A name, and a month in the nets

The game has a name: Stumped: Ultimate Cricket 27. The 27 is the edition. Each one runs from September to August, and your My Career player carries over into the next.

Short balls get up

Bouncers were arriving at a driving length, so almost any ball could be hit like a half-volley. The bounce now follows the length properly. Pitch it six metres short at 135 km/h and it reaches the top of the stumps; at ten metres it's at the chest; at eleven it's at the helmet. Shots answer the height and length too, so a drive at a short ball is a poor choice and the game tells you so.

Every batter can try anything

There's no special-shot button any more. Pick the shot the ball invites and, depending on the ball and the batter, the game may play a scoop, a ramp, a reverse sweep, a helicopter, a slog sweep, a pick-up or an inside-out drive. Each batter has a rating for each of these shots, so a specialist pulls them off and a tailender usually doesn't. In My Career and the Academy, drills in Journeys and Pathways raise those ratings one shot at a time.

No two grounds alike

Grounds are now built from four to six separate stands with gaps between them, at different heights and in different styles, with grass banks and trees at the smaller grounds. The days of every ground looking like a colosseum are over.

Smaller fixes

• The timing window on Normal is wider. The old Normal is the new Hard.
• Stats and rewards are only given once a match is finished, so quitting halfway can't inflate them.
• Buttons on the result screens wait a moment before they respond, so a stray tap can't restart a match by accident.

What's next

Touch controls are the main job: most people will play on a phone, so batting and bowling have to feel right under two thumbs. After that comes testing on more phones before the stores.

Thanks for reading. If you've got a question or an idea, write to [email protected].

Sφnny