ABSTRACT

The handbook which you are reading is divided into six main sections covering the five major sports of baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer and football and a final section on other sports. Since this chapter on cricket resides in the final section, it is worth reflecting on what constitutes a major sport. In some ways, cricket may be considered a major sport with a long history dating back to the sixteenth century. Using various measures, cricket is typically regarded as the second most popular sport in the world after soccer (https://www.topendsports.com/world/lists/popular-sport/fans.htm). In terms of online media coverage, cricket ranks fourth worldwide after soccer, basketball and tennis (www.biggestglobalsports.com). In addition, the format of cricket known as Twenty20 is a ‘big money’ sport. Specifically, amongst professional leagues, the IPL (Indian Premier League) had the second highest average player salaries in 2014-2015 trailing only the National Basketball Association (Business Insider Sports 2015). However, in terms of advanced sports analytics, the sport of cricket appears to lag behind the major sports. This chapter attempts to provide the reader with an up-to-date survey of the quantitative work that has been done in relation to cricket and on the promising research opportunities that are available.