Pinch Hitter

Arrow-key arcade cricket: real World Cups 1983-2023, IPL 2026, real grounds and quick matches.

Pinch Hitter is pick-a-direction arcade batting, drawn in crisp 2D from the broadcast camera behind the striker. Every match is a 5-over chase with 5 wickets in hand.

🏆 Three ways to play

• World Cup. Pick any ICC 50-over World Cup from 1983 or 1992 to 2023 and a side. Play that edition's real fixtures with its real squad in the kit it wore, climb the live points table, carry your points into the Super Six or Super Eight, then survive the knockouts. Every match is harder than the last; lose a knockout and you can retry it. Your run is saved and resumes where you left it.
• IPL 2026. Take one of the ten franchises through the full league, then Qualifier 1, the Eliminator, Qualifier 2 and the Final, with real squads, kits and home grounds.
• Quick match. Two random international sides, today's squads, an easy target. Instant play.

🏏 How it plays

• One boundary ball. For every delivery exactly ONE shot direction (off, straight or leg) can clear the rope. Read the line and the length, pick right, and time it perfectly. Pick wrong and you are fielded, or worse.
• Shots all round the ground. Hold up for lofted shots and down for cross-bat strokes: drives, cuts, pulls, hooks, sweeps and slogs, plus the modern T20 shots: ramp, scoop, dab, switch hit, helicopter and pick-up. 32 attacking strokes in all. Fours fly where the stroke sends them, and edges can race away too.
• Attack or work it. A ring on the pitch shows where each ball lands: green means go for it, amber means work it for ones and twos. When the rate climbs, the game tells you when to take the risk.
• Real running. Batters run on their own side of the pitch, slide the bat over the crease and turn, and can be run out going for the second.
• Confidence sixes. PERFECT timing fills the confidence meter; spend a full meter on a PERFECT stroke to clear the rope.
• Difficulty that climbs. An opening match is forgiving; a final brings quicker bowling, more swing and turn, tighter timing and a ring that cuts off anything less than perfect.
• Real grounds. Tournament matches are played at the real stadium, with its landmarks, stands of the era, pitch colour, day or night lighting and a home crowd waving flags.
• Six bowling styles, thirty named deliveries. Fast, swing, medium, off-spin, leg-spin and slow bowlers, from a 150 km/h rocket to a loopy flighted leg-break.
• Fifteen ways to get out. Bowled, chop-on, LBW, LBW on the sweep, caught behind, top edge to the keeper, caught in the slips, bat-pad at short leg, caught and bowled, caught in the deep, caught on the rope, stumped, stumped charging down the track, hit wicket and run out.
• Zing stumps. LED bails and stumps light up and scatter when you are beaten.
• Three cameras. Broadcast, keeper cam and batter's-eye view.
• Procedural sound. Bat cracks, bounces, crowd roars and the clatter of the stumps are all synthesised live in Web Audio; nothing is streamed.
• Keyboard or touch. Arrow keys on desktop; thumb pads in landscape and a D-pad in portrait on phones and tablets.
• 13 Wavedash achievements: Maiden Six, Perfect Over, Hooked, Dug Out, Zing Stays Dark, Run Machine and more, each unlocking kit in the Kit Locker: bat skins, helmet colours, Zing LED colours, stadium time of day and six celebrations. Every piece is earnable by playing; the optional Kit Locker Pass unlocks the lot at once.
• Leaderboards: highest 5-over score and fastest chase, with your own standing and the top 10 on the scorecard.
• Cloud save: achievements, kit, best scores, your World Cup and IPL runs in progress and your trophy cabinet follow your Wavedash account.
• Instant restart: tap or press SPACE at the scorecard to play again.