Game Review: Stick Cricket 2

I have no doubt that Stick Sports' latest offering from the Stick Cricket franchise will be huge. If you thought the original was a big hit, you've seen nothing yet.

Stick Cricket 2 is being released VERY soon, and I've been testing it for the past few weeks and I'm very impressed with how the game plays.

Here we have the home screen. The buttons along the bottom allow you to toggle settings, view your stats (mine aren't looking too good!) and log in to save your progress.

There are two sections within the game, Origins and International. Starting off in Origins, this is where you "get discovered" by completing levels and unlocking stumps in the process. Once you've unlocked a certain amount of stumps, you're called up and the International level is unlocked!

There are 3 pages of levels on each of Origins and International. Each level is unlocked once you reach a certain amount of levels. A level is completed once you have three stumps. The button on the bottom left takes you to the changing room, as you complete each level or achieve milestones within the game you unlock new equipment and kit to help you progress in your career!

Here we have a game play screenshot. As you can see, it's the Stick Cricket we all know and have spent our lunch hours playing, just with a more refreshed look.

As with previous versions of the game, game play is very simple and easy - even somebody who's never played Stick Cricket before could pick up their phone and hit a perfect over straight away. That's not to say the simplicity makes it boring - far from it. The wide array of different challenges keeps you hooked and needing to play more.

Stick Cricket 2 is released on 11th March - so you can start hitting scores that even the likes of AB de Villiers and Brendon McCullum could only dream of

Qatar 2022.

Ever since Sepp Blatter announced that Qatar would play host to the 2022 World Cup, it has been said that the tournament may have to be moved to winter, due to Qatar's intense summer climate, where temperatures can reach up to 50 degrees celsius.

Surely, when the tournament was awarded, somebody must have said "Hang on, won't it be a tad hot?"

Today (24 February 2015) a FIFA task force officially recommended that the tournament by moved from June/July to November/December.

This falls directly in the middle of the European football season, which will throw it in to chaos. Now, you obviously can't arrange the tournament just to make the European clubs happy but they aren't the only ones that will be affected by the move;

• AFCON - The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations is due to be held in Guniea in January 2023. Players won't be able to play two major tournaments, one after another, and then go back to their clubs to complete the domestic season. The players will be exhausted.

• Asian Cup - Same as above. Although, not confirmed that the tournament will be held in January 

Also, with Qatar hosting the Confederations Cup in 2021, you have to assume that this will also be moved to November/December 2021.

Admittedly, if the World Cup was going to be moved, this is the only suitable time. Winter Olympics in January/February and Ramadan in April mean that November/December is FIFA's only option if you go by their point that May - September is too hot.

I've seen January/February 2023 thrown about by a few people (nobody official, just a few tweets here and there) but this would probably open up a who legal case of "It was awarded as a 2022 tournament, not a 2023 tournament" etc. So that's out of the question


Another option would be - move the host country.

Of course, FIFA won't do this on a financial basis. And while I agree that bringing the World Cup to a new country & seeing Qatar in their first World Cup would be nice (unless they qualify for Russia 2018), there are other great points to move the tournament such as the treatment of migrant workers infringing their basic human rights.

My choice of host? Australia or USA.

• Australia have just hosted a very successful Asian Cup & their domestic A League is growing rapidly as is football in the country. Australia already have many fantastic stadiums which could host matches, such as Stadium Australia in Sydney, Docklands Stadium in Melbourne & Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane. Not to forget the huge Melbourne Cricket Ground, at which 95,000 fans turned up for a pre-season friendly between A League side Melbourne Victory and Liverpool

• USA is pretty obvious as a choice. Huge country, a plethora of huge stadiums to choose from and the infrastructure is definitely there. I'd go as far as saying that USA would need little to no upgrades to prepare. MLS is also really taking off.

I very much doubt any of these would happen, and I think we're facing a winter World Cup in Qatar, but these are just a few points marking the problems and possible solutions

Demise of English football

We're World Cup year and once again, Englands performance will be scrutinised and depending on how well they perform, so will be the youth development system.

Under the English football system, reserve teams play in a completely separate league system to the first teams. However, in Spain, some reserve teams (Real Madrid Castilla and Barcelona B as examples) play in the same league system, though aren't able to play in the same league as the first team.

Is this system one of the keys behind Spains recent domination of football, both domestic and international?

The reserve teams of Barcelona, Real Madrid,  Celta Vigo, Sporting Gijon, Getafe and more all currently play in the main league system, all with mostly (in some cases all) Spanish players. 

Barcelona B are currently in 6th place in Segudna Division (the league below La Liga) which, if eligible to qualify for, would but them in the play offs for promotion to Spanish footballs top division.

Lionel Messi started off his Barcelona career by playing a season for Barcelona C (this team was disbanded in 2007), then moved on to Barcelona B for a season before playing for the first team from 2004. Could this development of playing matches against competitive first team players every week be one of the keys to success in Spanish football?

Luis Suarez

No matter who you support you cannot deny that Luis Suarez is a fantastic player, the sort who would ignite the strike force of most teams in the world.

You also can't deny that most of his career with Liverpool has been dogged by controversy, with the racial abuse of Manchester United's Patrice Evra and the biting of Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic.

Despite these controversies, his club and their fans have - in arguably controversial circumstances - stood by and backed Suarez all the way. During the warm up before a Premier League game against Wigan, the Liverpool players even wore shirts in support of Suarez.

Liverpool players, including Suarez himself, wear shirts in support of the Uruguayan (Photo from Daily Mail. Photo credit to Getty Images)

Speculation has been rife within the British media for a while now with regards to his future at the Merseyside club, and last week he confirmed his wish to leave Liverpool FC.

Within an hour of Suarez announcing his intentions to leave, photos appeared on Twitter of Suarez shirts being burned, in similar fashion to that of Fernando Torres shirts when the Spaniard made his £50 Million move to Chelsea.

Suarez shirt on fire. Complete with an expletive written on the back (Photo credit: The Telegraph)

In what is arguably a massive overreaction to what can only be descried as a massive betrayal, the fan clearly wanted the reminder of the player gone from his home. Personally, I would have donated it to charity, but hey, that's just me.

Can you blame them for being unhappy with what Suarez is doing? Liverpool and their fans were highly criticized for their support of Suarez despite the big controversies and this is how he repays them - by demanding to leave.

On the other side however, you have a sensational player who will wish to play to the highest level possible - something Liverpool aren't doing at the moment. With Spanish giants Real Madrid reportedly interested, some wouldn't blame him for wanting the move.

Some would argue that he owes the fans and the club at least one more season to try and help them take advantage of the transitional periods at neighbours Everton and rivals Manchester United as they welcome new managers for the first time in many, many years.

Despite the interest and Suarez publicly stating he wishes to leave, Liverpool FC have categorically stated that he is not for sale and neither the player nor his representatives have contacted the club with regards to a move.

Surely though, this has to mark the end for his Liverpool career? He won't get a good reception if he stays and that will only strengthen his desire to leave. Also, the back of support from the fans could lead to a slump in from, which will inevitably lower his price tag, but perhaps I'm looking too much in too this.

Whether it's this summer or in January, in my opinion, Luis Suarez won't be a Liverpool player for much longer and with the club being able to command a big fee for the player, it will allow them to strengthen in areas they need to. Could Suarez leaving actually help Liverpool in the Premier League next season? Only time will tell.