That's the wicket

The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) is joining forces with Cricket NSW (CNSW) to launch The Cricket Lab, a partnership which aims to break new ground by exploring new possibilities for both cricket and UTS.

The 5-year strategic collaboration is expected to deliver local and global impact, as well as meaningful societal benefit, through research, education and innovation opportunities across the spectrum of elite performance, pre-elite and community cricket.

Distinguished Professor Aaron Coutts from the UTS School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation said the breadth of opportunity for UTS and CNSW to work together to improve cricket player performance and development is vast.

“From using biomechanics identifying factors associated with performance and injury risk, to finding ways sport science and technology can make school, community and professional sport safer, this partnership will ultimately develop evidence-based methods for improving the health of our athletes,” said Distinguished Professor Coutts.

The initial focus of The Cricket Lab will be to cultivate innovation while improving collaborative and original research outcomes and opportunities. The Lab will also improve UTS students’ outcomes and opportunities and facilitate staff learning and development.

This collaboration, which applies UTS expertise to the challenges facing the cricket community, aligns with the university’s mission to solve real world problems for the public benefit.

Professor Glenn Wightwick
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Enterprise)

Cricket NSW CEO Lee Germon said the benefits of the collaboration would have a big impact on the future of cricket.

“Part of Cricket NSW’s strategic vision is to be regarded as a world class organisation and one of the ways we have identified achieving that vision is by working with world class partners,” Germon said.

“We see UTS as exactly that and we have been able to get together to create a long-term partnership that will be mutually beneficial and delve into almost every area of our business.

“Some of the work will help us in our goal of doubling the number of 5-12 year olds playing cricket, but there will be other areas like the 130 Project or the strengthening of our support networks for Pathways and Premier Cricket that could have far reaching effects on the success of not only our teams, but Australian cricket as well.”

“This collaboration, which applies UTS expertise to the challenges facing the cricket community, aligns with the university’s mission to solve real world problems for the public benefit. There is a real opportunity here to ensure the longevity and enjoyment of the sport for players and fans alike,” said Professor Glenn Wightwick, UTS Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Enterprise).

The partnership builds on UTS’s existing relationship with Cricket NSW. The UTS Data Science Institute (DSI) has been working closely with CNSW to analyse the journey of cricketers through school, club and representative cricket by using machine learning and clustering techniques.

Dr Bin Liang from the UTS DSI said the project enabled CNSW to forecast future player participation and identify key ways to improve participation in cricket.

“This collaborative work with CNSW has brought data-driven insight and decision making to community cricket.

“UTS DSI continues to help CNSW integrate the results and dashboard into their business, and we have been able to share the research outcomes across cricket, from states to the national level,” said Dr Liang.

 “The Data Science Institute is looking forward to exploring exciting new ways to deliver cutting-edge artificial intelligence for the NSW cricket community,” said Associate Professor Adam Berry, Deputy Director of UTS DSI.