Roundup: It’s about time we started tracking bowling assists
What is a bowling assist, Rohit Sharma’s flagship academy suddenly closes, & the IPL is worth $18.5B.
Good morning!
It’s a bit of a quiet day, so of course I’ve decided to highlight a story that finds another way of praising Jasprit Bumrah. Arnav Jain has created an algorithm that tracks the impact a bowler has on creating pressure on batters even as they may not take the wickets themselves.
Also, did you guys know Rohit Sharma has a big shot academy in Dubai? Well, had. It seems to have suddenly stopped operating, and Ajanta Paul has a good report on the fallout amongst players, parents and coaches.
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Does anyone care about Sri Lanka and Bangladesh?
🏏 Match Updates: SL beat BAN 2-1, Jadeja’s maturing role, & the photo editor who coached Jamie Smith.
Sri Lanka v Bangladesh:
Sri Lanka beat Bangladesh by 99 runs to win their ODI series 2-1.India v England:
👉 Cricbuzz’s Kaushik Rangarajan on Jadeja going from rockstar to mentor.
👉 Indian Express’ Sandeep Dwivedi meets Jamie Smith’s youth coach.
👉 The Times’ John Westerby on Jofra Archer’s long road to recovery.Cricket’s soft balls:
👉 The Dukes ball manufacturer says harder balls would break bats.
👉 Joe Nutall writes that the ECB’s Kookaburra experiment has failed as foreign spinners are replacing English ones at County teams.
It’s about time we started tracking bowling assists
📚 Must Read Essays: What is a bowling assist, the quiet rise of Shree Charani, & rethinking Gubby Allen’s legacy as the “good guy.”
“Who provides the best bowling assists?”
📊 Cricbit’s Arnav Jain comes up with a way to quantify ‘bowling assists’; i.e. the impact of bowlers who create pressure, but don’t actually take the wicket.“The quiet rise of N Shree Charani”
✍️ ESPNcricinfo’s Shashank Kishore traces the rise of the latest India Women’s spin prodigy who has broken out with the most wickets in the England tour so far.“From piercing accuracy to almost ludicrous irrelevance”
✍️ Old Ebor takes a second look at Gubby Allen, the English Gentleman bowler who became popular for refusing to use Bodyline tactics in the 1932-33 Ashes.
🗞️ Quick News: Rohit Sharma’s flagship academy suddenly closes, the IPL is worth $18.5B, & Deepti pulls out of The Hundred.
Khaleej Times’ Ajanta Paul reports on the closure of the Rohit Sharma-backed Grassroots Sports Academy, leaving players, parents and employees in the lurch.
The IPL is valued at $18.5 billion, & RCB top the franchise list at $269 million.
Deepti Sharma has pulled out of The Hundred to manage her workload.
The US Olympic Committee wants the US Cricket board to resign.
RCB push back on the Tribunal’s judgement that they were at fault for the parade deaths.
Abdur gets Rauf on the PCB
📺 A/V: Abdur Rauf tears into PCB’s failures.
“When there is so much corruption, you cannot develop a coach”
📽️ Pak Passion’s Saj Sadiq talks to former Pakistani bowler Abdur Rauf, who stunningly talks about every facet of the PCB’s failures from the administrator ‘mafia’ to their coaching incompetence! [YouTube]
That’s it for today!
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If you read something good that I missed, hit comment and tell me!