StephenFleming
School Cricketer
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2005
- Online Cricket Games Owned
-
I actually like the game. One of the things with cricket is that it is so complex that you need to include every bit of that complexity to get a true feel of cricket.
I decided to play the World Cup when I first got the game as I couldn't be bothered playing with the fake names Scott Steriod, Craig Big McChicken etc
BATTING
Anyway I was in a tight super 8 match NZ v WI and McMillan was on 70* when he got hit in the unmentionables 3 times in one over by Taylor and then a wild swing or two to teach Taylor a lesson resulted in his confidence going to 0. It was quite fun actually to see that his shots completely changed and he started to play like a tail ender not getting behind the ball and just 'hoaking' the ball rather than playing real cricket shots. It took him about 20-30 deliveries to block and get some singles to get his confidence back up to a point where he could play proper cricket shots and even then it was difficult to find the middle of the bat until his confidence was back up to 90-100%. This is one of the complexities of cricket that you cannot explain to a lay bystander - how a batsmen who is almost past 50 can all of a sudden lose confidence and form in the middle of an innings, yet in reality in cricket it does happen (see New Zealand v England - Commonwealth Bank Series when Fleming on a 100 lost the plot and couldn't middle the ball). One of the things in Cricket 2007 was that once you were in form and your batsmen's confidence was 100% it was very difficult for it to come down and you could hit 6's at will.
Batting on 'test' difficulty level is quite challenging, you have to select the right deliveries to hit (those that are full or really short and wide). If you try and play the rest you will mis hit them or in my case edge them. You have to really watch your confidence meter, the bowlers confidence meter and the timing meter really closely, and if you dont you can lose wickets really quickly even against Kenya. From 11 games my highest score in a 50 over match is 211 against Kenya when Daniel Vettori got a few 4's from edges towards the end.
Another aspect that is great is the fact that you can find the gaps easily, but the ball will only travel to the boundary if you hit it perfectly, and every shot does not go in the same direction.
BOWLING
Having set a modest total of 203 from 50 overs I decided to go all out attack with Bond and unfortunately, due to no fault of mine but probably my keyboard I couldn't hit the bowling meter in time and bowled a few no balls which were hit for 2, 6, 6, 4 and Bond lost his confidence. The fastest pace that he could bowl dropped from 151kmph to 125kmph. No matter how perfectly you got the pace meter he could not bowl any faster and it was to the point that I had to actually replace him because his confidence didn?t even allow him to move the ball off the pitch. This is another thing that I like about the game as unlike Cricket 2007 where special deliveries come and go depending on how well you bowl, you still can bowl at a pretty good pace. In cricket pace comes from a rhythm of a bowler and when a bowler is bowling with good rhythm he will usually bowl faster than if he is hot and cold or having a bad day. I also like how you can deceive the batsmen using a spinner by choosing the ball to spin one way, but at the last minute change it to spin the other. This is very enjoyable during online play, and I suspect the few people that disconnected after they got dismissed trying to slog a ball over point after it spun past their leg would agree.
Other good aspects of the game are that better spinners (Murali) can spin the ball better than other spinners who are also world class (Vettori).
Try and play on a cracking/wearing pitch in a test match around day 3 onwards when facing a spinner.
ONLINE MODE/MULTIPLAYER
This is like sex really, its so fun that I can only say try it for yourself and see. The thing about this game is that it is so easy to 'pick up' and play that you do not have to think about alot of things when playing online. Having played about 6-7 games online I found it really fun. I suppose it was good to finally have the other team continuously dropping catches as well but it is something that I dont think i will be getting sick of.
Overall I like this game alot and think it is more realistic than Cricket 2007, and much much better than BLIC05. The only downside of the game is that you cannot save your game in between overs.
I decided to play the World Cup when I first got the game as I couldn't be bothered playing with the fake names Scott Steriod, Craig Big McChicken etc
BATTING
Anyway I was in a tight super 8 match NZ v WI and McMillan was on 70* when he got hit in the unmentionables 3 times in one over by Taylor and then a wild swing or two to teach Taylor a lesson resulted in his confidence going to 0. It was quite fun actually to see that his shots completely changed and he started to play like a tail ender not getting behind the ball and just 'hoaking' the ball rather than playing real cricket shots. It took him about 20-30 deliveries to block and get some singles to get his confidence back up to a point where he could play proper cricket shots and even then it was difficult to find the middle of the bat until his confidence was back up to 90-100%. This is one of the complexities of cricket that you cannot explain to a lay bystander - how a batsmen who is almost past 50 can all of a sudden lose confidence and form in the middle of an innings, yet in reality in cricket it does happen (see New Zealand v England - Commonwealth Bank Series when Fleming on a 100 lost the plot and couldn't middle the ball). One of the things in Cricket 2007 was that once you were in form and your batsmen's confidence was 100% it was very difficult for it to come down and you could hit 6's at will.
Batting on 'test' difficulty level is quite challenging, you have to select the right deliveries to hit (those that are full or really short and wide). If you try and play the rest you will mis hit them or in my case edge them. You have to really watch your confidence meter, the bowlers confidence meter and the timing meter really closely, and if you dont you can lose wickets really quickly even against Kenya. From 11 games my highest score in a 50 over match is 211 against Kenya when Daniel Vettori got a few 4's from edges towards the end.
Another aspect that is great is the fact that you can find the gaps easily, but the ball will only travel to the boundary if you hit it perfectly, and every shot does not go in the same direction.
BOWLING
Having set a modest total of 203 from 50 overs I decided to go all out attack with Bond and unfortunately, due to no fault of mine but probably my keyboard I couldn't hit the bowling meter in time and bowled a few no balls which were hit for 2, 6, 6, 4 and Bond lost his confidence. The fastest pace that he could bowl dropped from 151kmph to 125kmph. No matter how perfectly you got the pace meter he could not bowl any faster and it was to the point that I had to actually replace him because his confidence didn?t even allow him to move the ball off the pitch. This is another thing that I like about the game as unlike Cricket 2007 where special deliveries come and go depending on how well you bowl, you still can bowl at a pretty good pace. In cricket pace comes from a rhythm of a bowler and when a bowler is bowling with good rhythm he will usually bowl faster than if he is hot and cold or having a bad day. I also like how you can deceive the batsmen using a spinner by choosing the ball to spin one way, but at the last minute change it to spin the other. This is very enjoyable during online play, and I suspect the few people that disconnected after they got dismissed trying to slog a ball over point after it spun past their leg would agree.
Other good aspects of the game are that better spinners (Murali) can spin the ball better than other spinners who are also world class (Vettori).
Try and play on a cracking/wearing pitch in a test match around day 3 onwards when facing a spinner.
ONLINE MODE/MULTIPLAYER
This is like sex really, its so fun that I can only say try it for yourself and see. The thing about this game is that it is so easy to 'pick up' and play that you do not have to think about alot of things when playing online. Having played about 6-7 games online I found it really fun. I suppose it was good to finally have the other team continuously dropping catches as well but it is something that I dont think i will be getting sick of.
Overall I like this game alot and think it is more realistic than Cricket 2007, and much much better than BLIC05. The only downside of the game is that you cannot save your game in between overs.
Last edited:
Save option is definitely there but yes online game we have to complete as there is no save option. overall the game should be ok for me I guess 
