Cricket’s brief public renaissance following the Ashes victory of last year may have prompted an update of this age-old series, but like the national team and its downturn in form, it seems that a break isn’t necessarily a good thing. For this is an absolute turkey of a game that’s dull to play and full of unwelcome glitches.

In International Cricket Captain – Ashes Edition, you can take control of all manner of sides or even the national team, something you are rarely allowed to do in many football management simulations, and push towards success.

Unfortunately, the micro-management of your players is supremely boring and quickly becomes a chore. Making matters worse are the matches, with your settings for both batting and bowling appearing to be ignored by players.

There’s absolutely no feeling of you pulling the strings or having any influence in the match. And if you think that’s shoddy, wait till you see the visuals, which would shame most mobile phone games. They’re small, pixelated, and quite unpleasant.

We appreciate that county cricket lacks the glamour and big money glitz of the beautiful game, but there must be enough fans of the sport to warrant a better effort than this. Kevin Pietersen endorsed this by the way – so if in future he offers to sell you a car, we’d advise you to run a mile.

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EA Cricket 07
Finally, a truly enjoyable cricket game for the PC. You'll find yourself immersed in Ashes drama before too long