I've always bowled to the opposite of a batsman's strength in a 4/5 day match when they first come to the crease and indeed throughout. So, if a batsman's preferences state that he prefers to play off the back foot and offside, I would bowl a ball to him full on middle stump. But recently I've been finding (especially with fast bowlers) this method to be not entirely successful, and at first I put this down to the fact I couldn't be bothered to formulate my own manual field. Thinking about it more, I realised it was a bit perverse to bowl half volleys on middle stump to a batsman who had freshly arrived at the crease, even though it wasn't their batting strength. Perhaps it was just better to bowl line (off stump) and length (the middle of the 3 length settings) to them until they've settled in the hope they'll go after one that may be to their liking?
Of course the flip side of this is that you'll be bowling balls which will be closer to what a batsman likes, so he'll find it easier to get off the mark and that they'll be more likely to nick ones that aren't balls that they want to play.
This is just me thinking alout really, but I would be interested to find out what line and length you guys bowl and how do you vary this throughout the course of a batsman's innings? I'm not bothered about the aggression settings, I think the strategy there is pretty self explanatory - bowl to an aggressive field when the batsman is fresh to the crease and gradually decrease the aggression level.
Look forward to hearing your thoughts and tactics.
Of course the flip side of this is that you'll be bowling balls which will be closer to what a batsman likes, so he'll find it easier to get off the mark and that they'll be more likely to nick ones that aren't balls that they want to play.
This is just me thinking alout really, but I would be interested to find out what line and length you guys bowl and how do you vary this throughout the course of a batsman's innings? I'm not bothered about the aggression settings, I think the strategy there is pretty self explanatory - bowl to an aggressive field when the batsman is fresh to the crease and gradually decrease the aggression level.
Look forward to hearing your thoughts and tactics.