West Indies are the champions of the ICC T20 Cricket World Cup 2016 tournament. It was held in India from 8th March to 3rd April 2016. The tournament was divided into three stages. In the stage 1, the ten lowest-ranked teams played off and the top two teams in this stage have joined the eight highest-ranked teams in the next Super 10 stage. Finally, the top four teams of Super 10 stage contested the knock-out stage. I have only considered the statistics of Super 10 stage group 1 matches for comparing team performances. In total 10 teams participated in the group matches. The ten teams were divided into two groups - Group 1 & Group 2. Below table shows the teams in Group 1 and their position in the Group after playing all group level matches.
(Source: ESPN Cricinfo)
I gathered data of each group level match from ESPN Cricinfo website and used SAP Lumira tool to analyse the overall performance of each team. Below graphs provide insights into how the teams scored runs, lost wickets over the 20 overs of the cricket match.
I divided 20 overs of match into 4 categories for analysis -
1. 1st over -6th Over ( Power Play)
2. 7th Over - 10th Over ( Gearing up)
3. 11th Over - 15th Over ( Accelerating )
4. 16-20 (Full Throttle)
Group 1
Lets first look into the performance of West Indies team (ICC T20 2016 Champions).
West Indies only lost to Afghanistan team in the Group stage matches. Surprisingly West Indies were chasing runs in all the group matches. Now lets look and compare the performance of teams in the matches won by the West Indies team.
| West Indies - Winning Matches Analysis | |
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The first graph show that West Indies had a good chasing strategy and maintained a good average runs per ball in each over category. Comparing the average runs graph between West Indies (1st graph) and England (2nd graph), we can say that England batting first maintained a flat average run/ball rate from initial overs to over category 3 where as West Indies accelerated in the over category 3 and successfully chased the runs posted by England in the over category 4.
In the match with South Africa, comparing graph 1 and graph 3 in above table, the average runs/ball curve of both teams looks similar till over category 3. In over category 4 West Indies maintained a good average runs/ball value than South Africa and successfully chased down the target in 19.4 overs.
With Sri Lanka, West Indies took wickets in the initial 10 overs and final overs, hence restricted the runs flow. While chasing, they played sensibly and haven't lost many wickets in the first 10 overs. Then they accelerated in the last 10 overs and successfully chased the runs posted by Sri Lanka.
Next lets look into England team performance in the group stage.
England won three group matches and only lost against West Indies team. Now lets look into England team performance in the matches they won in the group stage.
| England - Winning Matches Analysis |
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First graph shows that England maintained good run/ball rate in the power play overs and scored well in the last 5 overs ( 4th over category) in all the group matches.
Now lets analyse England Vs South Africa match. South Africa batted first and the second graph in above table show that they had a good start, then run/ball rate decelerated till over category 3 and accelerated in the final overs. Where as England (graph 1), while chasing started with a very well run/ball, then a dip in over category 2 but accelerated in over category 3 and successfully chased the total in final overs. They lost 4 wickets in the final overs but still managed to chase the total.
Next lets look into the match with Sri Lanka. England batting first maintained a flat run/ball rate till over category 3 but in the final over category 4 gave a full throttle and posed a good total for Sri Lanka to chase. Sri Lanka (graph 3) while chasing lost 4 wickets in the power play overs. They tried to maintain a good run/ball rate in the next overs but lost wickets in the final overs and couldn’t chase the target posed by England.
With Afghanistan, England batted first and lost 3 wickets in power play overs. They maintained about 1 run/ball rate till over category 3 and accelerated in category 4 without losing any wickets. While chasing even Afghanistan lost 3 wickets in initial overs and maintained similar run curve till over category 3 but lost wickets in the final overs and could not chase the target imposed by England.
Next team in the table is South Africa.
South Africa won against Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. They lost to England and West Indies, they were batting first in those matches. Now lets look into their performance in the matches they won in the group stage.
| South Africa - Winning Matches Performance |
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First lets analyse South Africa Vs Sri Lanka match. Sri Lanka (graph 2) batting first maintained average run/ball value above 1 in the first 10 overs, but lost wickets in over category 3 and the average run/ball fell below 1 for rest of the overs. Hence Sri Lanka could not set a good target for South Africa to chase. South Africa (graph 1) started their chase with average run/ball value of around 1 and maintained that value till over category 3 by losing just 2 wickets. Then in over category 4 they accelerated and chased down the target total with average run/ball value of around 2 and haven’t lost any wickets during that time.
In the match with Afghanistan, South Africa started well in power play overs and laid good foundation in over category 2 & 3, then in over category 4 gave a full throttle with average run/ball value of about two and a half. Afghanistan started well with an average run/ball value of about 2 in the power play overs but lost momentum in the next overs and kept losing wickets in the over category 3&4.
In fourth place in the Group 1 table is Sri Lanka Team.
Sri Lanka won only against Afghanistan. We have discussed earlier how the Sri Lanka team performed in the lost matches. Now lets analyse the match with Afghanistan.
| Sri Lanka - Winning Match Performance |
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Sri Lanka won against Afghanistan. In that match, batting first Afghanistan maintained an average run/ball value of 1 in the power play, then had a dip in category 2 but later picked up the momentum and accelerated their average run/ball value to about 2. Sri Lanka while chasing even maintained an average run/ball value of about 1 in the power play, then accelerated slowly till category 3, gave a full throttle in the category 4 and chased down the target in 18.5 overs. In the other lost matches, Sri Lanka lost wickets regularly.
Last team in Group 1, but not least is Afghanistan. It is the only team that defeated West Indies (ICC T20 2016 Champions).
| Afghanistan - Winning Match Analysis |
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In the match with West Indies, both teams scored an average run/ball value of almost 1 till over category 3. In category 4, Afghanistan scored a bit more than West Indies, may be because they have not lost as many wickets as west indies in that over category. On the other hand in the matches lost by Afghanistan, first graph show that they scored less runs in the 2nd over category (7th Over to 10th Over). Also they lost many wickets in the final overs (4th Over Category).
Finally, below graph is a consolidated graph of wickets & Average runs per ball of all teams (with respect to bowling) in Group 1 .
South Africa took most wickets in the final overs (over category 4) and it might be a reason that South Africa gave less runs in the final overs compared to other teams. On the other hand, South Africa gave more runs in the initial overs compared to other Group 1 teams. Sri Lanka gave least runs in the power play overs but gave most runs in the final overs, followed by Afghanistan and England. England managed to keep the average runs given curve flat in over categories 3 & 4. West Indies managed to restrict the runs flow in over categories 2 & 3 compared to other teams and this might have helped them to top the Group 1 points table.
I would write another blog as an extension to this blog with Group 2 teams performance and comparisons between Group 1 and Group 2 teams. Would highly appreciate feedback about this blog so that I could incorporate the suggestions in my next blog. Thanks for you time! I would post the next blog soon.
References
http://www.espncricinfo.com/icc-world-twenty20-2016/engine/series/901359.html
http://www.espncricinfo.com/icc-world-twenty20-2016/engine/series/901359.html?view=pointstable
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_ICC_World_Twenty20
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