Dr Paul Hawkins, inventor of Hawk-Eye
Monday will go down as a historic day in English cricket. Mark Butcher must be congratulated not only for his match winning innings, but also for marking the point when we will be able to stop harping back to Botham’s Ashes in search of great victories over the Aussies.
For this reason Hawk-Eye’s analysis concentrates on Butcher’s innings. One of the most impressive features was his shot selection and positive approach. The graphic on the left is a wagon wheel of where Butcher scored his boundaries related to where each ball pitched. It shows that with anything even a fraction overpitched Butcher was able to drive straight, and anything remotely short of a perfect length was punished backward of square on the off-side.
But Butcher’s innings was not just about his boundaries. Hawk-Eye is also able to highlight his ability to rotate the strike which was particularly important with a left and right hand combination at the wicket. The graphic on the right shows where Butcher scored his singles. It highlights his ability to score runs by hitting into the leg side either in-front or behind of square, particularly off Shane Warne
Butcher's innings wasn’t just about his scoring shots. His ability to defend particularly early on in his innings was the key to providing England with the foundation they required. If the ball was bowled in the right areas Butcher didn’t try to score from it.
More of the same please at the Oval.
22 Aug, 2001
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