What I read in 2023 (Part 6 of 7)
This is the sixth part of my annual reading review for 2023. You can read the other parts here (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5). The book that I am going to discuss today is a work of historical fiction.
So far, the books that I have reviewed from my reading list for the past year have had an element of "what could have been" - pieces missing from them, which, if added could have made them a better read.
Not with this one. This is hands down the best thing I read last year. When it comes to books on cricket, you don't get much better than this. If you love the sport, you'd want to engage with this book with a notepad. If you love analytics, you'd marvel at how much data and how many insights have gone behind this book. If you love both, then I rest my case...
This for me was the standout book that I read this year. There are very few books that you read in your lifetime that make you look at things around you differently, and fall in love with a gradually fading childhood passion once again.
领英推荐
“How cricket really works” is a very presumptuous title to market a book on cricket, especially to Indians. In these matters, we are cocky enough to assume that we know everything that there is to know, having watched cricket matches and participated in discussions around it since early tween-age. But watching is not the same as observing. Experience is hollow without its own analysis.?
Management jargon and “life lessons” for social media aside, there is plenty in this book that made me take a note-pad and pencil and tinker with its schematic diagrams and illustrations on cricket. It made me realize how much of cricket I thought I knew was simply received wisdom. Of how many statements that me and my friends have made as “experts” are internally inconsistent. Chances are that a number of you reading this review are Indians and have a good handle on numbers. This is your book. Nathan Leamon is a statistician who is credited to have played a major role in the English team’s revival after the 2015 ODI World Cup and heralding its best ever phase in white ball cricket which saw them hold the double title of 2019 ODI and 2022 T20I World Cup champions. Ben Jones works with Cric Viz, a sports performance analytics start-up that has an enviable record of crunching over 40000 first class games going back to the 1800s. They have also captured, since the early 2000s, almost 30 key data points for batting, bowling and fielding for every delivery bowled in a first class game across countries.
What is rare here is that despite talking about how data analytics changed the English team’s approach to the game and its success rate, the authors are no data absolutists. This book is not a marketing material for data analytics. The authors desist from a Marc Andreesen kind of statement like “Software is eating the world” equivalent when it comes to their field’s relationship with cricket. Data here predicts odds of success, but there is no guarantee that simply crunching numbers will ensure success. I liked how the authors caution relying too much on models and match-ups and not considering a player’s innate skill level and captain’s intuition in making selection decisions. A good example is that of Shane Warne and Anil Kumble. Given that leg spin is such a physically demanding task to accomplish, the level of control average leg-spin bowlers have is fairly low compared to other types of bowlers. Therefore, if you were a data analyst picking up a Test team, you would have avoided picking a leg spinner. This was the case with Test cricket through the 1960s-90s. 1990s is when these two gentlemen burst on the scene and shocked the world with the control they exercised while bowling. There is no data analysis that can predict outliers like Warne or Kumble, and their phenomenal success at the top of wicket taking lists.?
Unlike “Barons of Banking” a book (see Part 1 of this series) that talks about history and economics, and fails at both- the authors of this book are able, to paraphrase them, “articulate the world of data with the words of language”. It also speaks a lot about the well rounded nature of the education system in the UK where it is considered alright to do a doctorate in mathematics and choose a career in journalism and sports.
That is why, even if you (hi Non-Indians) have a passing acquaintance with cricket as such, this book is still a worthy read. For someone like me whose daily job involves quite a bit of heavy data crunching, this book is a reminder to keep all the models relatable. It is a good lesson in keeping the conclusions of one’s data analysis crisp, while at the same time appreciating the caveats about things that data won’t answer.
Another great contribution of this book to cricketing literature is that it is the first major attempt to understand T20 cricket. I cannot count the number of times we have seen a polarized debate around T20 versus the longer versions of the game among the fans of the game. To its fans, T20 is a “consequentialist”, “results-oriented” version, to its critics, it is a “bastardized” “ titillating” form of the gentleman’s sport, shorn of its elegance.
The authors, through a very data driven analysis - suggest that it might be another game in itself. It has different priorities - putting a price on each ball rather than each wicket. It rewards different kinds of skills - a single momentous ball over a consistent, miserly line and length. That might be the real missing angle of the debate around T20 too. Its supporters and opponents might simply be seeing one game from the lens of another.?
As I finished this book, the Cricket World Cup 2023 was already at the doorstep. This time, thanks to all the conceptual frameworks, all the tinkering that I had done on a pad and paper while reading this book, made me appreciate the game better. I was able to sit through the entire 50 over games. I was able to sense the pressure building with each passing moment. I was enjoying the game as an avid student of cricket, and not a partisan India fan. And just for that last part, I would recommend this book to all people in my country and the subcontinent.?
Cricket is not everything. It is just a sport. But if a book about cricket can help you fill your hours watching the game with meaning, it can make you understand and predict its under currents, then it is a book worth your time.?