I got EA Cricket 2005, It is improved, but it's not great.
The batting is fairly deep and hard at first. It's handy to go into the nets which will show you if are timing the ball well. This helps, but occaisionally the commentator says you timed the ball well and did the right shot when you have mish*t it. Weird.
I think on medium level, it's too easy to hit sixes with the big hitters such as Hayden, Gilly and Symonds. If they bowl relatively close to the stumps which still bounces a lil, the six hit button and straight drive will result in a six all the time. Performing shots off the back foot is a bitch though, just about all my runs are scored off front foot shots.
Bowling is improved, you have a number of different types of deliveries to choose from (the better the bowler the more choice). After a while your special ball meter will come up where you can bowl balls like bouncers and slower balls. When bowling, I've found the batting team to bat quite conservative though which is a bit dull.
Graphically, the player models are good as are the stadiums. The animations and physics are a mixed bag, occasionaly it just doesn't seem "right".
Ponting seems to be the more realistic game. From the screenshots I've seen Cricket looks better but hopefully the controls and gameplay will be better than Cricket 2005.
EA Cricket 2005 is a noticeable improvement, but it's still not good enough.
I'll have some fun with it for a few more days and take it back to EB
