Game instructions for Australian Cricket Captain Demo.

In this demo you will be able to choose a team and play one match in the Sheffield Shield and one match in the Mercantile Mutual Cup. Many features in the game have been disabled in the demo. These will, of course, be available in the full game.

Quick Start.

If you can't wait to get started the quickest way to do so is to double click on the Cricket.exe icon, Click on New Game and the team selection screen will appear, enter your name and select your team, then click on the continue button in the bottom right hand corner. 
Now you will be on the main menu of the game. To go straight into action, click on the Continue button and then on the next match button, in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. Click on the Start Match button in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. The Coin Toss screen displays, pitch and weather conditions and the teams for the match. Select heads or tails by clicking on the appropriate coin and then select whether you want to bat or bowl. NOTE: The pitch and whether conditions will effect the run of play. 
On the match screen, click on Highlights level and select level of highlights you wish to view, then click on ok. Now click on Start Over.
If you chose New Game you will be asked to Enter Your Name for the game and Select Your Team. Select a state team by clicking on one so that it highlights.
.

Squad Details
Clicking on this button will display the composition and averages of your current squad. Batsmen are denoted by a bat, bowlers by a ball, all-rounders by bat and ball and wicket-keepers by gloves. See the preceding paragraph on View Statistics for more information. (the players that are already in the current team will have their names highlighted in blue). You will be able to make changes to the team selection from the Team Selection screen which may be accessed prior to the next match.
Double clicking on a player's name at almost any point in the game will bring up the Player Profile screen

Team Selection

The team selection screen will pop up immediately before your next match. A default team will be provided for you in the left column under the heading Current Team. If you wish to remove a player from that team, click on the player's name so that this is highlighted and then click on the > button. This will transfer him from the team to the squad. To replace him, click on a player's name in the squad (the players that are already in the current team will have their names highlighted in blue) and click on the < key to transfer him to the team. Use the scroll bars on the lower right of the screen to display player names which are not immediately visible.

To enable viewing of player types at a glance the following symbols are displayed: Bat, ball, bat and ball (all-rounder) and gloves (wicket-keeper).

To edit the batting order of your team, click on a player's name in the Current Team and then click on the up arrow to move him up the batting order, and click on the down arrow to move a player in the opposite direction.
 
To designate your captain, click on a player's name in the Current Team and then click on the Captain button. Use the same routine to specify your Wicket-Keeper and Opening Bowlers.

To change the type of statistics on view in this screen, click on First Class, Career or All.

Note: when a player has been selected his name will be displayed in blue. Players not selected for the current team will have their names displayed
When you are satisfied with your team, click on Start Match.

Coin Toss and Conditions

The conditions should affect whether you choose to bat or bowl, assuming you won the toss.

Description of the icons and their effect

The Ball: Pertains to the bounce. An erratic bounce will favour fast bowlers
The Wicket:  A turning wicket will benefit spin bowling. 
Outfield: Fast 
Weather: Cloudy weather will benefit seam bowling and, to a lesser extent, fast bowling.

Toss

Click the appropriate coin to choose whether you want to call Heads or Tails. If you choose correctly you will offered the choice to either bat or bowl. Click on the batting or bowling icon to make your selection.
If you lose the toss then you be advised to as to whether you are to bat or bowl first. Click on Continue to proceed with the match.

Highlights Level

After you have decided to bat or bowl, you will be taken to match screen. One of the first things you must decide what level of Highlights you wish to see. To do this click on the Highlights button. As you will see, the parameters range from None to Ball-by-ball. 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 and dropped and catches, in addition to wickets falling.

Bowling

If you bowl first then the bowling dialogue will appear to the right of the screen. The name of the opening bowler you chose during Team Selection should appear at the top of the bowling dialogue. If you wish to change the bowler at this or any other point in the game, click on the button marked Change and then double click on the bowler you wish to select. The new bowler will now appear at the top of the batting dialogue.
To commence bowling, assuming you have selected the Highlights level, click on Start Over. If you have selected any form of highlights, the screen will now revert to animated representation of the over, showing only the level which you previously selected. If you chose to view no highlights, then the results of the over will appear instantly. Click on the spinning ball when you are ready to start the over.


Bowling  - Setting a line - ILLO

To set a line for the bowler, click just to the left of the ball if you wish the bowler to a adopt a line outside off-stump. The ball will move accordingly to confirm that this is the line you wish to bowl. Reverse this procedure if the facing batsman is a left-hander. Similarly, if you wish to set a line outside leg stump, click to the right of ball.
Effect of bowling line: Outside off-stump is considered defensive; middle and off is considered average; middle and leg is the most attacking from of bowling.

Bowling - Attacking and Defensive Levels
The more attacking a bowler is the more likely he is to concede runs, but he is also more likely to take wickets.

Bowling - Setting and Editing a Field

As soon as you select a line for your bowler and set his Attacking/Defensive level, you will note that the field setting will adjust accordingly.  If you wish to edit that setting, then click on Edit to bring up an enlarged version of the field setting.
To move a fielder, click and hold down the mouse button on the number of  fielder you wish to move and then drag the number to the new fielding position, letting go of the mouse when you are satisfied.
To retain your new field setting for possible use in the future, click on the Save button and then name your new setting in File Name section of the dialogue box, clicking on Save when you have finished. Click on the Load button whenever you want to use this new setting.
The panel on the right of the Edit Field screen informs you how many runs the batsman at the crease as conceded to the current bowler in his current spell. Precisely how these runs have been scored can be seen by clicking on the Overlay Runs button and then consulting the run key. When you have finished on this screen, click on OK to return to the bowling screen.
Note that in the One Day games fielding restrictions apply.

Batting

Click on a notch on the Defensive/Attacking bar to determine how quickly you want to score. The more aggressive you are the greater the risk of conceding your wicket. This especially true if the batsman is not settled. 
If you wish to change the batting order during a match, click on the Edit Batting Order button, highlight the name of the batsman you wish to promote in the order, and then use the scroll bar to move him to the desired position.
To get a more detailed view of how a batsman is scoring, double-click on a batsman's name to bring up the Wheel Chart. Click on Section Chart button to see how many runs he has scored area-by-area, and click on the Run Graph button to see how fast he has scored. To see how fast he has scored against a particular bowler, click on the V All Bowlers button and then select a bowler.
The left hand panel will give details of the batsman's strengths as well an analysis of his current innings.


Breaks

The game will pause for lunch and tea-breaks, close of play and whenever there is a change of innings. This will enable you to view the scores in other matches. To do this, click on the names of the counties you wish to see in the Latest Scores column. Use the scroll bars if you wish to see more results.
To see the scorecard for a previous innings in this match, click on the grey button opposite the innings you wish to see.

New Ball

The new ball will be available to the bowling side after 90 overs. Don't forget to ensure that you have a fully fit fast bowlers ready to use it.
Effect: Gives fast bowlers a greater chance of taking a wicket.


Contacts
If you have any technical queries, please contact Metro Games Technical Department, Melbourne, Australia, on 1902 240 527. Calls will be charged at 75 cents per minute.
You can find Metro Games on the Internet at http://www.metrogames.com.au and Empire Interactive at http://empire.co.uk
If you are a retailer and would like more information on this product, or would like to set up an account, please contact Metro Games in Melbourne, Australia, on 61 9229 2999.