Now, I may be a little late to the party on this so if you already knew about it, great, if you didn’t – read on. I received an e-mail last night from Amazon which caught my attention since there was a picture of KP on the front of a computer game called “Ashes 09″. Pretty crappy name for a game if you ask me as people don’t immediately know if you’re playing a game or talking about the real thing, but never mind. When I read a bit more about it, it was clear that it was from the same people as the successful “Brian Lara” series of games, updated for 2009.

There is a demo on the XBox marketplace for those of you inclined like that, or you can wait until the game is released a week on Friday (7th August). I would normally pre-order it straight away from somewhere like amazon, but since my xbox is broken I’m going to have to hope a mate buys it instead for the moment!

Game wise, there is a lot of talk about new features, upgraded gameplay and graphics etc. The last game was pretty playable, but was horribly unfinished and full of little annoying bugs that hopefully they’ve ironed out this time. From the videos I’ve see, Ashes 09 should continue the series pretty well, although it is only “licensed” from the looks of things by the ECB and Cricket Australia, which might mean they are the only teams with “proper” names, which may only sound like a little bugbear, but doesn’t help with the “realism” experience.

Anyway, since I can’t play it at the moment I shall leave it to you in the comments to let me know what you think of the game (demo or otherwise)!

It’s nearly that time of year again – with the county season starting this week I visited the telegraph fantasy cricket website to see if they were running a fantasy cricket season again. I wasn’t greeted by much other than an image which gave a bit of info on the game, prizes and said to come back this Saturday, 18th April.

Despite losing interest throughout the season, its always fun at the start to pick a side but I’ll have to weigh up whether it’s worth the six quid entry it normally costs! There is a cricinfo fantasy game which I think is free so maybe I’ll give that one a go instead if it looks decent and I can get a few mates into a mini league.

Also, if you are looking for a small county cricket preview I found the opinions on the sky sports website quite interesting to read – head over there to see what Bumble, Athers et all think about the upcoming season here.

A top of the range cricket bat nowadays can cost up to 300 quid, a not insignificant sum of money. However it can be worth it if you have the money to spend and want the best bat available. When you are spending that kind of money how can you be sure that you are getting exactly the right bat for you?

By choosing a custom cricket bat experience, that’s how! For £275 pounds, you can have the opportunity to have a bat completely custom created for you at Somerset’s county ground by the master craftsmen that are Millichamp & Hall. This is normally the preserve of the professional cricketer, but you will get to choose the exact cleft of willow before speaking with the batmakers who will then shape it to suit your game.

So if you are after a present for a loved one or just want to treat yourself before next season, then think about a custom cricket bat as the best way to get the best possible cricket bat for you!

Order the cricket bat experience here!

As the end of the English season starts to draw to a close in the next few weeks, cricket companies the world over start to slowly release new equipment hoping to get our money over the winter and before next season. It used to be that we would have to wait until Jan/Feb to see the new lines from companies such as Woodworm, GM, Gray Nicolls etc, but now with a better global marketing strategy from companies like these we see test players using them now, creating a bit of “buzz” and then seeing them released to the Aussie market first in some occasions seeing as their season is soon to spring into action.

As there has been great interest in past posts of mine on equipment, and seeing as my general writing interest in live cricket is low at the moment, I’m going to start showcasing some new stuff as it hits the press. If you have any “scoops” or info which you think is worth me talking about, let me know and I’ll give you the credit if you so wish!

There is talk and rumour about Adidas releasing some cricket equipment this winter after the success of their English and Australian replica shirts. There is no doubt that with a brand name as big as theirs that they will have a certain amount of success, but until we see the quality of the equipment then i’ll reserve judgement on the full success.

Early ‘09 news from Gray Nicolls is two new bat ranges, the ignite and xiphos, and from Albion there is a rather bizarre looking new helmet, as worn by Andre Nel the other night. I’ll try and find a better picture in the next few days but it looks more like a police riot helmet than a cricket one!

I was kindly sent a copy of “The Annual” last week – the launch copy of a magazine written on behalf of MCC and Lords, and as it isn’t the sort of thing you might not know about I thought it would be of interest to give it a bit of publicity.

Available from Lords itself or their shop at www.lords.org, it is an interesting publication which reads a bit like an in depth program you might buy at an international game – and it is the same sort of size which is pretty handy – means it doesn’t take up much room in my cricket bag! It is entirely based (unsurprisingly) around Lords, and through things like interviews with players and ground workers it helps give a real insight as to how the “home of cricket” is felt by players (Sidebottom, Broad, Dimi etc), and how it all functions on the big days.

One part I really liked was “How to play Lords” which gave tips on how to react to the slope etc. Now, given that I’m never likely to play at Lords I don’t know why I found this interesting but I think as it has such a mystique about it, it is nice to know how sportsmen and women approach it!

There are good previews of the England, Kiwi and South African squads for the summer’s cricket – which if you pick it up later in the summer will be a bit out of date, but it gives enough info without boring you if this was the case. It is difficult to try and put up to date info in annual publications like this, but they seem to do it quite well and you don’t get the feeling that its particularly lacking in this area.

Along with some commentary on England’s preparation towards next year’s Ashes and a review and preview of the games at Lords for this year and last, and a couple of other stories there is also a promotional bit for their shop and conference facilities, which is fair enough – it might make me visit their shop over a lunch break in the cricket if I was there watching a game!

I think overall this is a decent publication, well written and with a ‘quality’ feel, it is something I could definitely see myself buying if I was at Lords on a match day for something to pass the quieter periods of a game. I don’t know if it holds as much appeal for someone who isn’t there – it isn’t quite “deep” enough to keep you busy for hours, but as something to drift in and out of it was perfect. In fact I read some of it whilst i was waiting to bat at the weekend, it is perfect for that situation. At 5 quid it might seem expensive compared to a magazine such as All Out Cricket, but compared to match programmes I think it’s acceptable and well worth a shout if you find yourself at Lords this year, or if reading about the greatest cricket ground in England is up your street! Buy from the Lords online shop here.

We’re a month or two in to this season’s fantasy cricket season, and it’s time to take a look and see how I’m doing, and which players we should have chosen!

I started off the season like a rocket, miles ahead for a good few weeks, but then I stopped paying attention and things quickly went downhill. I think 3 of my 4 bowlers were out injured, and coupled with other team’s players coming into form I’ve hit mid table mediocrity very quickly! So time for a bit of surgery, although not as much as one of my mates who’s used more than half of his transfers in the first month!

Top Batsmen (at time of writing)
U Afzaal – a player I have! woohoo!
HD Ackerman – always seems to do well, no different this year but wasn’t on my list for this season, maybe i need to re-think.
M Di Venuto – ditto.
M Butcher – a bit of a surprise to me, but a double ton helped! Not playing for Surrey today so maybe pacing himself for the season?
J Gallian – a special mention seeing as he was only rated a 2, he’s had a storming season so far.

Keepers
hmmm.. Luke Sutton has done nothing so far for my team, so looks pretty close to the chop, but for who?
P Nixon – the old man continues to score well (but he’s expensive!)
C Read – the young man continues to score well (but he’s expensive!)
N O’Brien – A surprise from Northants where he wasn’t even first choice but seems to be doing well
M Prior – Scoring a lot in the Championship but just called into the one day squad will hurt his points here.

All Rounders
Sickeningly, the top two so far are two players I talked about before the season but didn’t choose, how stupid am I?!
P Trego – taking good wickets so far this season
R McLaren – I really should have picked him
N Boje – Finally, another player in my team (time to make him captain I think)
R Ten Doeschate – another player I talked about pre-season, I hope somebody took my tips as I didn’t!

Bowlers
T Bresnan – has found wickets and runs a plenty so far in the season, will it continue?
J Allenby – Who?! Seriously, I have no idea who this is…
Y Arafat – Woohoo, another player of mine from the start, class!
D Pattinson – making the most of a starting spot at Notts with Broad and Sidebottom out of the equation
C Langeveldt – I brought him in for Mahmood a week or two back as his stats were looking pretty good.

So how am I going to get out of my mid table position having looked at the stats above? I think I need to cut some dead wood in M North (Batsman, Skipper), L Sutton (mentioned above), A Mahmood (seems to take wickets but the points aren’t enough), S Mushtaq (maybe I’ll hold on to him), and look at bringing possibly a name or two from above. Then hopefully see myself return back to the position I deserve at the top of the tree!!