Is the Extract Delivery in Cricket as Costly as Experts Think? : Descriptive and Diagnostic Analysis on T20 Cricket

Abstract

There is a common belief that extra deliveries that will be delivered in the cricket match will have a high negative impact on the fielding team. This research was done in order to verify this statement. This research aimed to compare the outcome of the extra delivery with the outcome of the free hit. This research has used 189 T20 matches that include franchise and international cricket. This research has used 1103 extra deliveries and 180 free-hit incidents. During the analysis, it was evident that this conclusion cannot be made as extra delivery has sometimes caused the batting team's wicket. This has accounted for around 5% of the extra delivery incidents. Out of the extra delivery incidents, 6%, 30%, and 35% accounted for a wicket, no runs and one run, respectively. Only 19% of incidents accounted for the fielding team's major impact, 4, 5 or 6 runs. Further, when the deliveries are concerned, it was noted that the last ball accounted for most of the extra deliveries. 35% of extra deliveries are reported at the first and last delivery. This may be due to the concentration factor of the bowler. When further detailed analysis was done, it was found that the majority of the outcomes of the deliveries was observed in the last three balls of the over.