tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22713811.post2568310472753364869..comments2023-05-18T10:02:56.564+02:00Comments on Pappus' plane - cricket stats: Left-handersDavid Barryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08378763233797445502noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22713811.post-47979302788242311032008-03-12T23:43:00.000+01:002008-03-12T23:43:00.000+01:00Interesting. Thank you for looking into that; I'm ...Interesting. Thank you for looking into that; I'm pleased that you can be bothered.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22713811.post-78574002126677412292008-03-12T22:17:00.000+01:002008-03-12T22:17:00.000+01:00That's a good question. I don't keep women's stat...That's a good question. I don't keep women's stats, so I had a fiddle with Statsguru.<BR/><BR/>I looked at ODI's between only Australia, England, India, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and West Indies. Also, I only looked at batters from positions 1 to 7.<BR/><BR/>Overall, left-handers average 2.1 more runs. Since 2000, that has increased to 3.2.<BR/><BR/>Australia has more left-hand batters than any other team since 2000, with 19%. Overall, England is highest at 15%. This suggests, if we follow the reasoning of the Brooks et al. paper, that the pool of top-class players is not as competitive in women's cricket as it is in men's, which makes sense.<BR/><BR/>There is a pretty good fit when you plot win percentage against percentage of left-handers. Overall, about half of the variance in the win percentage can be "explained" by the percentage of left-handers. This rises to 75% since 2000. That rise might just be luck.<BR/><BR/>So the same principles appear to apply in women's cricket, but the talent pool isn't big enough for there to be too many left-handers yet.David Barryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08378763233797445502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22713811.post-53624036088048544152008-03-12T21:38:00.000+01:002008-03-12T21:38:00.000+01:00Yes, it is rather incongruous isn't it, but then I...Yes, it is rather incongruous isn't it, but then I revel in incongruity. <BR/><BR/>I think that most women put makeup on with their main hand, i.e. their writing hand, because they'd have to be pretty steady-handed with both otherwise. The obvious exception is nail polish where you don't have a choice. <BR/><BR/>Coming back to the cricket and in particular the last paragraph of your post, they do say that different sides of the brain do different things, and that this feeds through into what hand you use. Maybe bowling requires some skills that are governed by one side of the brain, and batting by the other side of the brain, so that there might be an intrinsic advantage at play too, which is why the position is more complicated than lefties being scarce and therefore harder to play against.<BR/><BR/>This whole left-brain right-brain thing: do you happen to have similar stats for women's cricket? That might be interesting.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22713811.post-73121211706513468702008-03-12T21:20:00.000+01:002008-03-12T21:20:00.000+01:00Miriam, I never expected someone to comment about ...Miriam, I never expected someone to comment about make-up on a cricket stats blog. But it would be interesting (well, maybe not <I>that</I> interesting) to see a survey of make-up wearers and see what the correlation is between natural handedness and the hand used for each eye.David Barryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08378763233797445502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22713811.post-5670089339191848542008-03-12T21:06:00.000+01:002008-03-12T21:06:00.000+01:00Fascinating. I've always been pretty much both-han...Fascinating. I've always been pretty much both-handed but with a slight bias to my right, so this topic has always interested me. <BR/>I like that the leftie's advantage is due to scarcity, so that there's a limit to how many lefties will bring an advantage as the position should automatically correct itself. It's like natural market forces, in a way. <BR/><BR/>Incidentally I always put on makeup with my right hand, but I have a friend who switches hands, so right hand for her right eye, left hand for her left eye.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22713811.post-34890920879159430632008-03-09T07:44:00.000+01:002008-03-09T07:44:00.000+01:00That's very strange that you'd change hands to pla...That's very strange that you'd change hands to play pool!<BR/><BR/>There are lots of people who do everything with one hand except batting. I haven't actually heard many people's reasons for doing so - maybe it's just the luck of how they stood when they first picked up a bat. My favourite story is of Mike Hussey. There's video of him when he was about 10 years old batting right-handed. But his hero was Allan Border, so he decided to switch. It certainly worked for him!David Barryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08378763233797445502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22713811.post-59107288821345897942008-03-09T07:36:00.000+01:002008-03-09T07:36:00.000+01:00It is quite intriguing.I am a right hander in ever...It is quite intriguing.<BR/><BR/>I am a right hander in everything i do - always have been. Writing, batting, bowling all right handed. But when it comes to pool / snooker I play left handed. Never understod why.<BR/><BR/>My younger brother is right handed in everything he does except batting. He bats left handed. Again never understood why.Qhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13947332468863567271noreply@blogger.com