The bam-bam-bam accelerated gameplay of Stick Cricket has been a hit on other platforms for a while, so why not Windows Phone too? Playing in the Australian or Indian leagues or as a custom team of your choice, it's still down to quick reflexes to decide whether to hit left or right with single taps using your thumbs. Primitive but strangely addictive, given the pace of the game.

Wrapped around the original 'one tap' gameplay are freemium mechanics: some management decisions, a virtual currency and the ability to acquire talent.

From the Store description:

Your ticket to the bright lights of Premier League superstardom is here! From the creators of the most popular cricket game in the world, Stick Cricket Premier League offers you the chance to:

• TRAVEL THE WORLD - From Mumbai to Melbourne, your skills are in demand! Team owners in India and Australia are battling it out to secure your signature.
• CREATE YOUR CAPTAIN - Create and customise your player, before taking guard against the world’s best bowlers.
• BUILD YOUR DREAM TEAM - Your owner will bankroll the recruitment of Star Players from around the world, boosting your chances of winning the League. Choose from more than 50 Star Players to bolster your squad. Star Batsmen are more likely to clear the rope, while a signing a miserly Star Bowler will ensure the targets you chase aren’t as demanding.

ENHANCE YOUR SIX APPEAL - The crowd wants maximums! Each League provides cash bonuses for every six you smash, as well as stumping up an appearance fee. You read that correctly: cold hard cash, just for showing up!

'Easy to play yet hard to master', Stick Cricket Premier League is a completely different beast to the graphically impressive Real Cricket 15. In Stick Cricket, no one moves. The bowlers don't run in, the fielders never budge, and so on. It's just 'ball coming down, whack it' over and over again - with enough variety in pace, direction and spin that you have to stay on your toes, but there's no attempt at realism. It's a personal call as to which cricket game is best - I think Real Cricket 15 involves a lot more skill and thought, but then again Stick Cricket is good for 5 minutes on the bus!

Against a static ground/player backdrop, the ball comes down towards your stick man in real time - tap left or right at exactly the right moment and you'll drive, pull or cut the ball to success. It's a rather random process and not easy, not helped by not even being able to move around on the crease - be warned!

In practice it's good addictive fun though, as there's never a long enough pause between one ball and the next to get bored. Making it perfect for a casual game in a queue or when travelling - a five over goal takes about two minutes to play through and you're 'done'. And no, you can't switch sides and bowl - this is all about batting. 'Stick Bowling', anyone?

As part of the freemium/career aspects, you can customise your own character - does this look like me? Well, not really... Note the misleading advert bar at the bottom - I do wish ad farms would block this nonsense...

In order to get a career mode out of Stick Cricket, extra elements are needed, of course. In this case, a manager, an agent, legends of the games, and more....

In addition to in-game ads, Stick Cricket is now monetised with a system of in-game purchases of virtual currency, though to be fair the lowest £1.50 purchase will still give you enough dollars to be able to do some buying and dealing in bettering your team - I doubt there's a reason to go further unless you're obsessive.

Quick to install, even quicker to play, you can download this for free here in the Store. It's not for die hard cricket enthusiasts though!