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WG Grace, Geoff Boycott, Imran Khan (isn't that who David Bowie married?), Ian Botham, and now Brian Lara. All knights of the noble sport of cricket. A sport that separates the men from the boys, the deep fielders from the silly mid offs, the darjeeling from cucumber sandwiches! A sport until now untouched by the hand of console programmers, is preparing to go global thanks to the team at Codemasters and their knack of transforming great British sporting traditions into console classics.

The Codies have taken this noble sport, stripped it down to the essential ingredients, and rebuilt the game in an effort to make it as playable as the real thing. With ten teams featuring international stars, and leagues that range from world class to village green Sunday slogging matches, will Brian Lara Cricket have the pace to bowl out the opposition or will it be rained off after lunch?

Fat blokes who are too unfit to play football lob a hard ball at other fat blokes who swing bats at it.

Hardly renowned for being the fastest of sports, cricket test matches can go on for days on end! To maintain the feeling of a real test series, but prevent the need to sit for days on end in front of the telly, the programmers have included a virtual clock. The clock ticks away in the corner of the screen at an increased rate, and even demands a break for lunch and tea!

If you're weary of the crease, a short spell in the spectator's stand may be the answer, but this doesn't mean you have to neglect your nets practice. Instead, you can pick two teams, sit back, and study tactical form.

1. Batting Once the bowler has chosen his flight path, a circle appears on the square to show where the ball will bounce. Using this as a guide, the player places his batsman on the crease and lifts his bat. Once the bowler has released his delivery, sharp timing, a flick of the A button, and choice of direction should send the ball for six, or at least a single.

2. Fielding Slightly more energetic than standing in front of the wicket, the bowler has to choose the site of impact, the type of delivery (spin left/right or power), the power of the bowl, and pace of the run. From this point on, quick fielding is a must if you want to stop the ball reaching the boundary for a four.

The control method captures the feel of th game, but is simple enough for even the non-cricket player to pick up. And similarly the graphics possess the same practicality, allowing for both precision and timing. But I did feel the CPU had a slight edge over the human players when faced with split-second decisions, more often than not going in the CPU's favour. Apart from this minor quibble, Brian Lara's Cricket is an ace conversion of a classic sport to the Megadrive.

All the thrills of 'Beefy' Botham and other such Cricket legends are ported over to the Megadrive, with all the finesse Codemasters showed with their Sampras Tennis sim. Brian Lara Cricket manages to make a quite dull sport fun to play, with a beautifully simple but comprehensive control system allowing googlies and spins galore, whilst the elation at whacking a six is every bit as good as in the real thing.

Graphics 84%
P. Big player sprites which behave realistically, and a variety of camera angles.
N. The fielders are a bit on the weedy side.

Sound 82%
P. The expected test match intro music with a Caribbean theme.
N. Not a great deal of sound in-game apart from the occasionaly clap and quack.

Lastability 88%
P. Ten teams, different play options, unlimited options.
N. It's going to be quite a while before you walk away with the Ashes.

Value For Money 86%
P. A sound purchase for sports sims fans who are looking for something a little bit out-of-the-ordinary.

Overall 88%
A refreshing change from the usual assortment of American sports sims. Simple, challenging and addictive.