Review: International Cricket Captain 2006 game

If there are two types of computer game that divide players into love/hate groups, it's sports management simulations and cricket games.

To combine the two might then be seen as a bold move. In fact, International Cricket Captain 2006 is surprisingly entertaining.

It removes the tricky need to simulate gameplay by not including any – as with, say, the excellent Football Manager 2006,  the player controls are team selection and tactics while the course of matches continues automatically.

The overall idea of International Cricket Captain 2006  is to rise through the ranks as a captain and finally lead the England team in international games.

If that doesn't entice, there's the option to play other kinds of match, and to captain the side in recreations of historical matches.

Before the match starts, gameplay takes the form of choosing how to train each player, picking young players from the second XI, and choosing the teams for matches.

During matches, the captain has the chance to change bowlers and tactics. The level of highlights can be changed, so you can either see every ball being bowled, or just watch the wickets fall, or somewhere in between. Impressively, at the end of each over it's possible to replay each ball.

Unlike Football Manager 2006, sound plays a great part here in creating atmosphere, and the recorded snippets of commentary work extremely well to draw players into the game.

The learning curve is not too steep, and if a match gets a bit dull there's the option to auto-play it.

That said, International Cricket Captain 2006 doesn't have the depth of tweaking options found in most football management games, which means its appeal could wane more swiftly.

Related reviews 
Football Manager 2006 
Building on the success of previous versions, Football Manager 2006 is the ultimate management simulator.
Rating: 5/5
Price: £35