Extras, Extras, Extras!

We were extremely lucky to get any cricket at all this year, given the rather dire worldwide pandemic crisis that will likely have significant economic, political and social ramifications for years to come! However, despite this, Edgware Cricket Club were fortunate to get on the field and managed to play some pretty good cricket too!

As part of a four-part series titled '2020 - A season in stats', I aim to examine how Edgware Cricket Club have faired on the field from an analytical standpoint and hopefully bring to light one or two areas that the team may look to improve on ahead of 2021.

In this week's article, I will examine extras! Now what are extras? Extras are additional runs provided by the fielding side to the batting side that come in the form of byes, no-balls, wides and leg byes. As you'd imagine with any village side, extras are abundant and often account for the top scorer in the innings for many sides and Edgware are no exception. However, just how do Edgware fair against their opponents when it comes to extras?

The graph above compares Edgware's extras (in blue) against the extras provided by our opponents (orange). Now in some cases, neither Edgware or their opposition batted 40 overs, in which case, I have extrapolated the number of extras upward to give a fairer if not perfect test (hence the slightly large value for Watford in the first game).

What becomes clear from this graph is two things. One, that a lot of sides do give a significant number of extras per game (this is village cricket after all) and two, whether one side gives more extras than the other in a particular game does not always determine who ends up winning the fixture. Despite this however, it is an important statistic and the next set of statistics will emphasis why.

Average Extras

Season Average

Edgware CC- 31 extras per game

Opposition - 23 extras per game

Stronger Opponents Average (Includes teams in CVL Division 3 and above + OMT - Saturday First XI)

Edgware CC - 32 extras per game

Opposition - 16 extras per game

Edgware CC on Tour Average

Edgware CC - 38 extras per game

Opposition - 17 extras per game

Here lies the importance of extras, particularly as you move up the divisions and play tougher opposition. On average, Edgware are gifting the opposition an 8 run head-start and against stronger opposition with better fielding outfits, Edgware are gifting the opposition a 16-run head-start. This will cost Edgware in the long-run and will mean they end up losing games against opposition they are just as good as with bat and ball. So what can be done?

The solution with everything in cricket is practice, practice, practice and discipline. It's tough to criticise players who barely get a net in during the summer and winter months and half the time turn up to a fixture hungover or carrying an injury, but for the bowlers it's about finding more consistent lines and opening up lines of communication with the umpires as to what constitutes a legal or wide delivery.

As for the wicket-keepers it's about decision making. anticipation and ensuring you're in the right position to take the ball 95% of the time even if it means the odd ball to the chest.

Edgware's aim as a team should be to reduce the average number of extras they give away during the season to a number below or inline with the opposition average. Eight runs may sound like a small amount, but it's often what determines a win and a loss particularly against better opposition.

Join me for the next article which will examine Edgware's batting during 2020 and what can be improved ahead of next season!