Phoenix India launches software to aid cricketers

Computer software firm Phoenix Global Solutions India Pvt Ltd (PGSI) on Tuesday launched a computer software product that helps develop strategies and improve the performance of cricket players.

The product, called "e-CricketPro", records video pictures of a cricket match on a computer and stores the action under various categories, Phoenix officials said at the launch of the product.

The visuals, and the data accompanying them, can be recalled during or after a match to analyse mistakes by players and the game of opponents, they said.

"We have been looking to have a tool like this after we heard that South Africa and Australia have similar tools," Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President A.C. Muthiah said at the launch.

India's national coach John Wright told Reuters last week that the Indian cricket board had acquired e-CricketPro and will use it during its home series against Australia next month.

Wright had said that a batsman could watch his entire innings or just all of his backward defensive shots or attacking off-drives through the software product.

AIMING HIGH

Muthiah said the Indian team would use the software product to improve its skills not only in the series against Australia but also in the 2003 World Cup to be played in South Africa.

"We aim to be among the first three of the cricket world," the BCCI president said. "Most of our players are IT-savvy and we hope they will enjoy using the tool."

Phoenix officials said e-CricketPro could currently store and analyse batting and bowling performances but its next version would also include fielding performances.

They said it would take about 6-14 seconds to key in all the data after a ball is bowled and a shot played.

PGSI Managing Director Satish Bangalore said that e-CricketPro would use about 1.2 - 1.4 GB of space on a computer hard disk to store a cricket match of 600-620 balls. "This is the best of its kind as it can randomly access any piece of information in several ways. Its analysis engine is far superior when compared to other such tools," Bangalore said. He said the tool would be aimed not only at national cricket teams but also at cricket academies and provincial teams.

Bangalore-based PGSI is the software development subsidiary of U.S. insurance giant Phoenix Home Life Mutual.

Mail Cricket Editor