Every system, in depth
Cricket Masterplan isn't a results generator with a coat of paint. The match, the players, the squad pyramid and the club are all simulated. Here's exactly what you're managing.
England careers are live now. The breakdown below uses the County Championship as the worked example; Australia's Sheffield Shield and India's Ranji Trophy Elite already run in the career engine and are being prepared for public rollout.
IPL career preview
In development and not yet available in the public game: take charge of one of ten IPL franchises as a dedicated job, or combine an IPL franchise with an independently selected Indian domestic side.
Build the squad
Handle capped and uncapped retentions, live auction bidding, contracts, a ₹120 crore purse, trades and overseas limits.
Manage the season
Play a 14-match league campaign followed by the qualifier, eliminator, second qualifier and final.
Control the cricket
Set phase tactics and an Impact Player plan. Your chosen substitute changes the playing XI used by the match engine.
Build a career
Meet owner objectives, protect board confidence, grow your reputation and earn opportunities at rival franchises.
The match engine
Every delivery is simulated as a contest between a batter and a bowler, shaped by the pitch, the conditions, fatigue and your tactics. Outcomes come from the match — never a single dice roll on the result.
Ball by ball
Bat and bowl ratings, plus form, temperament and the situation, drive each ball. Partnerships build, collapses snowball, and the new ball matters.
Watch live or sim
Follow a match delivery by delivery on a 2D field map and wagon wheel, with commentary and a live scorecard — or fast-sim it in seconds and read the result. Per fixture, your choice.
Fatigue & spells
Bowlers tire across a spell and a long day; stamina and workload affect pace and control, so rotating your attack is a real decision.
Injuries & conditions
Players pick up injuries during matches — pace bowlers most of all — and weather and light shape how a four-day game unfolds.
Pitches & conditions
Five surface types, each with its own balance of pace, spin and wear — and wear grows as the match goes on, so a flat first morning can become a fourth-day minefield. Read the surface, then pick your attack to match.
| Pitch | Plays like | Favours |
|---|---|---|
| Green seamer | Grass tinge, plenty for the quicks early — bat with caution on the first morning. | Pace early |
| Flat track | Flat and true, a good batting surface. Bowlers have to earn it. | Batters |
| Dry turner | Dry and dusty; it turns, and turns more as the match wears on. | Spin (day 3+) |
| Damp seamer | Movement early, then settles into a good surface if the sun comes out. | Pace early |
| Crumbly | Footmarks and rough patches grow; variable bounce and spin loom late. | Spin & chaos late |
Why it matters: spin assistance rises as the surface dries and breaks up. Win the toss on a turner and you'll want to bat first and bowl spin last; misread a green-top and you can be three down before lunch.
Tactics & team selection
You don't just pick eleven names — you set how they play. The right plan against the right batter genuinely shifts the odds.
One season, four competitions
A full domestic calendar runs in parallel. Each format rewards different selections, depth and rotation — and the silverware all counts toward your board scorecard.
| Competition | Format | Shape | Final |
|---|---|---|---|
| County Championship | 4-day · first-class | Two divisions, promotion & relegation, with a play-off for the second promotion spot. | Lord's (D2 play-off) |
| One-Day Cup | 50 overs · List A | A long group stage where squad depth and rotation win out. | Lord's |
| T20 Blast | 20 overs | Power hitting and death bowling, building to Finals Day. | Edgbaston (Finals Day) |
| The Hundred | 100 balls · franchise | Franchise cricket layered over your county season, with its own stars. | Lord's |
Players & attributes
Every player is modelled on a deep set of ratings — technical, mental and physical — on top of an overall Current Ability and a hidden Potential. It's the attributes, not the headline number, that decide how a player performs in a given situation.
Technical — batting
How they make runs, and against what.
Technical — bowling
What they bowl and how they trouble batters.
Physical & fielding
Workload, athleticism and reliability in the field.
Mental & personality
The hidden half — who delivers under pressure, and who grows.
Current Ability vs Potential: CA is how good a player is now; Potential is the ceiling they can reach. A young player with a big gap between the two is one to develop — and the gap is exactly what scouting tries to reveal.
Roles & player statuses
Players come in five roles and six bowling types, and the game reads each one at a glance with a headline status plus playing-style tags.
A career ladder from raw youngster to established star — and gracefully down the other side.
Flavour that tells you how a player wins games.
Youth pathway & scouting
The cheapest title-winning squad is one you grow yourself. A full pathway runs from schoolboy monitoring to the first team, fed by a scouting network you direct.
The pathway
Prospects climb from school and regional cricket through county youth and (for the best) the U19 national setup, before contracting into your academy.
Youth Intake Day
Each off-season a new crop arrives. Promote the ones you want into the academy; age-15 prospects force a promote-or-release decision.
Scouting network
Direct scouts by country, region, school or tournament. Knowledge builds over time, sharpening your read on a prospect's hidden potential.
Potential tiers
Prospects are graded from ordinary to promising to elite — and, very rarely, a generational wonderkid.
Regens & successors
When a club legend retires, a new young successor is generated into the pathway — the world keeps producing talent forever.
Three-tier pyramid
First XI, Second XI and Academy. Promote and demote across all three, and give fringe players reserve cricket to grow.
Development & careers
Players are on a journey, not frozen at their starting ratings. They rise toward potential, peak, decline and retire — and your coaching, training and game time tilt the curve.
The boardroom
You answer to a chairman. Every season you're handed an objective, judged against a scorecard, and your confidence, reputation and job security move with the results.
| Objective | What the board expects |
|---|---|
| Win the title | Big-county pressure — the Division One pennant or nothing. |
| Win promotion | Go up from Division Two. |
| Finish in the top half | A solid, respectable campaign. |
| Consolidate mid-table | Steady the ship, no drama. |
| Avoid relegation | Survival is success. |
A stretch target each year — hitting it buys you goodwill and reputation.
At season's end the board grades you across five strands — championship, cups, finances, youth and England production — and adjusts board confidence and your manager reputation. Fall short and you'll feel the heat from fans and media; fall short badly enough and you'll be sacked — at which point the job market, and offers from other clubs, come into play.
Economy & facilities
A county is a business. Spend big and chase glory, or build something sustainable that the board can't argue with.
Budgets & wages
Balance a transfer and wage budget against the cash balance. The wage bill feeds straight into the board's financial scorecard.
Sponsors & broadcast
Sponsorship and broadcast deals renew over time and underpin your income — bigger clubs command bigger deals.
Facilities
Invest in nets, the academy block, the gym, medical, scouting and the ground itself — each upgrade pays off in development, fitness or recruitment.
Financial fair play
You can't simply outspend everyone. Sustainability rules keep the league competitive and your accountant honest.
Transfers & loans
A market with bids, release clauses, guarantees and recalls. Sign free agents, register overseas stars, and loan youngsters out for game time.
Staff
Hire a head coach, batting / bowling / fielding coaches, a physio and a strength coach. Their quality shapes how your players grow and stay fit.
International management & the wider world
Build a domestic legacy, combine club and country, or begin as England's full-time manager. A whole cricket world simulates around you, season after season.
Run England
Search the national player pool, select format-specific squads and XIs, appoint captains, award central contracts and manage workload across Tests, ODIs and T20Is.
Strategy, staff & tours
Set a distinct identity for each format, appoint specialist national coaches, choose tour preparation and rotation policies, and see those decisions influence selection and match performance.
Series and tournaments
Track bilateral series, away tours and dynamically progressing World Cups. Your results shape board confidence, contract reviews and national job security.
A living league
AI clubs recruit, develop and trade. The economy shifts era to era, and franchise leagues tempt your stars away with big money.
Records & the Almanack
Season records, career milestones and an Almanack that remembers every champion, century and five-for of your reign.
Your legacy
A Chronicle and manager-legacy record track your whole career — the title runs, the wonderkids you raised, and the heartbreaks.