White Ball Cricket Has Become A Science

You’ve heard all about Peter Moores’ data. You’ve seen analysts like Gemma Broad staring at their laptops. But do you know everything else that goes on behind the scenes in limited overs cricket? Unsurprisingly perhaps, white ball cricket is fast becoming a science.

Whereas players used to prepare for big matches by eating chicken and rice, and sinking three pints instead of the usual six, modern cricketers are increasingly treated like athletic specimens with every single aspect of their performance put under the microscope.

England’s white ball squads are now selected after meticulous research at the National Cricket Performance Centre and the University of Loughborough. Everything from players’ speed and agility is tested … and, of course, their ability to hit the ball miles.

Raphael Brandon, who is Head of Science, Medicine and Innovation at England Wales Cricket Board (yes unbelievably the ECB employ someone with this job title) recently explained how everything works:

We’ve identified a few key areas in which we can innovate and one of those is power hitting in batting and boundary count which is a key indicator of your probability of winning.

There are potential improvements to be made in that space, but this also allowed us to collect data from some of the world’s best players, to see the ball and bat speeds that they generate.

We have only just started – it will take another year to get the performance benefits from it.

Although I roll my eyes somewhat when I hear someone talk about ‘key indicators that enhance a team’s probability of winning’, at least it’s reassuring to know that everything is being done to help our cricketers reach their potential. Joe Root certainly seems onboard:

It’s all about getting better at hitting more consistently; it’s good to practice it and make sure we are doing everything we can to better ourselves. It was interesting to see how far guys can hit it. A few surprised themselves, a few didn’t surprise us, people like Jos Buttler hitting it nearly 110m – that’s phenomenal hitting.

As one of the best white ball players in the world, it’s no surprise that Jos Butler is a fan of this science malarkey too. He believes England’s range hitting sessions are tremendous practice and they really help him to hone his skills:

I try and get my trajectory right – that’s something I work on. When you start trying to elevate the ball then you lose distance.

When we start hearing things like this then we know cricket has changed irrevocably. Normally you’d expect Nick Faldo or Rory McIlroy to come out with comments about flight and trajectory.

It was good to see the lads put everything they’d learned into practice during the recent victories over the West Indians. Although England still have something to prove in limited overs cricket, we’re certainly one of the best prepared teams out there. If Eoin Morgan doesn’t lift the 2019 World Cup then it won’t be for lack of effort … or relative funding.

It’s not just the team’s management that needs to know their stuff, however. It’s also vital for enthusiastic sports bettors to study the odds before games. Always look at recent stats, form, and previous results.

Managing one’s bankroll is also important. You wouldn’t want to spend your entire kitty on just one game. Many leading bookmakers tender cricket odds to make life easy before placing bets. Betway are a great example.

Although most England fans will be focusing on the upcoming Ashes, it will be interesting to see how our white ball specialists do in the subsequent ODIs. Unlike the West Indies, England are dead certs to qualify for the 2019 World Cup, and this will be our first visit to Australia since our white ball revolution.

Of course, we don’t even want to think about what happened the last time England played an ODI down under. Oh how times have changed. Whereas Peter Moores’s outfit were something of an anachronism, England are now an innovative team at the forefront of sports science.

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1 comment

  • So we have proper scientists there educating the players and Buttler comes out saying that when you elevate the ball you lose distance?

    Rubbish. Increase the angle between the ball’s trajectory and the floor and you increase distance until you get to 45 degrees. After that you lose distance. If you want to hit the ball as far as possible, you hit at 45 degrees.

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