England Women’s cricket coach reveals his team use AI to help pick their team – and shares how technology helped mount last summer’s Ashes comeback

Jon Lewis, the coach of the England women’s cricket team, has revealed that he and his staff are using artificial intelligence to help with selection – and made good use of the technology during last summer’s Ashes comeback against Australia.

Lewis first came across the software, produced by London-based company PSi, while working for UP Warriorz in the T20 Women’s Premier League in India, and decided to apply its use to the England team. Other sporting sides using the PSi technology include the men’s national rugby union team, Wigan Athletic FC and rugby league club Wigan Warriors.

“We can run simulated teams against the simulated opposition to give us an idea of ​​how those teams might stack up against each other,” Lewis said. “I can send multiple different setups to the PSi, and they run about 250,000 simulations per team I send, with all the different permutations that can happen during the game.

As England struggled to stay in the women’s Ashes last summer, Lewis used the technology to settle for the selection of off-spinner Charlie Dean, who was called up after one match of the T20 leg of the series. Heather Knight’s side won both matches they played in, with Dean opening the bowling in the third game and removing Australian captain and opener Alyssa Healy lbw.

“We saw a real strength in Australia, and we aligned our strength accordingly,” Lewis said. “That worked really well and especially helped us win the T20 series, which got us back into the Ashes.” The overall series ended in a draw.

The technology was used with aplomb during last year’s Ashes, when AI identified the selection of Charlie Dean (centre).

The team went on to win the T20 series, with the series as a whole ending in a draw

Lewis emphasized that he prefers a “people-first approach,” and said AI is unlikely to replace human selectors. But he added: ‘What data can do is give you a very objective view of what could happen and what has happened before. I think it will help with boundary decisions in terms of selections and matchups.”

The England men’s teams previously used the ‘Monte Carlo’ simulation system, devised by Cambridge maths and maths graduate Nathan Leamon. Their analytical team, led in recent years by Professor Stafford Murray, is now using an internal model dataset developed by Leamon.