Analyze this
The role of the Cricket analyst and the marginal gains
Analyze this...
Karthikeya Manchala (@Static_a357) and Machel Hewitt look at the importance of the role of the analyst in West Indies cricket.
It is 31st March 2016. Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. A raucous Indian crowd celebrates the wicket of Johnson Charles with the West Indies still needing 77 off 41 balls to reach the World Twenty20 Final.
Enter Andre Russell with a career average under 20 in T20 Internationals. Earlier, coach Phil Simmons was briefed about Russell’s weakness against the slower ball through video footage. Russell was asked to anticipate this as a plan from India and delayed his bat swing just a bit. What followed was destruction - Russell blew away India with a breezy 43 off 20 balls and deposited the slower ball bouncers way back into the stands.
This is one of the many instances the eventual champions benefited from data behind the scenes. Gaurav Sundararaman, who was the analyst for the team, added massive value because of his experience working with IPL franchises and his venue knowledge.
In the match against South Africa, Sundararaman recognized the Nagpur pitch’s tendency to take turn, as well as the opposition batsmen’s vulnerability against off spin. Chris Gayle bowled his only overs in the tournament in that match and took the price scalps of David Miller and Rilee Rossouw.
Coming back to the semi-final at Wankhede, analysis showed that short balls are particularly productive for boundary hitting. The following stats paint a picture:
West Indies bowled only 7 short balls and conceded 12 runs.
India bowled 14 short balls which were walloped for 39 runs.
By contrast, in the lamentable West Indies 2019 ODI World Cup, there were some questionable on-field tactics that outraged some viewers. The unwillingness to move away from the short ball barrage against teams better equipped to play it and the reckless shots against the opposition’s best bowlers to name a few.
It is clear that behind-the-scenes work can hugely boost performance on the field and whilst this may seem like a long prelude it is necessary to ground these facts given the tendency within the sports industry to brush off the importance of data and undermine its value.
Following the West Indies 2019 World Cup debacle and the completion of a comprehensive review by CWI’s Selection Task Force into the selection process and system for all West Indies cricket. Wholesale changes were made to the selection structure and policy.
The Selection Task Force’s four-month review benchmarked cricket selection systems around the world and incorporated feedback and contributions from current and former players, coaches, administrators, franchise CEOs and nearly 2,700 fans across the Caribbean.
The consequence was a new team-specific selection panel for the West Indies men’s and women’s and youth teams. This comprised of a Lead Selector (lead selector), a selector and head coach. These full-time selectors are supported by a selection analyst to provide performance data to support selection considerations plus a minimum of three scouts to ensure cricketers throughout the region are closely watched and evaluated.
AR Srikkanth was hired as the team analyst in November joining up with the West Indies team prior to their T20 series with Afghanistan. Srikkanth has been working as a cricket analyst for over a decade and his most notable role is in the Knight Riders family. He has worked with the Kolkata Knight Riders for 11 consecutive seasons as well as the Trinbago Knight Riders since 2016. He has also had short stints with Indian domestic teams and the Comilla Victorians in the Bangladesh Premier League.
Srikkanth has been a part of two title winning campaigns apiece for Kolkata (2012 and 2014) and Trinbago (2017 and 2018). In a recent Instagram Live event with Kadamba Cricket, Srikkanth spoke about the recruitment of Russell and Sunil Narine for KKR. Moreover, one of his biggest tactical successes in the IPL was the promotion of Narine as a pinch hitter.
While Srikkanth’s role in T20 franchise cricket is scouting plus in-game analysis, it is only the latter that will take priority in his contract with West Indies. This includes preparation of brief data catalogs or presentations about opposition players’ weaknesses, venue data, relevant video clips and match-up trends. In addition, he will be in charge of spotting trends within the match and help in decision making, whether that be changing the field set based on signals from batsmen or making a change in the batting order. This, however, will be challenging during the ongoing England tour where he will be working remotely.
Simmons, who is known to be very receptive to analytics, would definitely benefit from this data and will be responsible for filtering out the information and relaying it to the players.
Srikkanth will also be responsible for assisting in the training and development of West Indian analysts in the Caribbean. As laid out by Cricket West Indies President Ricky Skerritt, where non-West Indians are appointed to key roles they are expected to help in the development of West Indians so that people can eventually be promoted from within the region.
The talent scouts in the region will have a direct impact on the decisions made by the selection panel. The selection of the senior West Indies team for the England tour has seen the promotion of many young talents suggesting the future is bright. Talented youngsters such as Joshua Da Silva, Preston McSween, Keon Harding and Anderson Phillip are all under the age of 24 and getting an invaluable opportunity to be part of a ground-breaking international tour.
Going forward the regional talent scouts’ input on West Indies A teams, U-19 teams and emerging teams will be invaluable. Picking the right A-team players is extremely crucial - the likes of Chemar Holder and Rahkeem Cornwall who are all in the main 14 man squad for the England tour all received consistent runs in A-team cricket before their promotions.
The changes made behind the scenes may sound obvious to cricket boards awash with money and resources but for an impoverished region stacked with hoards of untapped potential this may just be where the marginal gains can be made.
A look at the West Indies record since the selection system overhaul tells a positive tale thus far.
Tests - Played 1 won 1
ODIs - Played 12 won 7 lost 5
T20Is -Played 11 won 5 lost 5 drawn 1