Data in Cricket

When asked to pick a data-related topic, I had to include Cricket. Everyone who knows me knows that Spring is my favourite season, not only because it starts to get warmer but also because I get to spend up to 7 hours on a cricket field chasing a ball for the next 6 months!

Data is the focal point of everything we do at Techyard, whether helping clients find the right candidate with the right skillset or supporting a candidate with the perfect opportunity. I am fascinated by how data shapes our careers and the choices we make as consumers. As an avid sports fan, I used a graph to show how it affects the sport I am most enthusiastic about, Cricket. 

In recent years, Cricket has significantly benefited from advanced analytics, which have evaluated each player's strengths and weaknesses. Data in Cricket allows players, coaches, and fans alike to keep up with the players' statistics, such as runs, wickets, averages, and strike rates.

With the invention of T20 cricket and numerous leagues worldwide, Cricket has become a game of performing or perishing. More coaches use data to analyse their teams' strengths, weaknesses, and opposition. Even for fans, the data adds a layer of insight they could enjoy while watching the match live from their living room!

Playing as a batsman for my local club and always wanting to improve myself, I turned to data at the end of the 2022 cricket season to help me improve my performance. I used the Play Cricket website (Play Cricket) to evaluate my scores. It helped me to realise I wasn't contributing to the team's cause as much as I would have liked to. More importantly, the data helped me realise the kind of bowlers (spinners) I struggled against.

I decided to take action against it and, as a result, reached out to Gio Colussi and his 3-Step Simple Batting process to help me overcome my failings against the spinners and enjoy the sport again! Gio is a Batting Performance Specialist who has supported numerous professional and international cricketers in improving their performance. It is done remotely, so I did not have to travel to Cape Town, South Africa, as much as I would love to do so!

The runs weren't coming during the season, and I had a quick catch-up call with Gio on July 23 after Match no 12, where he made me focus on the process, not just the runs. I started to feel confident in my ability to manage self-doubt, detached myself from the outcome and focused on the process of watching the ball. Consequently, I noticed an uprise in my form from Match no . 20, finishing the last six games with an average of 49 with scores of 110, 29, 51, 36, 49, and 21, averaging close to 50, including a score of 110*. This led to a massive increase in my contribution to the team's runs scored, from 5.82% to 13.12%. Moreover, I scored 386 runs this season compared to last season's 201, improving my average from 10 to 20! 

As the days get lighter and the cricket season approaches in April, I am keen to see if I can do even better than last season while adhering to Gio's process and principles.