iPhone Game Developers World Championship: Match Report - England v India (Group C)

ENGLAND X2 Football 2010 (Exient)

VS INDIA Cricket T20 Super Sixers (Indiagames)

Whilst England’s latest generation of footballers may have underwhelmed in Rustenburg (and indeed elsewhere for much of the last 44 years), its cricketing counterparts have done rather better, recently securing a world trophy in the shortened T20 form of the game.

20/20 might be something Pocket Gamer readers normally associate with vision (most recently with the vision required to get the best out of Nintendo's 3DS), but in England it’s seen as the only realistic chance of sporting success, outside of this iPhone Game Developers World Championship, of course.

By a strange of twist fate then, this evening’s Group C clash pitched on a length these two classic English sporting inventions against each other: Exient’s X2 Football 2010 vied for supremacy with Indiagames’ Cricket T20 Super Sixers.

Kick Off: 7.30pm, 18th June The critical view: England took to the field in traditional whites, hoping to follow up its memorable victory over USA with three more points. Exient duly delivered.

Boasting more clubs than a golfing convention, X2 Football 2010 was revelling in the iStadium’s atmosphere, only stopped on the goal-line by some last gasp licensing issues.

The English weren't to be frustrated for long, though, having collected a prestigious Silver Award in the midfield, Exient's slick controls and incisive passing slicing open the Indian back-line before crashing a volley high into the nets.

Their opponents were unbowed and continued to play their own game. India’s touchscreen implementation, involving swipes, slides, and slashes, engineered a long-range cover drive for Cricket T20 Super Sixers from a free-kick just outside the box. However, whilst the shot was sweetly struck and sailed over the defensive boundaries, it was ultimately caught behind by the keeper and the score remained 1-0 to St George’s lads.

Thereafter, it was quite a tight encounter on the field, with good running on both sides but most attacks being comfortably fielded until, with only minutes left to the half-time whistle, disaster struck for the subcontinent’s finest.

X2 Football 2010’s midfield trio of Bluetooth, local, and online wi-fi multiplayer combined well in the centre before unleashing a shot that nicked off the edge of an unlucky defender's shin-pad and looped into the nets making it two-nil to England at the interval.

Half time: England 2 – 0 India The Fans’ 45: With a suitable rollicking delivered by India's exasperated coach, Cricket T20 Super Sixers crossed the boundary for the second half with renewed vigour.

Its ever passionate countrymen rallied manfully behind the cause, and the title's two difficulty levels manufactured a reward. 2-1 and game on.

25 different strokes (by which the late Gary Coleman was surely impressed) looked set to have completed the comeback for Indiagames until, in the dying moments, X2 Football 2010's Dream Team mode sent the home crowd into fantasy realm with a scorcher that left the cricketers well and truly stumped.

Full time: England 3 – 2 India Latest Group Tables - Fixtures & Voting - Squads

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