5 overs

2) If i've gone for one spinner, the pitch is turning in the 5th day, and the balls 60+ overs old.

So yeah thats a nice trick i could do with using. Great thinking!