http://users.bart.nl/~jamin

Cricket 97

EA's Cricket 97 may not have been the world's finest sports simulator to appear 
on the PC, but at the very least, it's one of the best cricket games we've 
seen. Faint praise indeed. Nevertheless, there are some tactics worth 
employing, so we got Beam Software to tell us about them.

BOWLING
Be aggressive - Try to set as aggressive a field as possible. The field diagram 
below is an example of my typical field settings, with two fielders as close as 
possible at silly mid on/off, a gully, and two slips. The rest of the field are 
in run-saving positions. There are no doubt many other field settings which 
work as well, but this is a preferred set-up.
As an alternative, you could consider selecting a line-up that has few fielders 
in close. The batsmen are then more likely to run and you have a greater chance 
of getting run-outs.
	
Bowl short - The batsman won't hit the ball in the air if you bowl at his feet. 
The higher the ball bounces, the more the computer players will pop the ball 
up.

Bowl wide - Moving the ball away from the batsman gives you the best chance of 
getting slips catches, off-cut shots and late cuts.

Spin - Spin bowlers are evil. Really evil. If you can get the leg spinner 
bowling short, and moving away from the right-handed batsman, a close field 
will take heaps of catches.

BATTING
Hook shot - If you want, you can play the hook shot to just about any delivery. 
Look to hook anything going vaguely down leg side or at the body.

Back foot drive - The back foot drive is particularly effective when the ball 
is short and moving away from the batsman.

Cut shot - Look to play this under similar conditions to the back foot drive, 
when the ball is shorter still. Never play this shot against a spin bowler.

Late cut - This is similar to the cut shot, but you should play this against 
mid-pitched deliveries. Again, avoid this if playing against a spin.

Drives - Drives are most useful when the opposition resorts to the spin bowler. 
Try to move to where the ball is pitching, then play any of the drives to keep 
the ball low and out of the hands of in-close fielders.

Leg glance - This is reasonably effective, but anything that you can play a leg 
glance to will look much better going for six with a hook shot.

Sweeps - Unfortunately, these have little effect and are almost impossible to 
time. They're great if you like being hit on the head though.

By all means persevere with other shots (if only to impress your friends with 
your complete mastery of the game), but keeping it simple is the real secret to 
success. 


CHEATING
If you can't win by fair means, then cheat. Press the space bar to pause the 
game and then type in the following key combinations.

321 - Low gravity. Makes it easier to get sixes.
131 - Hard hitting. Makes it easier to get boundaries.
323 - Turbo running. Makes the players run super fast.
121 - Duck FMV. Plays a full screen video of the duck.