Contents

INSTALLATION . . . . . . . . . 2 OVERVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 CHAPTER 1: MAIN MENU . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Player Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Coach and Physio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Player Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Fixtures and Results. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 World Ratings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

CHAPTER 2: CONTRACTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 CHAPTER 3: TEAM SELECTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

International Selection and One-Day Internationals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

CHAPTER 4: THE MATCH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Players Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Coin Toss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Playing Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 The Match Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Highlights Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Save Game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Playing Conditions Icons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Bowling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Batting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

CHAPTER 5: TIPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 CHAPTER 6: INTERNET GAME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 CREDITS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Installation
1) Insert the disk into your CD ROM drive. 2) If Autorun is enabled on your PC, then an International Cricket Captain 2009 installation window will be displayed on your desktop. If Autorun is disabled, or the installation window does not appear automatically, open up My Computer on your desktop, access your CD (often labelled D:) drive, and double click on the setup.exe file. 3) You must install the game on your hard drive. To do this you should have at least 300 MB of free hard disk space. 4) Follow the on-screen instructions.

INTERFACE
The game is entirely controlled by the Mouse. Making a selection involves making a left mouse-click.

RUNNING ANIMATED HIGHLIGHTS

If these highlights appear jerky or slow, then choose None from the Highlights Level menu.

UPDATES AND INFORMATION ABOUT INTERNATIONAL CRICKET CAPTAIN 2009

Further information about International Cricket Captain is available via

www.p2games.co.uk www.childishthings.co.uk

RUNNING INTERNATIONAL CRICKET CAPTAIN 2009 To start International Cricket Captain 2009:
Select International Cricket Captain 2009 from the Childish Things program group on your start button, located on the Windows taskbar. You may also run the game by double clicking on the Cricket Captain 2009 icon on the desktop.

UNINSTALLING INTERNATIONAL CRICKET CAPTAIN 2009 To uninstall International Cricket Captain:

Go to the Control Panel in Windows and then select Add/Remove Programs. Select Cricket Captain 2009 from the menu and then choose Remove and then OK.

Overview
International Cricket Captain 2009, is a game in which you have the chance to both captain and manage a team. The various ways to play the game are as follows: 6) Historical Ashes: Choose from a number of historical Ashes series to change the past or emulate your heroes. 7) T20 World Cup: Lead your team to victory in the twenty over World Cup.

Exhibition Match:
For a quick introduction to the game, play a one day international or twenty over match between any of the test playing nations.

Two Player:
Choose to play a series between any of the Test-playing nations or play a team from a saved game.

Single Player: New Game:

1) Full Game: Captain and manage a county and earn the right to captain your national side. 2) County and International Career: Captain both a county team and national side from the start of the game. 3) International Career: Take the role of captain with any of the Test-playing nations. 4) Match Series: Create your own customised one day international (ODI) or test match series. 5) Ashes 2009: Captain England or Australia in the 5 Test series and lead your team to Ashes glory

Internet Game:
Challenge players from around the world on-line.

Load Game:
Play a previously saved game.

Options:
Choose whether to have menu sound, highlights sound and commentary. This will also display the current version number of the game.

Chapter 1: Main Menu

strengths and weaknesses. For fast access to this information during a match, simply click on a player's name. Use the < > tabs to scroll though your team, or through other counties if you have selected the Team Details screen.

COACH AND PHYSIO

The Coach and Physio screen will automatically appear frequently throughout you match schedule, but can be accessed whenever you like from the main menu. The number of coaching/physio sessions available is determined by your budget When you have selected a team you will be taken to the in-game Main Menu - the hub of the game. From this point, you will be able to access most of the information you need. Probably the first thing you will want to look at is your current squad. To view this, click Team Details and then select the Squad button. To return to the Main Menu click on the back button. allocation at the start of the season (see Budget Allocation chapter). To allocate a session to a player, first select him and then assign the training session you require from the pop-up menu. An icon representing the type of training he is undergoing will appear opposite his name.

PLAYER PROFILES
Select this in order to obtain more detailed information about your players and click on the selfexplanatory buttons. To view Salaries and Contracts click on the Personal tab. This tab will also allow you to examine a player's

GROUNDSMAN
If you team is playing at home, click on the Groundsman button prior to the start of match and instruct him to prepare a pitch tailored to suit your bowling strengths. You may choose to ignore this, in which case the pitch will be randomly generated.

Domestic Tables
This screen gives the current league and cup tables for all the domestic competitions. This information will also appear automatically after each domestic match you play. than 5 innings (batsmen) or taken more than 15 wickets (bowlers). When you start the game the statistics will accurately reflect those of real teams and players. As the game progresses it will update these statistics with the results from the games played in your cricket world.

Internationals
Use this screen to view current test series, ODI series and the World Cup.

Player Records
Click on the Player Records button to view batting and bowling averages in all competitions. The default screen is: Batting, First Class and Career, sorted in order of merit. You can sort these into any order you wish by clicking on the various buttons. The filter button enables you to only view players who have played more

Fixtures and Results

Use this screen to view the fixtures and results of every team in all competitions. Clicking on the tabs will allow you to find the precise information you require.

World Ratings
Shows the rankings of international teams.

Chapter 2: Contracts
In the first season you will have the opportunity to sign out of contract and youth players, as well as an overseas player if your team does not already have one. You can also change your budget allocation to free up money for signing players or to increase your coach, physio and youth team bugets. In subsequent seasons you will also be able to renew contracts, terminate contracts and sign youth team graduates. of contract, click on Make Offer. The player will then accept or decline, or invite you to make a new offer. If the player accepts your offer, the money you have agreed to pay him will be deducted from your budget. If you decline to renew a players contract he will automatically leave the club. Tip: you may prefer to wait and see which other out-of-contract players are available before re-signing some of your own players because you will have another opportunity to re-sign them in the next phase of the game when they will appear on the Out-ofContract list. Of course, another club could outbid you at this stage.

Renewals
At the end of each season the contracts of some of your players will have expired. If you wish you may renegotiate their contracts immediately. To do so, click on the name of the player whose contract you wish to re-negotiate. This will bring up his details including the salary and length of contract he is seeking. The salary will always reflect the optimum amount sought, so you may wish to bid less, but then again if you want to be really sure of getting the player you may wish to bid more. Use the scroll bars to adjust the amount to your satisfaction. When you are satisfied with the salary and length

Terminating contracts
If you wish to terminate a players contract, click on the Terminate button and then click on the name of the players whose contract you wish to terminate. In the panel of the right of the screen you will be advised what the settlement figure

will be. This figure is calculated at 50% of his current salary, but because you are saving 50% of his salary this figure will be added to your budget, not subtracted.

will be resolved in the order of submission. So if your first bid succeeds but uses up most of your budget, then bids 2 and 3 will probably fail because of lack of cash. For this reason it is important to prioritise your bids. When you have decided upon your three bids, click on Continue. At the end of the first round, you will be advised of the outcome of your own bids. This procedure will continue for nine more rounds, though you may curtail this by clicking on Finish With Contracts. This is advisable when you have insufficient funds to make further feasible bids.

Youth Team Graduates

Each year graduates from your youth team will emerge, providing you with the first opportunity to sign them. If you wish to offer them a contract then use the method previously described in re-signing out-ofcontract players. When you have finished signing or re-signing players and terminating contracts, click on the Continue button.

Signing New Players

After you have finished negotiating with your own players you will have a chance to sign out-of-contract players from other clubs. Choose whether you want to view Domestic, New, or Overseas Player. Use the method described above for renewing contracts in order to make an offer to the players you are interested in adding to your team. See bidding below.

Bidding
Bidding is conducted in a series of 10 rounds. You may not have more than three bids in progress at any one time. Your bids total may exceed your available budget in which case the bids

Budget Allocation
At the start of each season you will need to allocate your funds for the forthcoming campaign. You can choose to spend funds on the following areas:

Physiotherapy helps to keep players fit by increasing the number of physiotherapy sessions available and brings players back from injury more quickly. Coaching increases the number of coaching sessions available for your players. Youth Coach increases the chance of good players emerging from your youth team.

remove a player from the team, click on the player's name to display a pop-up menu, click on swap and then go to the lower panel and click on the replacement player. The two players will then swap places. On the pop-up menu, you will also be able to nominate a wicket-keeper, a captain, opening bowlers and adjust the batting order. To perform the latter, select Move and then click on the slot you wish to move the batsman to. To enable viewing of player types at a glance the following symbols are displayed: Bat Batsman. Ball Bowler. Bat & Ball All Rounder. Gloves Wicket Keeper. O Opener. If a player has a red + symbol by his name this means he is injured and not eligible for selection. If a player has a globe symbol by his name this indicates that he is on international duty and not eligible for

Chapter 3: Team Selection

A default team will be provided for you in the upper panel. The lower panel will contain the remaining members of the squad. If you wish to

selection. You will be notified in the news box when these players become available again.

International Selection and One-Day Internationals

When you are captaining the national side you will first be required to select a squad. Use the < > buttons to change between your current selected squad and the available players. In the main database, the name of these players will be highlighted in view. You may replace these players by clicking on their names and then selecting Add/Remove.

Before you finish your team selection it is a good idea to select the conditions button to get an idea of the weather. You may wish to consider picking a team to take advantage of the predicted climatic conditions. When you are satisfied with your team, click on the Play Match button on the lower right of the screen to take you to the coin toss. Note: if you choose Skip Match, the computer will play the match for you. Be aware that your captaincy will be missed and the team is unlikely to perform to their maximum ability.

Chapter 4: The Match

Players Form
A players form is based on his recent performances. A good way to increase a players form is to give him some net practice, or even a run in the 2nd XI.

COIN TOSS
The Coin Toss screen displays the competing teams, pitch details for the match. Choose heads or tails by clicking on the appropriate button. If you win the toss you may choose to start the match either batting or bowling.

PLAYING CONDITIONS
The following are various permutations of playing and weather conditions, together with their effects. Pitch bounce and wear will deteriorate as the match progresses.

Finalising Selection
On the Team Selection screen you can also adjust the statistics display. Use the scroll arrows, or just click on the button to launch a pop-up menu. To get more information about a player, click on his name and select player profile.

Bounce
Perfect: Even: Average: Uneven: Erratic: Favours batsmen. Slight advantage for batsmen. No advantage for batsmen or bowlers. Favours fast bowlers. Mainly favours fast bowlers, but all bowlers will gain some advantage.

offered the light, though this chance is reduced if slower bowlers are operative at the time.

THE MATCH SCREENS

After you have decided whether to bat or bowl, you will be taken to the match screen.

HIGHLIGHTS LEVEL
One of the first things to decide is what level of Highlights you wish to see. To do this select the highlights level

Wear
Very Good: Good: Average: Favours batsmen. Slight advantage for batsmen. No advantage for either batsmen or bowlers. Advantage for spin bowlers. Big advantage for spin bowlers.

option accessible via the button at the bottom right hand corner of the Match Screen and then select the highlights level you would like to see. The parameters range from None to BallBy-Ball (although the latter could result in a rather long game). If you select Wickets and Chances, this will display every edged or uppish shot; all LBW appeals, drops, catches and, of course, wickets falling. Selecting None will mean the match proceeds

Turning: Sharp Turn:

Weather
Sunny: Adversely effect stamina of fast bowlers. Seamers will take less wickets. Neutral. Slight advantage for seam bowlers.

in text only mode. You can use the tabs at the top of the scorecard to choose between viewing the Batting card or Bowling card, or Match Summary.

Unsettled: Cloudy:

SAVE GAME
The game is designed to AutoSave, but you can also save during a match by clicking on the Save & Exit button accessible via the Match Screen menu button at bottom left of

Very Cloudy: Increased advantage for seam bowlers.

Light
When four lights are lit on the meter then the batsmen will probably be

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and age of ball (this is replaced to show overs remaining of field restrictions in one day games). The red dots indicate degrees of adversity, so when there are, say, four red dots on the outfield icon, this will indicate that the outfield is slow. Or when there are, say, no the screen. You save and exit between matches from the Main Menu. Click on the 'Save & Exit' button on the left. is true. red dots on the bounce icon, then this will indicate the bounce

BOWLING
If you bowl first then the bowling controls will appear to the right of the screen. The name of the opening bowler you chose during Team Selection will appear at the top of the bowling controls. If you wish to change the bowler at this or any other point in the game, click on the "change" button just under the name to bring up your team, and then select a new bowler. Click on the name of the bowler you wish to select. The new bowler will now appear at the top of the bowling controls.

Explanation of Symbols
The commentary text uses the following symbols:

! b

= = = =

Near miss Byes dot ball wide, or no ball, the latter with number of runs scored from it.

PLAYING CONDITIONS ICONS

In the lower right of the screen you will see a set of icons reflecting match conditions. From left to right these are: weather, light, bounce, wear, outfield

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CHANGE BOWLER STAMINA BAR AGGRESSION BAR

SET LENGTH

EDIT FIELD MATCH OPTIONS AND SAVE GAME SET LINE CHOOSE TO GO OVER OR AROUND THE WICKET

Click on Play Over or press the Space Bar to continue the game. If you have selected any form of highlights, the screen will change to an animated representation of the over, showing the highlight levels which you previously selected. If you chose to view no highlights, then the results of the over will appear instantly. You can press the space bar or click the mouse to exit a highlight at any time. If you wish to play the over ball-by-ball, then click on the Next Ball button To play-multiple overs without the need for further button presses click on the Auto button. This will play continuous overs until a time that further player input is required, such as the fall of a wicket or a change of bowlers stamina has run out. Note that Auto play automatically switches off at the end of

an over in which a highlight has been triggered. As a result the auto play feature will not function when the highlight level is set to every ball.

Bowling - Attacking and Defensive Levels

You can adjust the attacking/defensive level of your bowlers by selecting notches on the bar below each batsmans name. The more attacking a bowler is the more likely he is to take a wicket, but he will also be more prone to conceding runs. Bowlers set to a very aggressive attacking level will lose stamina more quickly. Attacking and Defensive levels are set independently for each batsman at the crease. The default level set for each new batsman that comes in is set to normal.

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Bowling - Stamina and Settled

A bowlers stamina rating is represented by the yellow and orange bar on the bowling panel. The bar will decrease as the bowler loses stamina. The green and yellow scale is the bowlers stamina bar and is an indicator of how settled a bowler is. The scale increases as the bowler settles into a groove. A bowlers stamina is affected by the weather and whether or not he has been bowling very aggressively. Tired bowlers will have marginally less chance of taking a wicket, just as a settled bowler will have a slightly greater chance of taking a wicket.
MOVE FIELDERS

wish to pitch the ball. To set a line, move the ball to the line you wish to adopt: outside the off stump is considered defensive, middle and leg is the most attacking setting. To go over or around the wicket, move the arrow to the left or to the right. Note: in one-day games fielding restrictions apply.

Bowling - Editing a Field and User Defined Fields

To change a field setting, click on the field setting and then choose the new one from the pop-up box. To customise a field setting, select edit and then use the mouse to drag the fielders (represented by numbers) on the oval to their new positions. You can "save" this setting by selecting the Save button. To load a user defined field setting, select the current field setting and then choose User Defined to bring up all your saved field settings. Select the field which you wish to use. The panel to the left of the Edit Field screen can be customised to display where a batsman is scoring his runs against a particular bowler.

Bowling - Setting a Line and Length

To set a line and length for a bowler, locate the stumps on the bowling panel and then click on the area where you

Action Replays
To replay any ball from the over, select the Commentary or Ball Tracker tab and then select the ball you wish to see replayed. You can also replay a

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fallen wicket by selecting the bowling card and clicking on the wicket in the FoW section

Keep Strike
To protect lower end batsmen from the strike, click on the bat icon on the right of the panel. This will also result in fewer singles being taken.

BATTING
Click on the Defensive/Attacking bar (located on the right of each batsmans controls) to determine how quickly you want to score. Generally a high aggression will result in a higher scoring rate but the more aggressive you are the greater the risk of conceding your wicket. Batsmen who are overly aggressive before they are settled are especially prone to losing their wicket. Your batsman will be at their best on three notches aggression, when they will play to their natural game.

Lock Batsman
By default your batsmen's aggression is the same against both current bowlers. In certain cases you might want to set this independently, to take advantage of a weaker bowler, for example. Click on the gold chain to open the links. Now you can change the aggression independently for the current bowler. When required, click again to close the links and apply aggression to both bowlers.

Settled
The bar below the aggression bar indicates how settled a batsman is. As the batsman becomes more comfortable at the crease this bar will fill up from red, through yellow, to green.

Match/Player Analysis
To get an analysis of a player's performance click on the player's name in the batting or bowling card. Alternatively, select one of of the analysis buttons from the MatchScreen menu to view the performance of your selected team.

Tiredness
The red bar surrounding the settled bar is an indication of how tired the batsman is. The shorter the bar the more tired he is. After a long session batting a batsman can become tired, may lose concentration and could be more likely to make a mistake.

Edit Batting Order

When a new batsman is due to come in, you may select a different batsman than the one currently selected. To do this, scroll through the remaining batsman using the arrow provided until you find the batsman you want.

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Following on
If your opponents have a first innings deficit of 200 runs or more in a test match (150 runs in a four day match), you will be invited to enforce the follow on. Tip: As there are clear advantages to the team issuing the invitation, it is generally recommended you answer Yes when prompted, although there are situations in which you may want to give your bowlers a rest or take advantage of a wearing pitch at the end of a match.

innings. At this point you will see the match summary screen. This will also enable you to view the scores in other matches if they are being played. Click through the fixtures at the top of the screen. To see the scorecard for any innings in a match simply highlight that innings and click.

Chapter 5: Tips
Unlike many games, your computer opponent does not cheat, though International Cricket Captain 2009 presents a tough challenge to most captains. Persevere and take heed of the some of the tips that follow, and success could be yours.

Declaration
Click on the declaration button when you think you have scored enough runs (in a First Class match) and you wish to declare the innings closed. You can also declare at the start of an interval. This will avoid wasting time changing innings.

Bowling Tactics:
Fast bowlers get an advantage with the new ball. Spin bowlers will generally not take wickets until the ball is about 15 overs old. Take note of the effect of conditions on bowlers. An ordinary medium pacer can become dangerous on a very cloudy day. Bowlers in county matches will perform at their best on medium

New Ball
The new ball will be available to the bowling side after 80 overs. Tip: Dont forget to ensure that you have a fully fit fast bowler ready to use the new ball as this gives a greater chance of taking a wicket.

Breaks
The game will pause for lunch, teabreaks and bad weather, close of play and whenever there is a change of

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aggression and balanced field setting. Use the defensive field settings if a batsman has a big score or you are going for a draw. Use the attacking field settings if youve got plenty of runs to play with but not much time. Attack new batsmen before they are settled by setting bowlers aggression close to the max. If you can tie a batting team down in one-day games they will get more aggressive and get themselves out. Bowl outside off stump and use defensive fields. If you dont take wickets its often worth taking the risk to be more aggressive to slow down your opponents scoring rate. The opposition is more aggressive the more wickets they have left. If you are in a very strong position,
declare an hour before the close of play in order to give your main strike bowlers an extra spell.

15 overs (or faster if youre chasing a big target), while the fields are restricted. However, the computer will use its best bowlers, so sometimes it is a good idea to put lesser batsmen in so that you dont lose important wickets early in the innings. In twenty over matches you need to be aggressive from the start. Use seven notches to settle the batsmen, before moving to maximum aggression. You might need to defened for a couple of overs if you loose quick wickets to avoid a collapse. When batting second in one day matches, try to keep up with the run rate all the way through the innings. Dont use maximum batting aggression unless you have lots of wickets to play with. Take note of bad or expensive bowlers and use extra aggression against them. Look at the weather forecast. If conditions are very cloudy but will improve later, bat defensively until they change. If it will be very cloudy or raining for the first day, put the opposition in to bat. In all other situations it is a good idea to bat first. If the other team scores 600 in their first innings you are unlikely to win. Give it a go until you lose a couple of wickets and then shut up

Batting Tactics
In county and test matches you should have your batsmen on two aggression bars until they are 30% settled and then move up to three. If a bad bowler comes on move up to 4. If a good bowler is taking lots of wickets be more defensive. In one day matches try to score at about 4.5 to 5 per over for the first

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shop completely (play defensively) to get the draw. Try to get the maximum batting points as well. Generally all batsmen perform at their best on 3 aggression bars, but should bat more defensively while getting settled, and with greater aggression against bad bowlers. The batsmans own aggression rating refers to the scoring rate of the batsman if they are on three aggression bars. A naturally aggressive batsman will score at a strike rate of 50% or above in county matches, while naturally defensive batsmen will score someway below this if they are both on 3 aggression bar notches. It is important to bear this in mind when selecting one-day sides, because an aggressive batsman will find it easier to score at the required run rate even if they are a generally poorer player. Its also useful to have an attacking batsman in at number 7 in county matches because they can score their runs before running out of partners. You may notice that there are some players who do just as well in oneday games (or even better) as they do in county matches. Some players are naturally gifted in one-

day matches but less so in first class (and vice-versa). Player will generally not do well batting at more than four notches from the start in a county game. This aggression should really just be used when batting against very bad bowlers, attempting a desperate run chase or if making runs before the 120 overs is up in county games. If a bowler is using an aggressive field against you, it is sometimes worth taking the risk to score some quick runs to get your batsman settled. The bowler may then adopt a more defensive approach, allowing your batsman to score more freely. The bowler will rarely defend, however, if you are batting to save a draw in a first-class match. If you have a batsman keeping strike make sure they are aggressive or you just end up missing singles. The other batsmen should be on 1 or 2 bars of aggression so that they can score singles and get off the strike. Only do this for the first 3 balls of the last over if you are playing ball by ball in a close match.

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Managing Your Team

Youth team coaching can produce excellent young players, but it is always a bit of a risk. Extra coaching points are handy but expensive. It is a better idea to use what you have already and ensure all your players benefit by continually moving your resources around the team. Coaching has little effect on inform players. Coaching technique has a more long term effect on young players than older ones, so a good policy is to direct coaching towards them. If you get a good young player give him a three year contract to save money. Players will generally accept quite a lot less than they are asking for, but never on the first offer, and not if there are other counties offering close to your offer. There are lots of good overseas players so leave these bids until last. Its a good idea to try to get a decent spinner if only because they can bowl more overs before tiring, so this way you can play county matches with four bowlers instead of five. Players will not be at their best until they have experience. They

need to play about 15 county matches before they are experienced. They will continue to improve slightly with each additional match although they can also lose ability due to age. Test match players need to get experience as well. Cricketers need luck as well as skill. A player with a bad average may be good but unlucky. Take note of the number of near misses they get when bowling or batting (the notes section is useful for this); it will give an extra indication of ability. Give young players a good run before writing them off. Second team averages also help in deciding if a player is any good. Dont drop your best players just because theyve had a couple of bad scores - an excellent player out of form is better than a poor player in form. Around the wicket can help get batsmen out after a long innings and is effective against left handers. However, less Lbws are obtained against right handers. Changing to spinners also helps against settled batsmen. An occasional bowler can work if the opposition is comfortable enough to slog against them.

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In General
Batsmen have a tired rating so fitness is important. If they have played a long innings it may be a good idea to adopt a cautious approach when getting close to a day break. They will start the next day fresh. Bowlers have a settled rating so bowl them in spells until they have about 3 bars of energy left. Try to do this in one day games as well. Some players are more prone to injury than others. If you have a star player that keeps getting injured, sell him or spend lots on physiotherapy so that they return to action more quickly. Please check our websites for patches and information about the game. You can ensure you have the latest version of the game by selecting Internet Game from the first screen when you start the game. And all that remains to be said is good luck.

Chapter 6: Internet Game

REQUIREMENTS
Internet Play Requires - 56 Kbps modem or faster connection, TCP/IP compliant network and an Internet account.

YOUR TEAM
Before participating in the on-line league, it is recommended that you play the Single Player version to the point where you feel you have built up a good team.

PLAY
Log on to the internet in the usual manner and then load the game as you normally would. Click on the Internet Game option on the opening menu of the game. You will be asked for a password of your choosing, which may be stored if you wish. Before starting the game, the server will check to ensure you have the latest version of the game, and if you havent it will then update it. Please be sure to view any README files for any late changes to the game.

Disclaimer
International Cricket Captain is only a game, the results in which are partly influenced by statistics. Some players may perform better than others in the game but this may not necessarily reflect their real-life performances. The salaries in the game are entirely fictitious.

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CHOOSING A TEAM
You will be shown all the saved games you have stored, choose one of these to play on-line in the current session. You may have up to four participating teams in the online league at any one time. Only saved teams from Full or County and International games played on a Normal skill level are acceptable. Any team listed in grey is not available for play on-line. You may retire a team by first selecting the team you wish to retire, and clicking on the Retire Team button. WARNING: Once you have retired a team, that team will be permanently retired and may never be used again on-line. Once you have selected your team you will be asked to name your team. Please note that this will also serve as your on-line handle for that team. If you have more than one team then you may wish to name them Ducks1 Ducks2 etc. Your name must be unique and you will asked to give another name if it isnt.

SCORING
Each player will start off with 1000 points in each of the three leagues. The scoring system is based on a chess-style formula which takes into account your current position and experience. For the first 16 games, players will risk winning and losing more points until their level is established. Experienced players will risk losing fewer points when playing against a newcomer. This is in order to prevent expert players gaining easy points.

CHAT
Type in messages to other players.

CHALLENGING
Please note that you can only challenge players who are no more than 800 points away, so the most convenient way to find an opponent is probably to find your own position online and then challenge players within 800 points. To execute the challenge, click on the name of the player you wish to challenge and select ladder or friendly. Each player will be notified of the number of points they risk for a win/loss/draw. The player being challenged will now respond. If he/she accepts, then a dialogue box will appear enabling players to negotiate on the type of match they want.

THE LEAGUE
Up to 10 players may be displayed at any one time. To see players above and below the currently displayed position use the Next and Previous buttons.

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NEGOTIATIONS
The parameters for the match are as follows:-

match parameters then he goes through changing the settings he doesnt like. When he is finished he then clicks on Ready. This process is repeated until both players are "ready" at which point Player 2 clicks on the Start button and the match commences. If players are unable to agree on the type of match they want, then either player may click on the Reject button and the challenge will be cancelled.

Match Type:
Friendly (no points at risk) or Ladder.

Match Length:
You can play twenty over, one day or 4 day county matches.

Time Reserve:
This is the time you are allowed per match to make your match decisions. Each player is allowed a "free" 15 seconds per turn. This works very much like a chess clock; when your time runs out then play will continue automatically.

THE MATCH
The key difference between an on-line match and a solo game match are the time clocks. The clock to the left is your clock and the clock to the right will always be your opponents.

Ball by Ball limit:

This is very useful for one-day matches. It enables you to specify the maximum number of overs you would like to play ball-by-ball, though this does not mean that you have to play all the overs denoted in this manner.

Fielding:
If you are the team in the field then make your changes in the way you would in a solo game. When you have finished click on Play Over or Ball-By Ball, as the case may be, to transfer the game to the batting team. The time you have taken to make these changes will be deducted from the time clock.

Highlights Level:
Set the highlights level as you would do in a solo match. Player 1 (the challenger) sets the above parameters first and then clicks on the Ready button. If Player 2 (the challenged) is happy with these then he clicks on Ready also. If he wishes to change the

Batting:
You will be able to respond to the bowling and fielding changes before each over. Once you have decided on your tactics, as you would do in a solo game, click on Play Over. As soon as

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you do this do this, the time clock will stop and show the amount of time you have left for the match.

adopted a code of honesty and did not penalise disconnections. This system has been abused, so now a disconnection will be treated as a lost game and the player who disconnected will be deducted the relevant points. This will mean a genuine disconnection will be counted against you. If you suffer a high number of disconnections (more than 10%) it is recommended you change ISP as not all are best set up for on-line gaming.

Notes:
If one minute elapses without any action being taken, the game will proceed automatically. Time is only deducted from your clock for the time you have taken, irrespective of whether you are batting or bowling.

CHAT
You may send messages to your opponents by typing in the Chat box on the Chat tab. To extend the chat box and view previous messages, click on the Chat tab.

A teams number of unfinished matches is listed on the ladder. Teams with what might be considered a high number of unfinished matches, in relation to the number of matches played, should be approached with caution.

ON-LINE AVERAGES
The batting and bowling averages accumulated in your online game are stored in the saved game and will be updated after every completed match.

PROXY SERVER
If you want to log on through a proxy server you will need to contact your system administrator and ask him to allow access to port 2273.

DISCONNECTIONS
Because of the size of the saved game files we are unable to store games online. Unfortunately this means that matches that are disconnected whilst in progress will be lost. Previously we

END GAME
When you have finished the match you will be taken back to the Ladder and your score will be updated.

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Credits
ChildishThings
Game Design: Chris Child, Brian Walker Programming: Chris Child, Andy Yau Interface Design: Andy Yau Network Programming: Dan Thomas QA Testers: Nigel Stillwell, Dean Sherr Additional Database Information: Chris Child, Nigel Stillwell, Dean Sherr

Special thanks to:

- The International Cricket Captain online community for all their continued support. Its been great to hear all the positive messages as weve fought to keep the game alive.

External Contributors:
Packaging Design and Artwork: Tenacious Ltd Mastering: Tenacious Ltd Marketing: External P.R.: External Operations: Tony Bond

- My parents for risking so much to back the game: hugely appreciated. - Jonathan Agnew for assistance beyond the call. - My special thanks to Empire for their support and hard work over the years. Thank you for your help beyond the call and for continuing to work on the game, especially over the final months. Ill miss working with you all and, along with many others, will have fond memories of the good times.

Empire Interactive (R.I.P.)

Producer: Damian Finn Interface Design: Ben Willsher, Damian Finn Executive Producer: Richard Underhill External Contributors: Commentary: Jonathan Agnew Photography: The backdrop photograph was provided by Patrick Eagar. Database: Peter Griffiths of CricketArchive.com

Chris Child

Website addresses:
www.childishthings.co.uk www.cricketarchive.com

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