Gamers are rightly approaching the annual update of the sporting game with an increasing amount of cynicism. Granted, it's not stopping many of them reaching for their plastic and sending the latest versions heading skywards in the charts. But in the case of International Cricket Captain 2006, it really should.

Oddly, following that opening paragraph, this is quite a good game. It's a cricket management title that effortlessly weaves in a quality match highlights engine to a bit of background strategy, and it allows you to get as involved as you like in each individual match.

In the main game you take control of a county of your choice (you can jump straight in as a national manager too, or you can earn the right), negotiate contracts, put your squad together, assign training, get your wickets prepared and choose your side. From there, assuming you want to get involved in a match, you select bowlers, aggression, declarations and such like, tailoring the highlights level to just how much you want to get into it.

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And it's really good fun. Okay, it's not the deepest sporting strategy game out there (by some distance), but it achieves a playable and entertaining balance that easily wipes away the hours.

So what's the problem? Quite simply that it's practically identical to last year's version. Online play has been added (although it wasn't working yet when we tried it), and statistics have been jiggled, yet conversely the terrific Ashes Series option of the 2005 edition has been taken out.

And what you're ultimately left with is exactly the same game that was packaged and released not twelve months ago, with a different cricketer on the box and the same - admittedly moderate - price tag applied. That even transcends the likes of EA and its token inclusion of the odd feature we'd happily lived without the year before, and it's even more troubling when you consider that a criticism aimed at the 2005 edition was its closeness to the version of the game released a few years before.

Certainly, if you've picked up a copy of International Cricket Captain in the past few years, there's no compelling reason to unite yourself with this one (save for a few bug fixes and updates). If you haven't, then this 2006 version is a great place to get started, as while it never touches greatness, it does offer very good value for its price.

Yet we can't help having concerns about what happens next year. Cricket is still enjoying a major resurgence in the UK, and that's unlikely to have dampened by this time next year. Does that mean that Xplosiv will again feel justified in banging out a virtually exact replica of an old game with new stats and a posh picture on the box? Here's hoping not. It may be, rightly, the best game of its type in the genre, but let's hope the developers don't get into the habit of fleecing those who part with their cash every year.

A great cricket management game if you own no other, but if you're already in possession of last year's version, there's no significant reason to upgrade.