Who Bowls This Over? The AI's Bowling Rotation Policy & Terms
Who is even eligible
Before it picks, the engine narrows the field. The wicketkeeper is out. The bowler who sent down the previous over is out, because nobody bowls consecutive overs. And anyone who has already bowled their full quota is out: four overs each in a T20, ten in a 50-over game. What is left is the pool of legal choices for this over.
Matching the bowler to the phase
From that pool, each bowler is scored, starting from their rating and adjusted for how well their type suits the phase. A quick is favoured in the powerplay and, above all, at the death, where pace and yorkers are the containing weapon; through the middle their bump is smaller. A spinner is the opposite: penalised in the powerplay against the hard new ball and field restrictions, but strongly favoured through the middle overs, which is their kingdom. An all-rounder sits in between, most useful through the middle. Add it up over a full innings and you get exactly the shape you would expect: seam at the top and the death, spin squeezing the middle.
The part-timer who runs out of puff
Not every bowling option is a frontline bowler. A batsman who bowls a bit, a part-time all-rounder, has an overall rating inflated by their batting, so the engine docks their bowling score to stop them outranking a genuine bowler. It also makes them tail off sharply once they have sent down three or four overs: a captain will sneak an over or two out of a part-timer, but leaning on them for a full quota is punished, just as it is in real cricket. One nice wrinkle: a part-timer who genuinely turns it, like a specialist option on a turning pitch, becomes a much more serious threat on the surface that suits them.
Why it feels like captaincy
Because the choice is driven by phase, quota and matchup rather than a fixed script, the bowling unfolds differently every innings and responds to the XI you actually picked. Leave yourself short of a fifth bowling option and the engine is forced onto a part-timer at the death, with predictable results; pack your side with frontline seamers and you can hammer the new ball and defend the last five overs. Selection and rotation are the same decision, one over at a time.
See it happen
Set your bowling plan and watch the rotation play out in the T20 Franchise Manager or The Chase. How each of those overs resolves ball by ball is covered in how a delivery is decided.