Ok, so my 360 just RROD on me, now I'm not playing the demo I thought it would be a good opportunity to give my opinion on it for what it's worth.
I must have played around 60 games on it, hard mode and am really enjoying both batting and bowling. Particularly bowling.
AI batting/pacing
With regard to the CPU pacing of their innings I have found that if you bowl a consistent line and length (and have the bowling marker in the yellow, whilst also stopping the bowling meter as near to perfect as possible) the AI batsmen will almost always defend or leave. Only when experimenting with different line and lengths and stopping the bowling meter early did I find the AI batsmen started spanking me all over the pitch.
I do not think that the CPU are aware it is a 3 over match at all. By following my original way of bowling, above, I can regulaly keep them to around 10 runs or less in their 3 overs, whether they are batting first or second.
This is why I don't think they are aware it's a 3 over match as, even when chasing a total, they do not become overly aggressive as long as you bowl consistently well.
If this is how the AI plays in test matches then it is very, very encouraging.
One slight concern is the suicidal run outs which have been happening I would say, on average, once every four or five playthroughs. Don't know how to explain this as I am sure they are not aware of the 3 over limit, so why take such unnecessary risks??
AI Bowling
I have not noticed that the AI pitches too full all the time. I have had many an over bowled at me with varying lines and lengths. Sometimes, yes, a bowler will pitch it up for the whole over, but when starting the demo again that same bowler will then use a completely different line and length, sometimes varying between deliveries, sometimes not. Overall I am quite happy with the AI bowling.
User Batting
My main gripe about batting is purely animation based, not gameplay. I just don't like the way the batsmen react to shots. For example, when playing a front foot defensive, the animation itself is good, but after the ball is fended off the batsman quickly gets up and grounds his bat, holding this pose as if in a catatonic trance. It unfortunately breaks the immersion factor of the game. What would have been nice is if the batsman holds his defensive pose, looks at his stance and then slowly gets back up and prepares for the next ball. There needs to be more transitional animations between playing a shot and preparing for the next shot. At the moment it's all too regimented and robotic.
Apart from this admittedly non game breaking gripe I quite enjoy the batting. I like that selecting your own foot to play off narrows the batting aim marker allowing for more precise finding of the gaps. The edges are excellently implemented in my opinion, allowing for top, bottom, thin and thick, inside and outside edges if mistimed.
One thing that is welcome is that the dreaded lowering of batsmen confidence when leaving a ball is now retired to history. Rejoice.
Fielding
Not much to say about this as it is all automatic unless you want to tell a fielder to throw the ball back at a specific end. The running animations of the fielders is horrid with no sense of urgency and the throwing of the ball looks akward when returning from distance but it's not a gameplay issue so I can live with that.
Loving the overthrows and misfields as well as the backing up. The fact that sometimes the fielders score direct hits, even from boundary throws gives a nice element of tension if you are desperately trying to score an extra, tight run. You never quite know if you're going to make it until the ball makes it's appearance at the crease. Running the bat in/diving is an excellent, if not overdue, addition.
The catching system is superb. I love it. I don't find it too hard and it allows for some real is it/isn't it tension. Once I realised you need to look at the ball and wait for it to go green before hitting A I can now catch 80 percent of all chances, for dolly's I can get all of them.
No more automatic whipping off of the bails by the 'keeper or bowler throwing ball at the stumps on pickup. Rejoice again.
Overall
B- very impressed. If I can be sure that the retail copy will fix the idiotic run outs and have intelligent AI to both pace an innings and also adjust their fields and bowling strategies to the situation at hand then this score will be a guaranteed A and a must buy.
Well done Transmission.