 THE ASHES
 Pulsonic 1984

 CONTROLS : Keyboard
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 AIM : Playing as England or Australia, you must win a Test match.

 GAMEPLAY : If you don't know the rules of cricket, this probably
 isn't the game for you. Suffice it to say that there are ten
 venues in which to play the match - five in England and five in
 Australia. Each pitch has its own characteristics and suits
 different types of play. The teams are made up of six batsmen,
 one all-rounder, a wicket-keeper and four bowlers. Three types of
 bowling are permitted: fast, seam/swing and spin. Teams may be
 named as you wish, although the computer already holds the names
 of some already.

  The toss takes the form of alternating the names ENGLAND and
 AUSTRALIA on screen and stopping at random. The winner of the
 toss can then elect to bat or bowl first. Field placement is
 done by showing the outline on black and the possible positions
 in purple. There are more positions than you have in your team,
 of course, the idea being to say yes or no to each in turn until
 all eleven team members are where you would ideally like them.
 The field then turns green and ready for play.

  For each over a ball must be selected (players 8 to 11). A ball 
 is specified by its line and length and entered as a two-digit
 number. The batsman has seven types of stroke, from defensive
 through to off-drive. A stroke is played by pressing the
 appropriate key for the type of play desired while the ball is
 bowled. The path of the ball from bowler to batsman is shown so
 that the batsman has a few seconds to decide what shot to play,
 and then the path of the ball after batting is also shown.

  A captain may declare if he wishes. Weather may interrupt play,
 and rain is likely to alter the characteristics of the pitch.

 COMMENTS : "It does look rather like an old-fashioned program
 now." [and that was in 1984!]
 RATING : 49% (CRASH #5, June 1984)

 NOW : Very, very, very dull indeed. This is presumably the game
 that the England selectors practice on...
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 KEYS : Cursor keys, ENTER