NZ'S Cricket Technology Raises a Few Eyebrows

BY: Mark Geenty of NZPA Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, June 11, NZPA

New Zealand might have struggled on the field early in their West Indies tour but their opposition and the England Cricket Board (ECB) are both eyeing up their state-of-the-art computer programme.

The brainchild of Black Caps video analyst Zach Hitchcock, who took three months to develop it last year, it is commonly recognised as the premier programme in world cricket. It analyses every aspect of a player's performance in a given match in the space of seconds and every ball bowled, faced or fielded can be replayed instantly, giving team management a quickfire breakdown of what went on. It is also a valuable tool for studying an opposition side before a series, and has meant a laptop computer is now a key component of every player's kit bag. Coach Denis Aberhart calls on it constantly during each game.

Hitchcock flew to England after the abandoned Pakistan tour last month at the request of the ECB to help trial it during the test against Sri Lanka at Lord's. They were immediately impressed and it is possible they could purchase the entire programme. Hitchcock, who played senior club cricket in Taranaki but is no relation to New Zealand's latest international Paul Hitchcock, said the West Indies board had also shown interest during the current tour and he was putting together a trial package which could also be used in their domestic cricket. Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have also previously made inquiries about taking it on board.

The system is child's play to use and all the information can be fed through a cable to a player's laptop with the appropriate software so they can study what went right or wrong. For example, captain Stephen Fleming can view every delivery bowled to him by Mervyn Dillon, every good length ball on off stump he faced, or every false shot he played.

Hitchcock, a Massey University computer science graduate who has been in the job for 2-1/2 years, refined the system during the South Africa tour in 2000 when he used to have to lug around a heavy case which the players had to come to him to view. ``With the old system I had to operate it for them, with this one they can use it themselves straight away.'' It still means he has to sit at his computer all day at the ground, categorising every delivery depending on its line and length, every shot played and how many errors were made. ``Because you're watching every ball and concentrating on it you pick up a lot of what's going on. It's seven hours of full-on concentration and your eyes get tired. ``It's pretty hard work and you're stuffed at the end of it, especially a five-day test.''

New Zealand Cricket is also set to expand its use this season to all the six first-class associations, so there will be no hiding from the selectors for prospective Black Caps graduates. Chairman of the panel Sir Richard Hadlee and his fellow selectors will use the system to study fringe players. First-class coaches will have to be trained on its use, and it will mean video cameras being installed above the sightscreens at all venues. ``We'll have a copy of every first-class game played in New Zealand with all the stats at the high performance centre,'' Hitchcock said.

NZPA
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