An integrated batting performance analytics model for women’s cricket using Principal Component Analysis and Gini scores

Abstract

Over the years, women cricketers have garnered little media or societal attention. There has been much research on men’s cricket but relatively little on women’s cricket. This study aims to quantify women’s batting performances in one-day international (ODI) matches. The average batting score has traditionally been used in cricket to determine a batter’s worth. However, ranking by simple average ignores two important factors in ODI matches: consistency and strike rates. To address these issues, we propose a novel methodology for calculating ranks that incorporates Gini-based average scores rather than simple averages and considers batting strike rates in a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) framework. As a result, PCA combined with Gini scores can assist cricket fans, coaches, and managers in better understanding a player’s performance.