With the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 heating up quite nicely. Quite a few close matches, some brilliant individual performances and a few upsets have kept the temperature up.

Now as we are heading into the business end of the tournament (the quarter finals will begin soon), keeping up with the latest scores is becoming very important for most people. And since cricket is the undisputed national past-time, people find some way or the other of keeping themselves updated with the latest from the match.

However, mobile apps are just making lives easier, with the latest scores available on the move. If you happen to have an iOS based device -- the iPhone, iPod Touch or the iPad, there are a lot of apps which may be of interest to you. Here are our top 5 picks.

Download these and stay updated!

1. ESPNcricinfo: Free

This app is backed by probably the most reliable cricket news and score website. ESPNcricinfo will keep users updated about the world cup and all the other cricket action happening around the world-domestic league action in various countries.

If you enable push updates, a notification is sent any time a wicket falls or a cricketing milestone is achieved. And Indians are generally obsessed with records!

This is an app to download for this world cup, and the cricket action all year round.

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Open this app and the home page shows you the matches currently in progress, with the team totals in short.

Click on any of the match tabs, and this takes you to the next screen which has a lot of interesting stuff. Detailed scores, run rate display, current batsmen's individual scores, how much the recently dismissed batsmen scored etc.

However, you don't need to click anywhere to get the detailed scoreboard -- just tilt the device to open the complete scoreboard!

Flick right and left to see batsmen scores, bowling figures, partnership details etc. Not only this, the videos section has 20 second clips of highlights from that match, which is a huge value add.

Now you will know who dismissed whom!

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This app's name gives the impression that it'll only offer the scores from the world cup. However, the app, at the time of testing, was offering scores from other matches being played globally -- domestic competitions in Australia, Sri Lanka, and South Africa and also Guateng vs. Namibia!

Coming back to the World Cup, and we have the latest scores from the on-going games, the match schedule, team details and even venue details. The only thing we did not like about this app is the complicated layout of the world cup points table.

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This app will not give you the latest scores. Which is why you are probably wondering why this app is on our list.

There are valid reasons -- results and tables. What this app does best is offer results of all matches played in this world cup with complete scorecards and details.

If you are in the middle of a heated argument with a friend about some previous encounter, this is the app to pull out and deploy. Also, the group stage points tables are available instantly.

The future fixtures are listed in a hard to miss format, and the squads are available as a ready reckoner for you when you are trying to change the fantasy cricket team!

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Okay, this one is not a dedicated app for just this edition of the cricket world cup.

ScoreCenter will keep you posted with scores from sports around the world -- be it American Football, or basketball or football.

You can also set favourite teams for individual sports or tournaments, which highlights any updates from the match of that team. The app essentially tries to offer the maximum possible scores, without any additional, (and maybe unwanted), frills like animations or videos.

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