Stick Cricket

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The Stick Cricket scoreboard. West Indies versus "Stick All-Stars"
The Stick Cricket scoreboard. West Indies versus "Stick All-Stars"

Stick Cricket is an Adobe Flash cricket game website. The game, was developed by Cann Creative, a company from Sydney, Australia. It runs from any web browser which has the Adobe Flash player plug-in and Internet access. The website also publishes news and other articles about cricket. In Australia, the Stick Cricket website forms part of the Fox Sports (Australia) site, owned by News Limited.

Contents

[edit] History

The current version of Stick Cricket is version 5 [1].

Current versions of Stick Cricket have human batsmen. However, the batsmen were really sticks before the Stick Cricket game was moved from the servers of Cann Creative to its own website. Other websites have a modified (usually outdated) versions of Stick Cricket, though some are now offline, for those feeling nostalgic.

[edit] Version 1

This version, which built the foundation for version 2 and was the first appearance of Stick Cricket ever, is extremely hard to find on the internet, but it can be found on : http://games.download3000.com/play/stick-cricket.

[edit] Version 2

Version 2 appeared in 2 guises. There was the official version, which was on Mousebreaker, featuring 7 levels which you could play through as the England team. Another version, featuring a fictional Australian team, is also playable on FreeWorldGroup. This was the basis of the stick cricket world.

[edit] Version 3

Version 3 moved Stick Cricket to its current home, where it has its own site. It also featured the ability to play with 12 teams, though the USA were replaced with a fictional team. There have been minor updates since then, such as the inclusion of 3 different modes: the Knockout Tournament, based on the ICC Champions Trophy format; the all-star slog where you try to get as many runs as you can in 10 Overs; and the Practice Mode, where you could practice 10 overs against a certain type of bowling.

[edit] Version 3.1

Version 3.1 added the world domination version, where you play the world's 8 best teams, and receive a password for each of the teams a player beats. You play as a Stick All-Star Team, which contains some of the best players in cricket's history. Also updated were the teams, so they had the most recent players in, and the rankings in accordance with the official ICC One-Day International ratings.

[edit] Version 3.2

Version 3.2 was released on 21st July, and added new graphics in the main, and a new Head2Head Ashes game for the duration of the Ashes, which features a different stadium - Lord's, a different ball (red with seam) and different bowling actions to version 3.1. In general Version 3.2 added new graphics, including new balls where you can see the seam, and a new stadium. It also added new features around the site, such as office leagues, where there are some general leagues, and you can set up your own as well.

[edit] Version 3.3

By popular demand, two players can now play on the one keyboard and an online tournament mode has been added, and various other stadiums (other than Lord's) have been added to play on.

Similar to the Head2Head mode, a "Triseries" format has been introduced to Stick Cricket recently.

[edit] Version 4

The New version of Head2Head is Based upon the ICC Cricket World Cup where people can join in to current matchs and help their team win the Tournament.

[edit] Version 4.1

This version contains live commentary for international matches (from The Twelfth Man), a new form of Stick Cricket called "Club Challenge," a gallery where visitors to the site can upload photos and other new features for the users and the game.


The newest version was released on the 12th March 2007 and allows you to create your own Stick Cricket team, play in the World cup 2007 Super 8 Stage & play as the following new teams:

Bermuda, Scotland, Ireland, Nedtherlands, Canada and your own created team. You can also play with left handers. Due to the death of Bob Woolmer the team representatives are all portrayed in a sombre mood with a black armband around their left arm

Also it is up to date with the latest ICC ODI rankings and there are now four different amounts over of play. These are: 5 overs, 10 over, 20 over and 50 overs. Note: In a 50 over slog match registered members can save progress at intervals of 10 overs.-->

[edit] Objective

Stick Cricket is viewed from the facing batsman's end. Although it is always viewed from this angle it is possible to bowl, but this feature is currently only included in the 2 player version of the game.

The basic objective is to scores as many runs as possible, by the following:

  • Tournament - Score runs to beat the a national teams total to progress to the next time and beat the World Champions, within 10 overs (60 deliveries). The tournament mode is currently based on the ICC Champions Trophy.
  • Slog - Score as many runs as possible within 10 overs against a selected team (an XI)or a World Domination made by one of the players.
  • World Domination - Score runs to beat a national teams total within 20 overs to gain passwords and, eventually go in to the draw to make your own team up if won.
  • Practice - Choose from a type of bowler and practice, as the name suggests. Scores cannot be saved in practice mode.

[edit] Starting

The welcome screen. Allows a player to select a team and mode of play.
The welcome screen. Allows a player to select a team and mode of play.

When Stick Cricket loads, a welcome screenshot comes up. It allows a user to select a national cricket team or a specialized team selected by the winner of the entire World Domination mode. You can also choose what type of game you want to play.

[edit] Shots

Up, W - Forward drive and defend: Not effective against leg spinners and off spinners, despite the fact that in real cricket it is arguably the safest and one of the more popular shots against spinners, making it a very dubious and needlessly difficult aspect of the game.
Down, S - Duck: (especially from bouncers). Risk of being out LBW, if the delivery is not a bouncer.
Left, A - Pull and hook, if full an on-drive, but often gets caught: Effective against all bowlers.
Right, D - Cut, Cover Drive and Reverse Sweep (spinners only): Effective against fast, outswing bowlers but you are at risk of getting caught out at cover.

[edit] Bowlers

There are different types of bowlers:

Note: All players up to version 4.1 were right-handed, however with the creation of the new version on 12th March 2007, left-handed players are also available.

Each has their own weaknesses and strengths, however, many people have found fast bowling to be the easiest to face while spin considered to be the hardest, especially the leg spinners. This is because of impatient and inexperienced players trying to make a shot too early, forcing the batsman to mistime a shot, often resulting in the fall of a wicket. Outswing and inswing bowlers are seen as harder to face than pure fast bowlers as the ball does not always follow the inital line, causing inexperienced players to miss the ball with the wrong shot.

In two play mode though, Medium bowlers are valuable because they can also bowl fast balls, if used correctly, they can be the most unpredictable bowlers around.

[edit] Easter Eggs

There are certain hidden features in the game, namely "Easter Eggs"

  • 1987 teams - To play against the 1987 teams, this can be activated by clicking on the duck that appears on screen when you are out for a duck. If you choose to play the Stick Cricket Tournament in 1987 mode, the USA team is comprised of characters from the Police Academy movies!
  • Domestic teams - To play against some of the best domestic teams in the world, such as New South Wales, Mumbai and so forth. This can be activated by clicking on the commentator's nose (Richie Benaud).
  • SPIN - To play against bowlers that can bowl both kinds of spin in the same over for 10 overs similar to the All-Star Slog, type "spin" in the World Domination box.
  • SWING - To play against bowlers that can bowl both kinds of swing in the same over for 10 overs similar to the All-Star Slog, type "swing" in the World Domination box.
  • RANDOM - To play against bowlers that can bowl all kinds of deliveries in the same over for 10 overs similar to the All-Star Slog, type "random" in the World Domination box.
  • BOUNCERS - To play 10 overs with every ball being bowled a bouncer type 'bouncers' into the world domination password box

To play as Stick All-Stars in High-Score Slog, do the following:

  • Click World Domination
  • Click How to Play
  • Click back
  • Click Play

[edit] Head2Head Standings

These are the Head2Head standings as of 20 November 2006.

Team Played Won Win%
India 9 9 100.00
England 8 6 83.33
Bangladesh 6 5 71.43
Australia 7 4 57.14
New Zealand 6 3 50.00
West Indies 8 3 37.50
Pakistan 9 3 28.57
Sri Lanka 8 2 25.00
South Africa 9 2 25.00
Zimbabwe 4 1 25.00

[edit] Mobile Phones

Stick Cricket has teamed up with Ian Botham, a cricketing legend to introduce Ian Botham's Stick Mobile on mobile phones. Go to The Stickcricket website for more details.

[edit] Over By Over Commentary (OBO)

Stick Cricket launched its own Over by Over commentary during the 2005 Ashes series in England, and it usually covers all international games involving England and/or Australia. The concept of OBO commentary is somewhat similar to The Guardian's over-by-over commentary, with users encouraged to email in and converse with the commentary team.

[edit] Stick Cricket Facts

  • 1½ million - visitors to the site every month.
  • 800,000 - registered Stick Cricketers .
  • 1053 - players who have won the World Domination.
  • Friday - is the most popular day to play.
  • The MCG at full capacity would only just fit in the number of players Stick Cricket has in 1 day.
  • 17.6 minutes - is how long, on average, a visit to the site lasts.
  • 120,000+ - articles in the online forum.

Source: Stick Cricket: About


[edit] Stick Football

To coincide with the FIFA World Cup 2006, Stick Sports released Stick Football, also an Adobe Flash game.

[edit] Sources

  • Stick Cricket [2]

[edit] External links

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