Posted by 
A year or so ago, we wrote about the Ashes Cricket videogame and the disappointingly good player likenesses seen in the screenshots.
This then inspired us to do a nostalgic piece about cricket computer game graphics through the ages.
As we said in that second piece, it’s pretty clear that the golden age of cricket videogame graphics is behind us. We’ve got some good news though. The graphics for Cricket 19, which comes out this summer, are just about wonky enough to still be amusing.
Exhibit A: Joe Root becomes a Curran
Look at him. Look at his hair. Look at Joe Curran’s hair.
Exhibit B: Jimmy Anderson joins the Mob
The first thing that struck us about this shot was that they have captured Joe Root’s body language perfectly. That is exactly how Joe Root holds his hands when he’s talking to a bowler and being all captainy.
The second thing that struck us was Joe Root’s upturned-but-slightly floppy collar.
The third thing that struck us was that Jimmy Anderson is now apparently a member of Christopher Moltisanti’s crew.
In the Sopranos, Christopher always had this absolute rabble of dumb thugs working for him. We’re 98 per cent confident that the guy standing next to Joe Root is one of those people. Hey, score us a DVD player off the back of that truck, Little Jimmy.
Look at his scowl and his slightly over-fed jawline. Look at that too-much-human-growth-hormone forehead. Look at his densely-packed carpet-hair. Low level ‘soldier’ in the Mob. Definitely.
Exhibit C: Pat Cummins
We can’t decide between (a) a minor character from Mad Men, (b) one of the short-of-work dockworkers from the second series of The Wire, or (c) some kid from some US college thing who looks like a jock but is actually really smart. He’s definitely American though, we’re sure of that.
Cricket 19 will come out on the various consoles at some point in May and then on PC a bit later via Steam.
Are there any options for sandpaper use or is it not quite that realistic?
You mean like coarseness? 60-grit or 120-grit, say?
Presumably if you choose one of those options, you then get a year’s access to a self-improvement/pity/aggrandising subgame while also getting locked out of the cricket element for the same period.
In other news, I have just half-watched a pretty impressive ODI performance by Ireland against Afghanistan. Given the fine spin bowling attack of the latter-named side, I think it was a very solid and professional run chase by Ireland.
I did notice that Mohammad Shahzad missed one or two behind the stumps, whereas Stuart Poynter took a couple of good keeper-catches for Ireland and scored the winning runs off the first ball he faced.
So has Stuart Poynter solved the Irish backstop problem? If so, I think we should all be told.
For a wonderful bit of 90s nostalgia, Javagal Srinath was match referee.
Shame you don’t see them out in the field. I’d like to imagine them charging round the field, nagging the fielding captain to get on with it, threatening a yellow-card if the batsman’s verbals are approaching the line…
Super build-up, Ged. Magnificant effort.
Here’s a cracking shot of another Kingdom favourite, TGNW, mid-effort on the way to a not-quite-MOTM performance in the second test about shite-again Bangladesh by way of reward:
http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/18805/report/1153848/new-zealand-vs-bangladesh-2nd-test-bangladesh-in-nz-2018-19
I wish I could summon just 1% of that effort in my job.
Magnificant?! Magnif-very-much-CAN!
The most conspicuous feature for me was the suspiciously lustrous thatch of hair sported by e-Stokes… He must have some friends in game design. I wonder how Broad’s compares… Hales is probably hoping for a recall so he can show off his new shoulder length bob.
E-Vaughan must have got him a discount at Advance Hair Studio.