How to play
You don't need to know your googly from your gully to get started. This is the full guide — how to begin, every screen you'll use, the rhythm of a season, and how to win.
Public careers currently begin in England. This walkthrough uses the County Championship as the worked example; Australia and India are the next career nations planned for release.
Getting started
Create your manager, pick a nation, and pick a club
Name yourself, choose Full or Lite, then start as a domestic county manager, combine county and England duties, or take charge of England full-time. Domestic careers offer 18 counties across two divisions; an international-first career uses a county as the simulated domestic-world base.
Learn your squad
Open the Squad screen and read your players — batting and bowling ratings, age, potential, morale, form and status. Find your spine, your prospects, and the veterans on the way down.
Pick your XI and a plan
Select an eleven for each format, name a captain and keeper, set the batting order and a bowling plan. The Starting XI screen is where most matches are won or lost.
Play (or sim) the season
Work through the fixture list across all four competitions. Watch the big games ball-by-ball, fast-sim the rest, and react as injuries, form and call-ups bite.
End the season & build for the next
Face the board's verdict, develop and retire players, take your youth intake, work the free-agent market — then do it all again, a little wiser.
Choose your challenge
Pick the career that suits you when you start a new game.
Normal
A standard career. Pick any club and build from there — the full game, no restrictions.
Relegation rescue
Start at the bottom of Division One with a board demanding survival. Keep your side up — or lose your job.
Youth only
Under-23s only in your first team. Sink or swim on the talent you develop — the ultimate academy challenge.
The manager's desk
Everything you do lives in one of these screens, grouped into four areas. Here's what each one is for.
Hub
Your dashboard — next fixture, squad health, board standing and the headlines at a glance.
Inbox
Board notes, scout reports, player concerns, press and England news — the club's correspondence.
Squad
Your three tiers — First XI, Second XI, Academy. Read ratings, set your XI, promote and demote.
Pipeline
The youth-to-first-team conveyor — promotion-ready prospects, the U16 pathway and intake.
Training & tactics
Set training focus and intensity, and your club's tactical templates across the formats.
Fixtures
The full multi-competition calendar — what's next, and how the season is shaped.
Physio room
Injuries, recovery timelines and fitness — manage the treatment table.
Staff
Hire and manage your coaching team, physios and scouts — the people who shape your players.
Scouting
Direct your scouting network across countries, regions, schools and tournaments to uncover talent.
Analytics
Dig into the numbers — form, stats and opposition intelligence to sharpen your decisions.
Finances
Budgets, wage bill, sponsorship and facility investment — plus your board objectives in full.
League tables
Both divisions and all four competitions, updated as the season unfolds.
Competition rules
How each tournament is structured — points, play-offs and promotion.
Leaderboards
Leading run-scorers and wicket-takers across the league.
News feed
The season's story — results, records, transfers and talking points.
Cricket world
The wider game — franchise leagues, the global economy and what's happening beyond your county.
Manager legacy
Your honours, milestones and reputation across your whole managerial career.
Chronicle
A running narrative of your reign — the moments that defined each season.
Almanack
The record books — champions, records and the players who wrote them.
England role
Your players' international call-ups and central contracts — and the national-team picture.
Job market
Other clubs' vacancies — and where you might manage next.
A match day, step by step
Read the conditions
Check the pitch report and the opposition before a ball is bowled. A green seamer or a dry turner should change your XI and your plans.
Pick your XI & tactics
Choose your eleven for the format, set the batting order, captain, keeper and opening bowlers, and your batting approach and bowling length plans.
Win the toss decision
Bat or bowl? On a turner you'll often want to bat first and bowl last; under cloud on a green-top, you might stick the opposition in.
Watch live — or sim
Follow the match ball-by-ball on a 2D field map and wagon wheel, adjusting fields and plans as it swings, or fast-sim and read the scorecard. Either way, the result comes from the contest.
Manage the aftermath
Knocks and niggles head to the physio, form updates, and the league table and your board standing move accordingly.
The season cycle
Every year follows the same arc. Master the loop and the decades take care of themselves.
At season's end the board delivers its verdict, players develop or decline, youngsters graduate from the academy, veterans retire, and the free-agent market opens — then a new season begins.
Tips for your first few years
- Know your objective. The board tells you what success looks like — a title push, a top-half finish, or simply survival. Everything you're judged on flows from it.
- Don't neglect the academy. Scout, intake and develop every year. The cheapest title-winning squad is one you grew yourself.
- Mind the wage bill. Finances feed the board scorecard. Operating in the black and keeping wages under control buys you patience.
- Promote on merit. A 21-year-old who's outgrown the academy belongs in the first team — leaving a star in the youth ranks wastes their best years.
- Plan for England. If your best players get called up, you'll lose them for international windows. Build depth so a call-up is a point of pride, not a crisis.
- Read the pitch. A worn fourth-day surface is a spinner's paradise. Pick your attack and your moment to match the conditions.
- Rotate across formats. The same eleven won't win you the Championship and the Blast. Use your Second XI and squad depth to keep legs fresh.
Glossary
New to cricket, or to management sims? A few terms you'll meet.