It's easy to overlook the fact that despite achieving roaring success with its football (FIFA 2004) and golf (Tiger Woods 2004) games, EA Sports has occasionally struggled to get the mix right when moving across to other sports. Rugby, for instance, is a notoriously tricky game to get right, as EA has found.

And then there's cricket, another area where the company has struggled in the past. The problem is understandable. Do you try to appeal to the mainstream gamer, with an action-focused title, or do you properly target the cricket fan with something a little more cerebral and, dare we say, sedate? If anything, the focus with Cricket 2004 has shifted slightly away from the former and more towards the latter. And that's a good thing.

So, after the usual glossy presentation, the game itself opens at a menu screen that offers you tournament, friendly and practice options. Here's a tip: do the latter first. While bowling and batting aren't troublesome to initially get to grips with, if you want to score totals that reach three figures, or bowl out the opposition for less, then practising is essential.

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The tournament options, incidentally, have both an international and a domestic focus. In the case of the latter, this has rarely if ever been done better. You can manage the county of your choice through a full season, which factors in the odd injury here and there as well. Or you can simply try one of the competitions and do your worst.

When you take to the pitch, you're not likely to complain about the graphics. Frankly, they've been polished until they gleam, and while the commentary - led by Richie Benaud - may have the odd stutter and dramatic change of pitch, the in-game presentation is excellent all round.

Let's start with batting, then. Here's an example of where EA has resisted the urge to take a simple approach. First, you have a choice of shot, determined by which of eight directions you want to push your arrow keys. Then you need to decide if you're going to come down the wicket, play a front foot shot or one from your back.

Then you can choose, if you like, to add extra power if you're targeting a boundary. Then you can look around to check out the field. And then you signal to the bowler that you're ready, leaving you to time it right to get the result you want. It's actually an easy system to get going with, yet practice really pays dividends.

Once you're used to it, it's an effective method of control, with plenty of variables to keep it interesting. Oh, and one more welcome thing. Remember all those cricket games where it was really easy to press the 'run' button a little too zealously and end in a run-out? Not here, thank goodness.

Batting's strong then; fielding less so. You can choose to leave this to the computer or do it yourself. It's easy enough to control and, on the whole, if you select automatic fielding the game's AI does a decent job. However, it has its moments, such as the odd overthrow which nobody bothers to field, allowing the batsmen to notch up a good half-a-dozen runs before the game decides it's time to move on.

Bowling works well, though, but to get the best results a bit more knowledge of the game will come in handy. First you choose your bowler. Then you choose what kind of delivery they're going to send in (a spinner might go for an arm ball or a googly, for instance, while a fast bowler may try to fox the batsman with a slower ball or a leg-cutter).

Next, you need to position the bowling cursor, which controls where you pitch the ball. Better bowlers will more accurately follow your lead than the not-so-good ones. Then you can apply seam or spin through the movement meter. Finally, as the bowler runs up, you have to stop the power meter in the right place. Overshoot, and you'll find oh-so-often that you've given away a no-ball.

Bowling does take more getting used to than batting, although conversely you'll probably get effective results a little quicker. That said, you'll be conceding a lot of extras as you learn the game, something that the computer-controlled bowlers rarely do.

So is it all actually any good? Yes, at times it's very good. It has enough to appeal to those who want a quick slog, but the really appreciative audience will be cricket fans, fed up with the shallow focus of previous games in this genre. It's not without imperfections, but credit to EA Sports here for being one of the few to successfully wrap their heads around producing a cricket game with some real longevity to it.

This is a strong rendition of the game that's not afraid to appeal to the hardened cricket fan, while still keeping the game moving along at a decent pace. Warmly recommended.