Cricket 19

Delivering all the funky play any bowler or batsman could desire, this virtual leather-on-willow is the best cricket game yet

Cricket 19 brings the full cricket experience to Nintendo Switch for the very first time. This port can sometimes struggle in the performance – a few too many pre-match cutscenes likely being one of the main offenders – but gameplay is mostly slowdown free, letting you focus on juggling a ton of options in every corner of the field. The sheer number of modes on offer is astounding, and while the lack of consistent official licences is frustrating, the potential for community-driven support in Scenarios mode (and online) proves that the Switch continues to be a worthy platform for full-on sports simulators.

Cricket 19 has enhanced beyond Ashes Cricket, Big Ant Studios previous outing and then the best cricket video game around. Enhancements to AI have further improved this, though doesn't completely perfect the game with a few issues here and there. Altogether though, this is still a very strong and polished game and one that any fan of cricket should be interested in.

Cricket 19 is by far the best cricket game available right now. There’s enough about it to keep cricket newbies entertained while its high level of authenticity will no doubt delight die-hard cricket fans. Even England’s Barmy Army, however, would get quickly tired of the loading times, and may notice the small imperfections to the matchday experiences. Despite this, Cricket 19 is a solid boundary, with the career mode hitting nothing but sixes.

Cricket 19 is a comprehensive and detailed simulation of the sport with a bewildering number of modes and options. Its depths and complexities can be daunting for newcomers, and playing against the AI feels a bit arbitrary at times, but from playing Ashes Test series to one off challenges, there is something here for every level of cricket fan.

So will they break out of the 'cricket lovers only' mold? I doubt it.

With Cricket ’19, Big Ant has once again released a high-quality cricket title that is likely to keep fans invested until the next version. Sadly it is held back by a lack of polish in areas that have always shown a lack of polish, so the hope for these problems ever being fixed is fading. But that being said this is a great game and well worth your time with improvements both big and small over the previous version.

Cricket fans would be batty to miss out on this, but they should go in aware that things could still be better.

Cricket 19 won't be winning any awards nor pioneering new things, but it is a fun game to pick up and play. It's simple, intuitive and makes cricket accessible to just about anyone.

Not the big jump in quality we saw from the last Don Bradman's to Ashes Cricket, Cricket 19 is at least a small improvement on its predecessor, strengthening its modular gameplay options and packing in a bit more detail to the engrossing career and Ashes modes. It's fair to say more was expected of this latest willow-whacker, but it does manage to keep the series on the path to greater things.