CricViz analysis features in the Telegraph’s look at the lack of new ball wickets for England in T20s and how David Willey isn’t part of the squad in the shortest format.
CricViz have an agreement in place to provide The Telegraph newspaper in the UK with advanced data analysis and visualizations, delivered to their team of award-winning journalists via our team of analysts.
This week, Tim Wigmore looked at England’s biggest weakness – their lack of new ball potency and why David Willey is the best solution to address that issue. And yet Willey now finds himself out of England’s T20 squad in the upcoming series against Australia.
Wigmore identifies lack of wickets with the new ball England’s biggest issue, explaining that “In T20 internationals this year, they have conceded 299 runs in the first six overs – snaring just three wickets while conceding 10 runs an over.”
Wigmore mentions that David Willey is arguably England’s best T20 bowler in the powerplay, but has maybe been overlooked because of his lack of effectiveness in the middle and death overs. He mentions “When it comes to taking such early wickets, Willey is a bowler nonpareil in English history, the leading English wicket-taker in both T20 and T20 international cricket. Such new-ball aggression is not an indulgence: Willey’s international economy rate in the Powerplay, 7.1, is almost two runs an over less than any quick selected against Australia bar Archer.”
Wigmore goes to use CricViz’s impact model to describe the value of early wickets, “One iron law of T20 is that the earlier wickets come, the more valuable they are. Each wicket in the Powerplay saves a bowling team an average of nine runs; by the 15th over, the value has halved.” He goes to say David Willey is England’s best in terms of this skill, “No T20 bowler in history, indeed, has taken more than David Willey’s 83 wickets in the Powerplay at a better strike rate than his wicket every 19 balls.”
To read the Telegraph article in full, head to https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cricket/