Written by Lawrence Booth
00:55 05 2024, 00:55 05 2024 updated
- Lewis first used the software when he was in India's T20 Premier League.
- Appointing off-spinner Charlie Dean and making bold use of technology
England women's cricket team coach John Lewis has revealed that he and his staff use artificial intelligence to aid selection and used the technology in last summer's Ashes return match against Australia. I used it well.
Lewis first came across the software, produced by London-based PSi, while working for the UP Warriors in the Indian Women's T20 Premier League and decided to extend its use to the England team. Other sports teams using PSi technology include the men's national rugby union team, Wigan Athletic FC and rugby league club Wigan Warriors.
“We can play simulation teams against simulation opponents and get an idea of how those teams will play against each other,” Lewis said. “He sends multiple different lineups to the PSi, and it runs about 250,000 simulations for each team he sends, including all the different permutations that could occur during a game.
As England struggled to stay in last summer's Women's Ashes, Lewis used the technology to settle on off-spinner Charlie Dean, who was drafted after one match in the T20 leg of the series. Heather Knight's team won both matches in which she played, with Dean taking the lead in bowling in the third game and removing Australian captain and opener Alyssa Healy lbw.
“We saw Australia's true strength and matched our strength to that,” Lewis said. “This worked very well and especially helped him win the T20 series, which brought us back to the Ashes.”The overall series ended in a draw.
Lewis stressed that he prefers a “human-first approach” and said AI is unlikely to replace human selectors. But he added, “What data can do is give you a really objective view of what's going to happen and what's happened in the past.” I think it will be useful for making borderline decisions regarding selection and matches. ”
England's men's team had previously used the Monte Carlo simulation system, devised by math whiz and Cambridge mathematics graduate Nathan Leamon. For the past few years, the analytics team, led by Professor Stafford Murray, is currently using an in-house model dataset developed by Leamon.