What Do You Make of the Numbers?
Recently a commentator in the final of the bi-lateral between India and
England stated that Mithali Raj had just made her 50th ODI 50. The tweet
below shows that you have to be careful how you read stats like that. It may
be true that this is the 50th time she has made a score between 50 and 100,
but not the 50th time she has passed the 50 mark in ODIs because on a number
of occasions she went on to 100 or 100+ .
Hypocaust brings up, directly or indirectly, the point about how we present
numbers. Cricket is a game that lends itself to all sorts of stats, in fact
new ones seem to appear everyday as more and more computer software becomes
available. In fact those that are fluent in the use of spreadsheets can
deduce a huge amount of data to answer all sorts of questions. Some of the
results are more interesting than useful, but there's little doubt that team
analysts derive all sorts of numbers from their work. Some will undoubtedly
be useful to the captain next time she takes the field, but I wonder if some
will simply serve to confuse.
And a related issue - as the ratio of support staff to the number of players
keeps increasing, I wonder at what point it all becomes too confusing. Also,
when we consider the women's game at what point should the money spent on
this reach the level at which it would be a better investment in the future
to support more players. Are we nearly there? There already? Got ages to go
yet? I wonder.
And Another (Numbers) Thing...
Sometimes too stats can reveal what somehow slips
through the consciousness. For instance, without scrolling down the
page, name the top three players who have been quickest to 1,000 ODI
runs, measured by balls faced.
Now we both know you've cheated and looked at the
graphic below...
I suspect everyone would have guessed at Meg Lanning and we
all know Nat Sciver's hitting power, but how did Chloe Tryon creep in
there?
Chloe Tryon takes a firm stride forward against
England in South Africa in 2016
Just to make the point even more strongly - take a look at this...
It rather emphasises the point.
Creeping under my radar at any event, 'hypocaust' asks why she
hasn't had a WBBL or KSL contract and it's a valid question. With that
sort of record she deserves a place among the best in the business.
I'll watch her this summer with closer interest.
County Commences
Sussex headed off in the quest to return to Division
One is something of a style in the first matches of the weekend over
the early Bank Holiday.
Bank Holiday Heroes
It was a remarkable weekend for Sussex Teams
Ella McCaughan 103* carrying her bat throughout the 40 overs
for the Under-15 side in their victory against Essex
Georgia Adams 106 from 104 balls against Derbyshire
Freya Davies takes 6-10 in the same game
Sussex best ever bowling is Holly Colvin 7-3 (in 2010). Freya lies in tied
2nd place with Charlotte Burton (in 2006).
This match was remarkable in giving Sussex the widest margin of victory in
its history.
In the match against Northants Sarah Taylor made 88 while Georgia Elwiss
took 3-13
My thanks to 'Hypocaust' for the stats
Well we've had the Challenge Match between two teams, each of which included
5 overseas players and the balance made up of Indian players, some
internationals and some not. It proved to be a tight game with one side
winning by one run on the very last ball of the match.
While a tight game is always worth a watch the spectacle was spoilt in a
number of ways. Firstly it did bust a myth in which I had believed for many
years, namely that the Indian nation were mad about cricket. Seems they are
not - few turned up to watch - very disappointing. We then had to
endure a long wait while to discover that the third umpire (I use the term
loosely) was not conversant with the Laws of the game. Surely, for a match
of this stature, and bearing in mind that the BCCI must have shelled out
plenty of cash to put this on, the salary of a qualified umpire would not
have added much to the bill.
The cricket also had it's unfortunate moments. Simple catches went down,
even when attempted by some of the more experienced players. Add to that a
slow wicket which was never going to provide an exciting match and what
could have been a revelation proved to be - well I hope not a revelation to
those who have not watched a women's game before.
Still I shouldn't be too churlish. The fact that this match occurred at all
has to be a positive sign and we must hope the beginning of something big in
the future. This will mean most of the major countries will have tournaments
to be proud of. Let's imagine a future where there's a WBBL, a women's IPL,
and a Kia Super League. Oh no, I forgot, the KSL is in its death throes.
Well a few years back we didn't have any tournaments of this nature, so I
guess two around the globe is something to look forward to.
Pakistan and Nepal See a Brighter Future
Pakistan have just announced that they are preparing
to launch a blind women's team. To date Nepal and the West Indies are the only other countries
to decided to set one up a couple of years ago.
What to say? Well - shame on some of the rather richer countries who have
not given this any thought while these two nations and one federation, despite considerable
financial constraints, have been brave enough to give this a try. Let's hope
others soon join them and these three sides are not simply left playing each
other all the time!
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