A day in the life: Kent Cricket analyst Michael Najdan

Kent Cricket performance analyst Michael Najdan believes performance analysis is an important element in the coaching process to support players and staff, providing the coach with objective feedback to support their own subjective views.

Michael presents his typical matchday at The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence.

8.30am

I arrive at the ground and fix camera behind the bowler’s arm at one orboth ends of the ground and set up cabling to connect camera to analyst’s laptop in the changing room.

It can be a quick process after day one of a match, but a bit longer if the wicket is at the far end of the square.

9am

Setting up laptops for analysis. Firstly, a writer laptop used to analyse the match. Secondly, a reader laptop connected to the writer, allowing players and coaches to view video anddetails from each ball bowled.

Finally, an opposition reader is provided to allow the opposition to view video and details from each ball bowled in their changing room.

9.30am

Meet with players and coaches to discuss pre-match analysis.Being able to quantify key elements of performance in a valid and consistent manner as part of the coaching process allows areas requiring attention to be quickly and accurately identified.

Often it will back up the gut feeling of a coach and allow them to make technical or tactical changes with even more confidence.

However, it may also raise different aspects that had not been obvious to the naked eye.

10.30am

The primary role of performance analysis in county cricket is to collect data and video footage for every ball bowled in a match.

Half an hour before the start of play I set up the match on Feedback Cricket software entering player and toss details.

11am to 1pm

Coding the first session of the match, analysing each ball bowled and entering details into Feedback Cricket such as where the ball pitched, what shot was played, how many runs were scored, etc.

1pm

Lunch, upload footage from the first session of the match and upload highlight clips. Grab a bite to eat.

1.40pm to 6pm

Coding of the afternoon and evening sessions.

6.30pm

Uploading video footage and highlights from the day’s play. Uploaded footage is stored on an ECB server so that counties can analyse their own and opponents’ performance.

All the time we as analysts are searching for that nugget of information that will gain our team a competitive advantage and give the highest probability of success.

Coaches and clubs may not have access to individuals with dedicated expertise, but there are some simple measures that you can take to provide objective feedback and back up gut feeling.

Taking notes, spotting trends in the scorebook, ‘tagging’ on simple apps: these can all add to maximising performance. the art of the possible is much closer with recent advances in technology. Have a go!

This article appears in the winter issue of the ECB's Hitting The Seam magazine.