Brian Lara International Cricket 2005 is a video game developed by Swordfish Studios Limited and published by Codemasters. It was originally released in 2005 for PCs, Mac and the PlayStation 3 gaming console from Sony. It is classed as being a sports simulator that is played from an isometric perspective. The title benefits from the use of a license from the International Federation of Cricket. So, expect it to feature all the major stars of international cricket relevant for the year of the release and some of the most important cricket venues in the world, which are reproduced in great detail using the game engine.

The release offers a variety of game modes designed to provide different levels of immersion. The World Tour mode is the most important part of the game, where you need to take control of an international team and guide it to victory as long as you remain in charge. A full array of managerial options is available for those playing the game, including training matches, international fixtures and choosing line-ups.

The Tournament mode is designed to only simulate particular tournaments that take place in a year, so the level of simulation is reduced and the game becomes a bit easier.

The Challenge mode only simulates one match, but the developers chose some of the best matches in cricket history, with the first Ashes match between India and England, which took place in 1882, making the game switch to a black and white color scheme.

GAMEPLAY HINTS

Training your career player

Select "Tournament" at the main menu. Then select "Double Wicket" at the tournament menu. Set the setting of the match to 8 teams and 10 overs on the village difficulty setting. Edit every team so that each team has bowlers or really bad batsmen. On the eighth team, select your career player and any other player desired, or another career player.
If batting, always try to hit the ball out of the ground by timing it correctly and playing the correct shots. You get that many points for batting if you hit a high score. If bowling, always bowl at the stumps and in 10 overs. You will at least get 25 wickets earning you 25 points for your career player for bowling.

In all the player's positions on the batting lineup, put him at number one. Play a test and try to six everything except the x.5 over, assuming the bowler has a fair bowl do the same thing, but bowl a ball that is easy for six and have potential to force no balls and wides.

Your batsman moves towards that corner and hooks the shot over. Also, put the fielders on bodyline setting just in case. On the .5 over, single that run and bowl properly. To train a player's fielding skills, bowl a good length shot. Use your other controller or player to do a forward defensive stroke, when your bowler has the ball. Only then do you call your batter to run. Then just throw to the wicket keeper for the run out. The run out will be credited to you, and for every run out, 5 attribute points are awarded. So in a test, if you score all 20 run outs and 5 points, you have 100 points to improve on your fielding. This trick is rather useless for double cricket.

Here's a trailer: