Cricket 26 is a 2025 cricket video game developed by Australian developer Big Ant Studios and published by French publisher Nacon.^[1] It was released on 19 November 2025, and is the official video game of the 2025-26 Ashes series. It is the ninth game in Big Ant Studio's series of cricket games, being the sequel to Cricket 24.

Cricket 26 is based on an updated version of the same engine that powered Cricket 24. It features graphical enhancements like ray-traced lighting, dynamic weather effects, realistic bowling actions, and updated fielding animations. Batting, bowling, and fielding mechanics have been tweaked.

Cricket 26 features enhanced gameplay mechanics similar to those present in previous editions in the series. Multiplayer features like Pro Team, Auction House, academy, and content drops are also present. Certain Pro Team features require microtransactions. Players have the ability to create and acquire community-generated content like stadiums, equipment, and players.^[2] A new gameplay mode is Management Career, which lets the player take charge of teambuilding activities like recruitment, player development, lineup construction, and match strategy. Team confidence meters and optional objectives have also been introduced.

The game includes both domestic and international cricket, with Ireland, the West Indies, and Pakistan being newly added teams.^[3] Domestic competitions include the Indian Premier League, The Hundred, and the Caribbean Premier League.^[4] In addition, It includes an enhanced mode focusing on the Ashes which allows the player to take charge of activities like net sessions and press conferences for either England or Australia. New Zealand's Super Smash league has been removed. Games can now be affected by environmental conditions like light and precipitation, and the Duckworth–Lewis–Stern method can come into play.

Cricket 26 was released worldwide on 19 November 2025 on Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. The Windows version is digital-only and is available on both the Xbox Store and Steam. The PlayStation and Xbox Series X/S versions are available both digitally and on physical discs. The Xbox One version is digital-only and is available in the Xbox store.^[5]

Aside from the Standard edition, a Pro Team edition includes additional credits for use in microtransactions. English is the only supported language.

Critics praised the graphics, game mechanics, improved AI, and on-field gameplay of Cricket 26, saying that it is an iterative but significant improvement over Cricket 24.^[6] However, they noted the presence of frequent crashes and graphical bugs even after several patches in the first week after release.^[7] The new game modes were criticised, and some features were entirely non-functional at release. User reviews on Steam are mostly positive.

The game features a mix of fully licensed tournaments and leagues, allowing players to compete with real team branding, kits, and stadiums.