Pitch Maps: why Steyn kicks Morkel's ass Print E-mail
Category: Hawk-Eye
Written by Luke Tagg   
Monday, 08 February 2010 22:00
I'm like a kid in a candy store with Cricinfo's new Hawk-Eye feature, which now comes standard with every live scorecard. Maybe I should get out more, but as a dude who writes about cricket this is as good as it gets.

To get the full experience you need to use it yourself - there are all sorts of hidden gems which unlock the story of a game, including the ability to see a short animation of the trajectory of any ball that appears on the pitch map.

It's exactly the same as the TV Hawk-Eye, but you get to control it and manipulate it in any way you like. Brilliant.

Case Study: Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel.

In India's first innings of the first Test against South Africa in Nagpur, Steyn took 7/51 whilst Morkel took 1/58 - was Steyn just awesome or Morkel plain crap? How do you explain the size of that divide?

Morkel actually bowled faster on average from Steyn, another piece of info gleaned from Cricinfo's Hawk-Eye.

Fastest Ball
Morkel: 151.9 km/h (94.4 mph)
Steyn: 146.7 km/h (91.2 mph)

Average Speed
Morkel: 141.6 km/h (88.0 mph)
Steyn: 139.3 km/h (86.6 mph)

Which goes to show it's not all about size, although my wife would beg to differ.

The answer to 7 plays 1 is in the respective pitch maps. I took shots of both bowlers' pitch maps to righthanders, although you can choose to see lefties at the same time if you use it on Cricinfo.

Firstly - Morkel. How good is this pitch map?

Morkel to Righthanders

Now - Steyn. As good as Morkel's is, look how precise Steyn's is in comparison. Makes Morkel's appear almost scattergun.

Steyn to Righthanders

The chief difference is the line, and it's a matter of inches. Notice how Steyn's deliveries hug the line of off stump - Morkel's are close, but not close enough.

The difference between good and brilliant. Right there.

Of course, it wasn't just the line Steyn bowled, but rather the fact that he got the ball to move both ways in the air before pitching. On such a tight line the margin for error for batsmen is virtually nil - although Steyn's stock ball is the outswinger, you can't leave balls that close to an off stump line for fear of the reverse-swinging surprise ball.

As Murali Vijay found out.

Steyn's pitch map is the work of a master of his craft. Morkel's reveals that he is still but a worthy apprentice.

Check out the current match on Cricinfo's Hawk-Eye:

South Africa vs India: Hawk-Eye
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