Guide
How to play Cricket Red
Cricket Red plays in your browser with touch, a mouse or a keyboard, and a controller for batting and running. This is everything you need to bat, bowl, run and captain, from your first ball to the Legend difficulty.
Play Cricket Red freeBatting with swipe (the default)
Flick anywhere on the screen. The direction of the flick is where you are hitting, and its length is how hard: a short flick keeps the ball along the ground, a long one goes over the top.
Your timing is taken the moment your finger touches the screen, not when you lift it, so watch the ball and touch down as it arrives.
A touch that does not move is a controlled push straight down the ground. When you are late or unsure, just touch: it is the safest shot in the game.
Batting with tap
Prefer to point? Switch to tap in Settings under Batting input. Tap where you want the ball to go: straight up the screen is straight down the ground, right is the off side, left is the leg side, and straight behind the batter is a block.
How far from the batter you tap is how hard you swing. Close in is a push along the ground; past the outer ring you are going in the air. The middle is a safe zone, so a panicked tap is a push, not a slog.
How your shot becomes a stroke
You never pick a named stroke. You choose where the ball should go and how hard, and Cricket Red plays the stroke that suits the ball you are facing, the way a real batter does. Aim toward square leg and you sweep a full ball from a spinner, pull one at your ribs, and hook one at your head.
That is how all 22 strokes fit behind one gesture, and you still choose between them: the cover drive, the straight drive and the on drive are three different directions, and ground or air is how hard you go.
Batting on a keyboard
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
| Arrow keys | Aim. They combine, so up and right together is the cover region: eight directions in all. Aiming never plays a shot on its own. |
| W | Defend |
| S | Attack, along the ground |
| D | Loft it |
| Hold Ctrl or Q | Play off the back foot: pull, cut, late cut, upper cut, hook |
| Tap Shift or E first | An improvised stroke: ramp, sweep, slog sweep, reverse sweep, paddle |
| L | Leave the ball |
| 1 to 9 | Pick an exact area of the field |
Bowling
Before each ball you have fifteen seconds to plan it. Choose a delivery from your bowler's own repertoire, tap the pitch map for the line and length you want, and set your field: Auto, Catchers, Attack, Ring or Protect. You can also bowl over or round the wicket.
Then release on the meter. Let go early and the ball drops short; let go late and it pitches up, and too late is a no-ball.
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
| Arrow keys | Line and length |
| Space | Release |
| 1 to 9 | Choose a delivery |
| A / D | Leg cutter / off cutter |
| Shift with left or right | Move the ball in or away |
| Shift with up or down | Yorker or bouncer |
| F | Change the field |
Running between the wickets
Every run is your call. Your batters stay in their crease until you press Run, Hold keeps them there, and Cancel can still send them back mid-run. On a keyboard: R or Space to run, N or the down arrow to hold, X to cancel.
Captaincy
Call the toss and choose to bat or bowl. Pick your eleven from a 25-player squad. After every wicket you choose who comes in next, and at the end of every over you choose who bowls the next one, each on a fifteen-second clock.
You can review LBW and run-out decisions, twice an innings.
Difficulty
Four levels: Easy, Medium, Hard and Legend. Medium is where every new game starts; change it in Settings.
Five tips for your first innings
- Let the first ball go. Leave anything wide of off stump: a ball the umpire calls wide is a run to you.
- Short ball, back foot; full ball, front foot. Aim square for a short one and straight for a full one.
- Keep the ball on the ground until you are set. A long swipe is a lofted shot, and lofted shots get caught.
- Do not run on every hit. Wait until the ball is past the fielder, then press Run.
- In the Nets, every shot goes on a timing chart. If you are consistently early or late, you will see it there.
More guides
Cricket Red game modes
Every way to play Cricket Red: quick matches of 1 to 50 overs, Tests, a World Cup and four more cups, a career from club to country, and 13 net drills.
Cricket shots explained: all 22 strokes
Every cricket shot explained, from the cover drive to the reverse sweep: what each stroke is, the ball it suits, and how to play it in Cricket Red.
Types of deliveries in cricket
Every type of cricket delivery explained, from the yorker and knuckle ball to the doosra and googly: what each ball does, and how to bowl it in Cricket Red.