Hitting Against the Spin
Nathan Leamon and Ben Jones
How Cricket Really Works
CONSTABLE
First published in Great Britain in 2021 by Constable
Copyright Nathan Leamon and Ben Jones, 2021
Diagrams by David Andrassy/Andrassy Media
The moral right of the authors has been asserted.
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978-1-47213-123-2
Constable
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For Mum and Dad N. L.
For Dah B. J.
Contents
As has long been recognised, cricket is a team game where the path to victory involves overcoming a series of individual encounters. One thing I have come to realise is that the first encounter to overcome, the first battle to win, usually takes place within. These first battles manifest themselves in a variety of forms: struggles with technique, with self-doubt, with form, with injury, or in coping with the vagaries of selection. Talk about a corridor of uncertainty!
These internal conflicts mean that a professional cricketer is often in search of information: to improve his game, to inform his choices, to bolster his confidence, or to help him find his way back to his own best self. But in modern professional sport, where information is never in short supply but quality is, finding the right information is rarely straightforward.
Historically, as now, cricketers in search of that information could reflect on their own experience, listen to trusted coaches and other players, or fall back on the games received wisdom. Now though, in addition to those sources, they have another resource. One that has increased and enhanced our understanding of the game as never before.
Since the release of the seminal book and motion picture Moneyball , the role of data in sport has grown exponentially. In doing so it has not only increased the knowledge and tools available to coaches and players, but it has also created a new market for tech-savvy, sports-loving number-crunchers. Sports that I enjoy, such as American football, golf, rugby, horse racing as well as cricket, have led the way in presenting an alternative approach to analysis.
This method of 360-degree assessment has helped open the sport to a new audience and provided a market for more data-driven coverage and insights. And consequently, as a player, there are even fewer corners in which to hide!
When Nathan Leamon joined the ECB back in 2009, it was at a time when the landscape of data, the crunching of numbers and deciphering of crickets code was still in its infancy. My generation of players and the one above were probably quite stubborn, a bit more rigid in our ways when it came to the technological advances that the game was evolving towards.
If you cast your mind back to that golden era, England had regained the Ashes and were on the cusp of an ICC World T20 title in the Caribbean the next year. The team was winning; we had a squad packed with international talent and the seeds of identifying specialists across the three various formats were being sown.
Nathan would have known the talent that was in the England changing room and the personalities involved, spread right the way across the career spectrum. Dont underestimate how big a challenge it must have been, coming from a school environment into an international dressing room full of high-end, professional athletes largely set in their ways, where he had to build trust and implement his ideas.
In the years since, the demand for more insights and greater understanding of each nuance of the game has intensified. The analyst in all his or her various roles has become integral to the success of a team.
Be it as a quasi-coach, mentor, organiser, nurturer, sounding board or even therapist, the role of the analyst has evolved in recent years to such an extent that they have as significant an input as more hands-on, on-field coaches.
The modern cricketer has access to so much footage and data that it is becoming increasingly challenging to find new ways to overcome opponents. Unlocking data, embracing change and being resourceful and open-minded about the advances of the game has helped me enormously. And I am sure it will help me further over the coming years as I transition from my playing career to a coaching one.
I am indebted to people like Nathan who, throughout my career, have helped me fulfil my potential, both as a batsman and as a captain, and in doing so helped to unlock the unknown. As a man he is empathetic, pragmatic and resourceful, someone who understands the game and the psychology of dealing with players.
The analyst is often a key buffer for players and their respective coaches. There can be uncomfortable truths, but the level of trust is such that the players can have full faith that the analyst, in our case Nathan, knows their game and is able to bring clarity and insight to enable them to deliver.
During a typical international series, we are in constant contact, either in person, by phone or e-mail, sharing thoughts and insights or simulating games. In and around match days it is invaluable for me to have a pragmatic sounding board like Nathan: emphasising key points, discussing potential match-ups, reiterating our game plan, providing a fresh, alternative captains perspective, or just there to bounce ideas off.
In this book, Nathan and Ben Jones lift the curtain and give you a tour of the ideas and understanding that modern analytical techniques make possible. They show you patterns and mechanisms within international cricket that you have probably never noticed.
This book also gives a fascinating and insightful account of the role that analysis played, alongside our medical, coaching and other support staff, to help drive the England team towards new standards over recent years. Success is a journey rather than a destination, but by embracing change and being open-minded about new methods, I believe that it helped England deliver that inaugural ICC Cricket World Cup title in the summer of 2019.
The beauty of cricket is that it tests you emotionally, physically, tactically and technically. You have to think fast, and you rely heavily on the information you have about your opponent, the pitch, weather conditions etc. to try to gain a competitive edge. It is one thing to have the information; it is another to implement it.
