For some work I’m trying to classify cricket grounds. The question is if we can classify cricket grounds based on what kind of cricket they support. Some pitches are slow and low – it is hard to score runs, but also hard to get the batsman out. Some others are fast and bouncy – easy to score and easy to get out. Then you have the “batting pitches” – easy to score and hard to get out and “bowling pitches” – hard to score but easy to take wickets.
Essentially I’m trying to see if I can classify a ground into one of the above four regimes (or a superposition of them) at different stages in a game – this will help estimate how the rest of the game is going to play out.
For this, I was looking at the runs per ball and balls per wicket statistic for a number of grounds based on T20 matches. All grounds which hosted over 10 T20 matches (international or IPL) before the 10th of April have been considered for this analysis. It is interesting, to say the least.
Here is the scatter plot – bottom right (only the Oval) is easy to score, easy to get out. Top right are the batting pitches, bottom left the bowling pitches and top left the slow-and-low! It is interesting that the “most bowling pitch” of the lot is Chittagong! The only Indian ground that can be classified thus is DY Patil Sports Academy in Navi Mumbai!
