Sponsored: Big Data: The Future of World Class Cricket

The world we live in generates over 5 million gigabytes of data daily and the need to unravel it is becoming increasingly critical. Within an organisation, one estimate by market researcher IDC states that data doubles every 18 months. Indeed the entire world’s data doubles every two years. Clearly, Big Data is no longer a trend waiting to happen - it is here and while it is an opportunity to be able to garner so much of data, the challenge is that of making sense of this humungous amount of data. And getting the Big Data opportunity wrong is not really an option, when insights from data can provide a competitive edge. The fact is that smart decisions can only be made when this chaotic data becomes smart data. By crunching these massive numbers with powerful big data analytics technologies we may finally have the smart data we need for better decision-making in every sphere of life—from business to governments, and even society and sports, essentially, anywhere where a decision needs to be taken. [caption id=“attachment_2179465” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Thinkstock[/caption] However any right application of analytics technology requires three basic traits - scalability, speed and cognitive analysis. Only those technologies that can present vast quantities of structured and unstructured data quickly in the right context are the ones that will provide genuine insights. Not only will these insights enhance our knowledge but also lead to proactive decision making which can redefine the future of all our ventures. In the world of sports, such as cricket, the same challenges and opportunities are evident, and the answer may very well lie with Big Data analytics. High-Impact Sports Analytics On a languid Saturday in the end of February, the Australia vs New Zealand match at the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup hinged on two bowlers - Mitchell Starc and Trent Boult. Both players performed remarkably. Boult led the Kiwis to victory as he secured five wickets for 27 runs in ten overs. However, it was clear that Starc’s six wickets for 28 runs in nine overs came during critical moments of the match, making him a more effective bowler. And as Boult was declared Man of the Match it was clear that the impactful bowler was clearly Starc. But how can we really tell who was better? With Big Data analytics we can see through the haze to answer precisely this kind of question.

In their entirety, the statistics pouring out of the World Cup can be overwhelming, but for world-class teams these numbers paint a prophetic picture. Internationally, other sports like baseball and basketball have already adopted statistical analysis to enhance their performance. It is only a matter of time before we add cricket to the list of technologically enhanced sports. Thankfully that day may not be far as the sport of cricket becomes even more digitised with the adoption of the Zing Wicket System and high-precision player tracking. We can see that the quantity of data at our disposal is growing significantly. By quantifying the subtleties of the game, such as bowling actions, batting stances, player ergonomics and delivery placements on the pitch, we have all the ingredients needed to employ data analytics with full force. To get a taste of what that would look like we only need to look at IBM’s ScoreWithData (@scorewithdata) campaign on Twitter.  **“Score With Data” Strikes Big** IBM is no stranger to the world of sports. The company’s successful analytics projects at the Wimbledon Championships, considered the most prestigious of the tennis Grand Slams; and the Augusta Masters Golf tournament are widely known. So it’s only natural for the Cricket World Cup to be IBM’s next arena to demonstrate technology leadership and deliver unparalleled insights to fans. IBM is delivering dynamic profiles, team comparisons and other insights directly to fans on Twitter, thanks to its advanced cloud analytics technology. To this end, IBM has partnered with Wisden India - a global leader in cricket reporting for its data needs. By analysing Wisden’s data with IBM’s industry-leading technology we are witnessing a refreshing engagement between fans and the sport of cricket. The IBM Analytics Engine takes the Impact Index process, uses its unique cognitive capabilities for data mining, calculation and correlation and then arrives at the Impact Index Score which is showcased in an easily understandable visual manner. IBM’s analytics technologies have processed millions of tweets related to the World Cup. Among the specific IBM tools used are Cloudant for storing tweets crawled from Twitter having match/tournament specific hashtags. According to specific needs tweets are fetched from Cloudant to generate events specific to every match. In addition, to automate the process of getting tweets from Twitter and generating events corresponding to every match given the schedule of the tournament IBM has hosted the application on Bluemix. IBM Data Curation and Integration capabilities on BigInsights and Social Data Accelerator (SDA) have been used to extract social insights from streaming Twitter feed in real time, for instance about top brands buzzing, top batsmen, top celeb tweets, etc. Moreover, IBM uses Text Analytics and Natural Language Processing to perform fine grained temporal analytics around events (short lifespan but important events, like boundaries, sixes and wickets). And to analyse and present fan sentiment and answer questions like who fans think will win, or the player fans are betting on to be the most effective, IBM Social Media Analytics examines social discussion around teams, players, events, as well as examines sentiments across different entities and identifies topics that are trending. From a business perspective, advertisers can use the discussion to appropriately position their products and services. IBM Content Analytics examines large social content more deeply and tries to mimic human cognition and learning behaviour to answer complex questions like the impact of certain player or attributes determining the outcome of the game. And for professional cricketers these results can take on a whole new meaning. If technologies behind ScoreWithData are customised for cricket teams they can pave the way towards a higher level of performances. Similar systems could easily condense years of data and help teams make better decisions when it comes to team selection and game strategy. By combining data driven insights with years of experience and practice, even the most experienced professionals can make better decisions. Off the Pitch Analytics Analytics can also prove valuable to other aspects of the cricket ecosystem such as stadium managers and broadcasters. Stadium managers can optimize their resources by tracking the correlation between the pattern of audience attendance and team profiles. Critical planning decisions can be made by studying variables such as team popularity, seasonality and match significance. Insights gleaned from such metrics can then allow managers to provide the stadium audience with a better cricket viewing experience. On the other end, commentators in their role as the audience’s companions can easily sift through vast historical records, recurring patterns and player relationships in real-time. They in turn can make the sport come alive for fans through their commentary by using lightning fast results from cloud platforms. And once they are armed with the insights behind player and team decisions, they can paint a vividly informed picture for the audience, which not only entertains but educates. There are no limits to the possibilities of the benefits of Big Data in the world of cricket. The ability to make agile decisions in the face of overwhelming quantities of data is a necessity for all world-class institutions. From sports teams to enterprises. The ability to evolve, adapt and enhance the way one operates in the changing landscape is what eventually determines survival. So whether it’s facing off against a googly or preparing for an unpredictable market trend - the ability to leverage Big Data is key. All that is needed are the right technologies to see the change coming and all that remains is for leaders to hit the proverbial ball out of the park.