Give 'em a full toss!
The batsman’s default mode at the crease means that he’ll automatically choose whether he hits a shot on his back or front foot; although the option is there to manually change it if you wish. Judging shots to hit the ball for a four or a six takes some getting used to because you need to react precisely to the type of ball that is being bowled at you and alter your position to account for the pitch. When you do hit a ball for 6 you’ve judged all of these elements correctly and it’s a rewarding experience that feels as though you’ve worked hard to achieve it.
Each batsman also has a confidence metre and if you pull off a few well timed shots it fills up thus giving you an improved chance of hitting the ball in the middle of the wood and executing a powerful stroke.
Click for larger imageRunning between the wickets is also implemented well and you’re able to dive to the crease or double back on a run if you feel it’s too much of a risk. Cricket 07 does allow you to play shorter matches, but it’s still a fairly slow game so the temptation is always there to grab some runs even when the likelihood of reaching the crease is slim. After a short time my cricket card was in pieces, with the score standing at 24/9 -a poor display indeed - but for those with more patience the option is there to play a more technical game and timing your runs and shots to perfection is the key to success. The century control system is extremely sold in its mechanics and although my innings were short-lived, batting was entertaining.
Click for larger imageWhile the mechanics of batting work extremely well with the use of the analogue stick, bowling is extremely dull and the pace is so slow that you’ll be desperate to step back up to the crease. Instead of using the analogue stick - which would have felt far more intuitive - you simply choose from a number of set deliveries and you can opt to bowl over or around the wicket on the fly by pressing left or right on the d-pad Once you’ve chosen your delivery you position the pitching point of the ball with the left analogue sticks and then, as your player runs or steps up to the crease, you need to stop the power gauge depending on how much speed you wish to put on the delivery. Despite experimenting furiously with a number of delivery speeds and bowling techniques it was far too difficult to bowl out the batsman, even on the lower difficulty levels, and many of the games I played in resulted in the opposition’s batsman scoring highly in every over. Of course, this could be down to my poor knowledge of bowling techniques, but the system for ball placement did seem far too finicky.