Hitting Against the Spin: How Cricket Really Works

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Strangely, the book contained only one reference, and a tangential one at that, to Duckworth-Lewis, a subject which I'm sure would have warranted an entire chapter of its own. Chapters were often linked to specific seasons or teams, which meant they had relatable case studies and weren't just abstract, and there was also less extrapolation of what could happen in future. The tethered cat analogy is good, but equally the question from Trevor Bayliss asking 'Do we need to change or get better at what we are already doing?

One way of viewing this book is as cricket's A Brief History of Time, a layman's guide to deep complexity, an act of communication as much as one of science.But charts and tables should be used to clarify and bring the data to life, but in this book every time I come across a new table or chart, I have to spend 5 minutes trying to work out what is going on - axes without labels, different shades of colour with no explanation. Hitting Against the Spin’ is an object lesson in how to use data and analytics to elucidate the science and structure of cricket. He is currently the Lead Analyst with the England One-Day and T20 teams, and Strategy Consultant for the Kolkata Knight Riders. In an era of big-data, how are leaders in sport, business, politics and education supposed to use the power of this new tool productively? My interest in T20 has heightened after reading the chapters about data analysis in t20 tournaments which seem to create the best circumstances for data driven insight in cricket.

It’s credited to two authors but at least one chapter has an authorial “I” and you have to deduce that’s Nathan. I really wanted to like this book--to read about how one could use basic numeracy skills to get a deeper understanding of cricket, and explode some myths (or at least question some received wisdom) about the game. Today we can track every ball to within millimetres; its release point, speed and bounce point are measured as are how much the ball swings, how much it deviates off the pitch, the exact height and line that it passes the stumps, and multiple other variables. But as you read the book it becomes increasingly clear that Leamon is not a great analyst--he has much more in common with the innumerate fools. There is nothing wrong with going to a T20 bash a few times a season, having a great time and then forgetting all about it and never watching Test cricket, but if that is you, this may not be of interest.Oversimplifying a bit - the book is about analytics in the game and how data helps identify certain trends that the naked eye misses.