Sticky wicket: England show the Aussies how it's done. Photograph: Sean Dempsey/PA
In honour of England's cracking cricketing victory over Australia yesterday, I thought it best to take a look at some of the ways to emulate your heroes on the web. After all, if we wait until the start of the Ashes, we might not have so much to cheer about.
So, after hours of painstaking research (cough), here's a list of the best free cricket games you can play online.
Most games focus on batting, since it's the bit that's easiest to get stuck into with a bit of fast and furious smacking action. And as if to prove it, first up there's Natwest's cutesy-pie attempt. Your strange little sprite will crack the ball around his garden in an attempt to get the highest score in five overs. Simple, but looks nice.
The BBC also wades in to simulate the thud of leather on willow with the somewhat infuriating Last Man Standing. It's not bad, but can prove mind-bendingly difficult.
Stattos might appreciate this strategy-based little number from StumpVision, which lets you test yourself at both batting and bowling - unusual to have the choice.
And while NPower's classic cricket sim is still banging around, the best of the bunch has to be Stick Cricket, which has a whole slew of great scenarios for budding batsmen to take on.
Now if only they had some warm beer and sunshine too...
