The iTunes App Store offers many great features to game players on the iPhone and iPod Touch.

One of my favourite features is how it allows for rapid price changes.

This can occasionally lead to getting burned when you’ve paid full whack for a game, only to see its price tumble minutes later when the title goes on sale.

Frustrating as this is, it’s never too bad because full whack by App Store standards isn’t much of a whack – ‘full’ price only ever means a few pounds at most, at least for now.

The quick-fire pricing changes in the App Store can also lead to some unexpected treats.

One such little gift came over the weekend after England wrapped up the Ashes series.

Hot on the heels of the final Test victory, publisher On-Sea decided to put their Touch Cricket game on sale. Such was their desire to help England fans revel in rare sporting success that they decided to make the title temporarily free.

The game had appeared on my radar before but I’d not taken the plunge to buy it. Seeing it going for free made it an instant acquisition.

As it turns out, the game is very good and I can heartily recommend it to cricket fans, whether you grab it now for nowt (it was still showing as free this afternoon) or end up paying for it.

I didn’t think there were any good cricket games for the iPhone/iPod but I’ve been proven wrong by Touch Cricket, which offers a very simple but addictive take on the sport.

The controls have been criticised in some of the user reviews in the App Store, but the game works just fine for me.

The game focuses on just batting rather than being a fully-fledged sim. I’ve had a lot of fun with it already, knocking up a very respectable best innings of 64 so far.

Don’t be rude and refuse On-Sea’s offer of a free gift – go grab this now.