From The Pavilion

Am I the only one who doesn't like the impact of the MKMC on my senior squad level of fatigue and so league performance.

I now recruit a whole other team to play in the cup. It's normally of a level to get me through 3-4 rounds because my competitive instinct is not to just throw the early round matches. This means I take a financial hit because the gate and prize money don't cover the wage bill.

So it's normally a relief to eventually come up against a team that my thrown together eleven can't beat and I can then concentrate on the league and arranging the Irish League Cups.

I don't think it should feel that way. It should be an opportunity to test my team against others around the world, but I can't because they will get knackered and league form will suffer. I end up thinking "what's the point?" and I don't want to feel that way about it.

Do others face the same problem? Does it bother you? How do you deal with it?

There's now talk of a similar youth cup, will that just create the same issue? If we're are going to ask teams to enter this could we make it a proper commitment using the Swiss Style League format that could guarantee an competitive eight game schedule against a range of opposition. Could we exclude the meaningless bot games?

I don't want to hate the MKMC, but I do.

A cricket management game making you manage your squad? How dare they.

I think there’s two thought approaches with the cup.

Those with squad depth who genuinely prepare to go deep knowing that rotating players through matches is critical to being able to compete 3 matches a week.

Me I see it as a free hit for some free cash and some exp for my youths. When it gets to round 3/4 you do have to start making some decisions around what matches can’t be full strength.

In my opinion, it's the best part of the game. Managing your squad around the cup is a challenge and I find it pretty enjoyable. Early rounds you can get away with some youths and a fairly small squad size. Deep runs will require a few more players. I find the gate takings and prizemoney make up for most of it - but the small losses you might make are just part of the fun.

Once out of the cup, squad sizes can be 13-14 and fairly repetitive week to week.