* SR and Economy are career T20 strike rates and economy

** BPB is balls per boundary



Some interesting names in there if unfiltered. Zaib comes out top with small sample data, not a player you would expect. He does tick a lot of boxes, being left handed helps. Certainly one to keep an eye on considering that his raw data isn’t that impressive, SR 120 and Econ 8.12. Luke Procter comes out second. The table above is filtered for players who have participated in 150 balls in the 2020 Vitality Blast so we get this table, but we do lose players such as Ben Mike, Rikki Clarke, David Willey.

Now the top player using this metric is Joe Root. I am surprised to see Delport and Livingstone in there as neither would bowl much at international level but at Blast level they get regular overs. Luke Hollman is a very interesting name in the list, clearly a young player breaking on the scene. In my opinion if he can get that balls per boundary down to under 6 than he is looking at being an elite all rounder.

At the bottom is Ravi Bopara. I watched him a lot in the t10 and how he gets contracts is unknown. 

Here is a look at the bowling all rounders

I am trying to see with these players if there are any diamonds in the rough that captains aren’t using enough or have the potential to be very good players.

Scott Steel is interesting. He’s only 21, he did well opening in 2019 but only had 6 games last year and was dropped. In an auction you might want to take a chance on him at base price as a back up. But in a draft you must pick the best player available in that slot. He’s the kind of player I would be scouting, and pointing out his weaknesses as there is the core of a good player there.

Generally, you need to have that balls per boundary below six. Graeme White is a player that ticks a lot of the boxes with a very high six % of 10.3 that we discussed in a previous article.

Jamie Overton is becoming a very good player and had an excellent t20 tournament. I’d be surprised if he isn’t one of the first picks. Some of the players in the list will lose out because of Brexit and the expiry of Kolpak deals such as Van Der Merwe.

Then there are players such as Ed Barnard who look ok with the bat but then they fail to be a good enough bowler in the first place. The main criteria is these bowling all rounders need to be good bowlers. I looked at Barnard’s numbers in a bit more detail and he clearly has a problem bowling to left handers that needs looking at. Over 45 blast games he conceded 9.7 runs to left handers with 38 Balls per wicket compared to 8.5 right handers and 20 BPW.  Work on this weakness and then he can be considered. To me this is a big red flag and even though his raw data is ok would make him unselectable for a franchise competition at this stage. He is only 25 though and with good coaching and more analysis say using CricViz to look in to this weakness he is definitely a player to watch out for if he can address that issue.

This BPB metric is just a starting point when looking at players data and obviously I am using a very small sample. There is one thing I like about this metric though a lot, it identifies players who are just not up to scratch. Lewis Gregory is not an all rounder looking at the data. The eye test watching England games and Big Bash also confirms this in my opinion. He has been extremely fortunate to have been handed the opportunities he has. Must have a good agent.

Before we finish I just want to look at a one more young name that I think could have an excellent future, 20 year old Luke Hollman. He ticks those boxes that we just love when looking at T20, Left Hand bat and a skiddy Legbreak bowler. He was in the England U19 World cup set up so no doubt will be getting the best coaching and career path and I am sure being part of the England set up at youth level will be invaluable in his development.

His economy to right handers is exceptional 6.6. His captain, Steven Finn, leading a very young team with no internationals, was extremely conservative about how he used him last year, carefully picking him for matchups with right handers almost exclusively. His batting was good, going at 157 strike rate in the death overs which is decent for a young cricketer. I think this summer he needs to get some more cricket under his belt and then demand the ball in more difficult circumstances, ask to bowl against their best bowlers and be confident he can take wicket as well as occasionly when required bowling in the powerplay and working on his non stock deliveries. From a batting point of view he needs to push his case for batting at 5 and come in a bit earlier in the innings to really show his skillset. Middlesex have a gem that needs polishing so it's up to them and the England set up to get this player the exposure required.

Is he ready for franchise cricket? Probably not, he might sneak in the 14th or 15^th spot in the hundred. But if he can improve this season and gain game experience versus lefties, and get the six percentage up a bit and / or reduce his balls per boundary into the elite level that would make him a real all rounder given his left hander and legbreak combo, exactly what coaches and captains value the highest.

Finally, there are three batsman that I included who had good numbers from a very small sample of balls bowled in the blast. Striling, Leaning and Libby. They can provide a 6th bowling option and these players should be encouraged to work on their skillsets in the nets to increase their usefullness to franchises.

If there's anything cool you saw in the data give me a buzz. If you loved the article please retweet. 

Thanks very much

 Neil