Just like the Ashes themselves, the big cricket game release arrives just as football fever is about to take off. But in some ways our national summer game lends itself far more easily to the world of computer gameplay than its “winter” counterpart. While football fans are happy to put down some jumpers for goalposts, cricket enthusiasts will happily spend ages rearranging fielders, even when they are just imaginary and the opposition is a brick wall in the back garden.

These are the people to whom the bountiful options and endless statistics of Brian Lara will most appeal. You can play one-day internationals or Tests in venues from around the world. The level of difficulty starts at slog, a perfect way to get to grips with the controls, which are simple but full of subtle variations that can be exploited in the harder levels (village, county, Test).

Perhaps unsurprisingly, given that the game is endorsed by the world’s best batsman, time at the crease is far more rewarding than that spent bowling. The fielding aspect of the game is a touch one-dimensional — catching is so easy that even Geraint Jones could manage it. It is far more fun, and more challenging, trying to hit the metronomic Glenn McGrath off his line — something that is likely to happen only in the computer realm this summer.

With fine graphics and idiosyncratic commentary provided by David Gower, among others, Brian Lara International Cricket provides a welcome break from England’s travails in the middle.

JOHN McNAMARA

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