Analyzing Team Performance

When a short ball is bowled to Ganguly in his rib cage, he is more likely to play it to backward short leg in the air rather than hooking it to fine leg. So, a fielder is placed accordingly at backward short leg. This is just a hypothetical example of the information used by various cricket teams. Imagine having this kind of detailed information about each player a team is playing against. Enter information-management systems for cricket. 

The information in these systems is gathered in the same manner as the TV broadcasters capture it with some additions here and there because of the difference in application. We’ll look at the information-management system–e-Cricket Pro by Phoenix Global Solutions–being used by the Indian cricket team. So let’s dig and find out what e-Cricket Pro is all about and how it helps the players and the team.

As with other cricket-analysis software, e-Cricket Pro also needs a very skilled data-entry operator with a good knowledge of cricket to feed the data live during a cricket match. The system used is a P4-based laptop with 256 MB RAM and an external video-capture box. 

There are various modules in the software, the major ones being the data capture, record to media and report generation. At the start of the match all details, including pitch condition, weather, toss, etc, are recorded. When the match starts, the details of each and every ball are recorded. As soon as the bowler comes to bowl, the video recording is started, which ends when the ball is dead. This done, the operator starts with a series of clicks on the GUI, recording each and every detail about the ball, including parameters like swing, comfort zone, stroke type and runs scored. Each ball takes around 4 to 8 mouse clicks to record. Once recorded the data is stored in an Oracle database at the backend.

During the lunch break or at the end of the match the players and the coach can view and analyze the data. The most important part of it is being able to query the videos database. The database can be queried on various parameters and even gives an option of replays, frame-by-frame video and split-screen video. These videos can later be burnt on a CD for various needs and for various players. 

A lot of tools and a lot of options. But are they being utilized to the fullest? Only the performance of the Indian team can

answer that.

Geetaj Channana