Battrick- The best online cricket management simulation? (battrick.org)

Member Name: Connor1597

Product:	battrick.org
Date:	05/03/09 (227 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good fun, Good with friends

Disadvantages: Laggy servers, annoying faults

Battrick is an online cricket management game which I stumbled across a couple of years ago and signed up to. I'm still playing now and am still just as engrossed in it due to the addictive features the game includes.

Now in it's 10th season, many new features are being added as the website is progressing further down the line of making a great, free online cricket management simulation. So far it's completely outclassing its competitors, Cricket Manager and From The Pavilion and with many new improvements being made to the game, it just keeps on getting better.

So, when the player first starts the game, they create a team name and have to wait for 3 days as the waiting list is annoyingly long and makes signing up one of the most frustrating facets of the game.

The Team:
But, once you've got your team, you can focus on improving it and winning your games. To start with, you get given 18 players of fairly skill, and the aim is to gain promotion to the top league by competing against other players and trying to beat your opponent tactically, by changing what pitch you wish to play on (if the game's at your ground, and if you give the groundsman ample time), how hard you want your batsmen or bowlers to attack and by placing certain players in their favourite batting position to gain extra out of them (this isn't actually shown, and you're supposed to work it out yourself by tinkering with the line-ups and taking note of where they play better).

Games:

In Battrick, there are 3 matches in a week which follow the same pattern every week, with First Class matches lasting 3 days in midweek (from Tuesday to Thursday), One Day matches (50 overs) on Fridays, and Sundays for Friendlies or Cup games. Friendlies are a useful feature due to it being very unlikely that you'll actually play against your friends during the game, so instead you can send a challenge before Sunday and your game will be played. These games can also be played against other random opposition to help plan your tactics. Also, the introduction of Twenty20 games by founder, Allan Fairlie-Clarke are also carried out, currently during midseason for the group stages and, if you qualify, the knockout stage takes place at the end of the season. This vast number of matches is good as it means you don't spend most of the week bored and twiddling your thumbs and means you're always planning and watching your games which can only be a good thing for the popularity of the game.

Training:

Another important aspect of this game is training. Training is the only way on this game to improve your player's skills and you have to show some skill as to what "nets" you put on what player as you only get given 10, meaning you have to be shrewd when it comes to deciding who to place them on. Realistically, the game has younger players improving faster than older players, meaning they often get given more nets by players. Training happens once a week, on a Saturday, which is again useful as it fills up another day's itinerary and continues to have the "something to do everyday" aspect of the game.

National Team:

National and Under 19 teams also run on this game, meaning that more incentives are given for competitors to train their players and get some satisfaction from having a player being accepted into their national team. When first implemented, this feature was good, but, over time as more players have joined, it has become increasingly harder to get a player in a National team, making this feature practically pointless for most players.

Transfer Market:

The game also operates a transfer market, in which players can sell and buy players from other clubs in an auction-style bidding format. This is a very useful feature and can really help new teams to progress forward, however, with more people using the site, the transfer market is prone to heavy inflation, meaning it's steadily getting harder to buy a good player for a cheap price.

Membership:

If you enjoy the game so much, you can purchase Battrick membership, which entitles you to other features, such as making alliances, where you can communicate with your friends, and you also have the ability to create press releases, which I find completely useless, but can be fun for other people. With membership you also get given more statistics, from batting averages in friendlies to highest scores achieved at your team's ground, which is great for those stat freaks out there.

Sledging:

The great thing about this game is that there's a great community within the game on the "sledging", which is a forum where experienced players give advice to new players and people can put other things such as their development ideas which the friendly admin staff take into account and sometimes implement, such as First-Class games and a World Cup fantasy cricket team.

Updates and Tools:

There are also several other websites which have helpful Battrick tools, such as the Gary Jones Stadium Calculator which can also help new players, improving this site's quality and overall appeal. Also, on the battrick homepage, the admins list a number of new updates ongoing and messages to apologise for any inconveniences that may have been caused.

Overall:

Overall, this site has many great features and has great appeal for the general cricket fan just looking for a bit of fun. The site has many great features, even with an end of season "Submit your own commentary" section where some of your own lines can be put into the game. This game's especially great if you have a lot of friends playing it, so you can compare stats, play against each other and send each other a friendly message on the messageboards.

However, due to the sometimes laggy servers and the irritating fitness drops, this game drops down a star.

Summary: A good cricket game to spend half an hour of your day on