CricViz analysis features in the Telegraph’s detailing of Stuart Broad’s evolution as a bowler.
CricViz have an agreement in place to provide The Telegraph newspaper in the UK with advanced data analysis and visualisations, delivered to their team of award-winning journalists via our team of analysts.
With Broad on the cusp of becoming the second English bowler to reach 500 Test wickets, Tim Wigmore looks at the changes he made to become a more potent bowler than ever.
Focussing on Broad’s slight adjustment in length, Wigmore writes: “The most obvious change in Broad has been his fuller length. Pitching the ball up more in Tests, especially the new ball, simultaneously does two things: it increases the chances of being driven for four, but also of snaring the edge. This is a trade-off that Broad is now more willing to accept. Since the start of the 2018 summer, Broad’s length has been 41cm fuller at home than earlier in his career.”
Wigmore goes on to describe how that fuller length has affected the mode of his dismissals in the Test arena: “A fuller length aligned to a different approach has transformed how much Broad threatens the stumps. In 2016 and 2017, Broad took an lbw or bowled every 175 balls at home. Ever since, he has taken one every 74 balls in England. “
Broad’s change in approach was initially prompted by Kunal Manek, the analyst at Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club, who alerted Broad to the percentage of his deliveries batsmen were able to leave. As Wigmore describes: “when Broad was at his best, batsmen left under 15 per cent of deliveries, a figure that had risen to 28 per cent in some County Championship games last summer. Immediately, Broad focused on making the batsmen play more; he has referenced the importance of leave percentage in several interviews in recent days.”
Manek’s information came from his access to CricViz’s extensive database, an illustration of how valuable data can be to even the most experienced of pros.
To read the Telegraph article in full, head to https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cricket/