Update (22nd Nov, 2021): The release of Cricket 22 has been slightly delayed, now arriving on December 2nd.

Original story: Big Ant Studios and Nacon have officially announced Cricket 22, which will launch on Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S on November 25, with a free upgrade available from last-gen to next-gen from launch.

Cricket 22 is said to deliver "the most robust, substantial game of cricket that fans have ever seen", featuring licensed competitions such as The Ashes, Big Bash T20, The Hundred and the CPL. In addition, the teams of Australia, England, The West Indies, New Zealand and Ireland are all licensed too.

In terms of gameplay, Cricket 22 will feature all-new bowling and fielding controls, a deep narrative-driven career mode, an overhauled series of tutorials, and brand-new commentary from Michael Atherton, Ian Healy, Mel Jones, Alison Mitchell and David Gower. It's sounding like a pretty substantial upgrade over Cricket 19.

The game is also said to benefit from the "latest generation of hardware" with super-quick loading times and a full suite of visual updates, complete with "incredible" real-time ray tracing elements.

Here's what Big Ant Studios CEO Ross Symons had to say about the announcement:

“The number of cricket fans that have been asking us about our next-generation cricket plans has been overwhelming. We’re incredibly excited by what we’re able to bring to the table with Cricket 22. This is our fifth cricket simulation title, and it really represents the cumulation of everything that we’ve learned on this ten-year (and counting) journey. We have the most passionate fans, and we can’t wait to get this into their hands.”

Will you be stepping up to the wicket with Cricket 22 this November? Let us know down below.