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It seems that now all sporting games have to come with an endorsement from some big name player. This, of course, has no bearing on the quality of the game, no matter how much critical input that player may have had. In this case, though, Tynesoft is fortunate, and having slipped up pretty badly with Super Gran, they deserve a bit of good fortune.

Ian Botham's Test Match (or Guy the Gorilla goes ape in Edgbaston) is a game for armchair cricket fans. You don't have to stir from the living room or get anywhere near the nasty hard ball to play the game. It's not, however, one for the bedsitter, though, because you need two players, or two joysticks and very well co-ordinated feet.

Select an option from 'limited game', 'one day' and 'Test match', and you're ready to set your field. Deposit men around the field with the joystick in any way you feel fit, and select from the bowling options of spin, bouncer, medium and fast. A mild grumble here because everything pitches the same way, that is, like a leg break. So the only difference is the speed with which the ball is delivered, so a bouncer, which should be pitched halfway down the wicket, ends up much the same as a fast ball.

As batsman you are trying to penetrate the field with an array of strokes from the joystick. This is the tricky bit, hitting the ball is not easy, in fact to begin with I got nowhere and began to think it was bugged. What it takes is good timing. You have to hit the ball very late to make contact. Moving the joystick to one of its eight positions directs the ball. Not quite like cricket where the stroke must match the ball, but fun anyway.

Finally, you must field the ball once it's been hit. You do this by moving a cursor, which appears when the ball is delivered, to the fielder nearest the ball. This activates the player and you can move him to the ball. A stab of the joystick button returns the ball and you may have run the batsman out.

Ian Botham's Test Match is not a graphic masterpiece in the style of Graham Gooch's Cricket. The players are indistinct and tend to move as if they were on a skateboard. But it is playable and is thus a worthy addition to the cricket simulations currently available.