Every time a new cricket game is released on Xbox and PlayStation I think of the "people in sharp suits" who now run cricket.

How delighted they must be, bounding downstairs to rip off the wrapping and reveal the flash new cover. Soccer, golf and tennis have their countless franchises; now cricket is going to be a global entertainment phenomenon, just like they prayed to Santa for.

And unlike most things that bring a wolfish grin to the lips of the Royals2020 executive board, a new gaming release is also great news for people who actually like cricket.

International Cricket 2010 on Xbox and PS3 moves us on from Ashes 2009 and as such can only be called the best cricket game released to date.

Three features immediately stand out as an improvement on last year's well-liked effort:

* Action cam - a new perspective that sits over the shoulder of the batsman/follows the bowler in on his run-up. Simplicity itself, this innovation works brilliantly to put you in the heart of the action without expecting real-time reactions to a 150kph yorker;

* Power stick - you have more precision over shots so can take quick singles and manoeuvre the ball to exploit gaps in the field. Increasingly it feels like a cricket game rather than a generic button-bashing exercise and batting in particular is the engaging part of IC 2010;

* The stumps now react realistically when you hit them bowling fast. Part of gaming's attraction is escapism and sometimes you want to feel like Michael Holding against Tony Greig at Old Trafford in 1976, ok?

Greig himself is mercifully removed from the commentary with the ubiquitous David 'Bumble' Lloyd taking his chair.

There is something appropriate about this appointment. All commentary on sports games eventually gets repetitive, exhausting a finite set of catchphrases. Given that the real Bumble has made repetition an art form, his digital echo feels somehow authentic with the greatest hits on a perpetual loop: 'Start the car!', 'If that's x, my backside's a fire engine', and so on.

Shane Warne, Ian Bishop and Jonathan Agnew complete the voice-over line-up and the Ashes license from last year has obviously been retained - both England and Australia players have their real names. But the same cannot be said for the other nations, who naturally play a more prominent role now this is 'International Cricket' rather than the Ashes.

So it is that you find yourself in IPL-style tournaments with teams such as the Wolves and the Aces - and fielding players with curiously familiar sounding names such as Sumit Ten hukkar and Ashley Prance.

Everything, however, is a movable feast. Kits, skill levels and match and tournament formats can all be edited. Purists and the OCD-afflicted can correct all names on non-Ashes teams so Ravul Drabu quickly becomes something more familiar (VVS Laxman?).

The final frontier with cricket gaming remains mainstream appeal. As ever, you get the feeling that only those of us who like both cricket and gaming will be fully enamoured with IC2010. If you are not in that Venn diagram overlap then you will likely shrug and move on with your life.

But with games set to be a dominant entertainment media and cricket an ever more popular spectacle, that area of the Venn diagram is growing - and interacting through online play. International Cricket 2010 will delight fans and people in sharp suits alike.

Peter May

International Cricket 2010 from Codemasters is out Friday for Xbox 360 and PS3.