Ashes Cricket 2013 so hilariously buggy it's pulled from sale

In a collapse that English batsmen would stand and applaud, the Ashes Cricket 2013 game has been pulled from sale just days after its release, having been widely condemned as pathetically buggy and clearly unfinished.

A number of videos created by gamers have appeared on YouTube showing just how abysmal the game was. Available for Wii U, Xbox 360, PS3 and PC, one important omission seems to be an animation for fielders catching the ball.

This hilarious sequence shows two Sri Lankan fielders unable to pick up the ball, or even move like human beings, while the clip embedded below shows a bunch of Australian players standing still while the bowler fails to pick up the ball. Players run through each other, and throw the ball at bizarre, unnatural angles. Feel free to make your own jokes down in the comments.

The game currently has a combined user rating of 1.1 out of 10 on Metacritic, with all of the positive ratings clearly advanced works of sarcasm.

"You guys put your name on and release Ashes Cricket 13, simultaneously you close the Facebook website for the game. It is pretty obvious that you know that you put out a hot steaming turd instead of a game," gamer Varun Seth wrote on the publisher's Facebook page. "You guys should be ashamed. Really ashamed."

Publisher 505 Games, a relatively small company best known for the Sniper Elite and Payday series, blamed Aussie developer Trickstar Games.

"At the start of the project, 505 Games received all assurances from the developer that the [graphics] engine was up to the task of creating a dynamic, cutting-edge cricket game for the modern age across multiple platforms," the publisher said in a statement to our sister site GameSpot, "and unfortunately those assurances were found to be misplaced."

The company apologised to fans and promised refunds all round. Ashes Cricket 2013 had been due out in June to coincide with the first England v Australia test series of the year, but was delayed until November after problems in development. The game is nowhere to be found on its official website.

"We are extremely disappointed that the product did not match our expectations," a spokesperson for the England and Wales Cricket Board, which granted its license to 505 Games, told the BBC, "and would like to extend sincere apologies to any supporters who purchased this product."

England continue their defence of the undersized urn in Adelaide on Thursday, having lost the first test match in Brisbane by a miserable 381 runs.

Is this the worst sports game ever made? Can England fight back and get the series draw they need to take home the dusty old bails? Have your say below, or over on our barmy Facebook page.