Patrick Mathieson’s RKT Sport could change cricket forever

A Third XI captain who wanted to take the mickey out of his mates is now evolving the local game in a quirky way. Here’s how.

What once was as an avenue for mockery between mates has turned into a gateway for data-driven development in Victorian cricket.

Patrick Mathieson and his evolving analytical business RKT Sport, is changing cricket, one data dashboard at a time.

During Melbourne’s 2020 lockdown, the day-time data acquisition manager extracted the figures from MyCricket to update his clubs history and torment his mates, but what eventuated has been an ever-growing success.

“I showed them (the reports) around to people and thought it was pretty fun, mainly just to highlight to my mates what they’re good at and what they’re not good at so I could take the piss out of them,” Mathieson joked.

“I eventually showed it to some other people at some other clubs that I knew and they said it was actually pretty useful information.

“I sold it to a handful of clubs, I got onto a club who had just recruited a (Victorian) Premier Cricket player and they wanted his numbers, so to do that I had to speak to that players’ old club and pull their data out.

Jack Rudd’s Fitzroy Doncaster was one of the first Vic Premier Cricket clubs to take on RKT Sport’s insights.

“Part of the deal was that I would give them (the Premier club) some sample reports, my theory was that Premier clubs would be well beyond this, but when I gave it to them they were shocked and amazed.

“I then realised there was actually a market for it in Premier Cricket, so I contacted all of the Premier clubs and a few of them signed up for what the package was at the time.

“Looking back on it now it was relatively basic, but it is something that most clubs don’t have access to and it has continued to evolve from there.”

Not only does Mathieson withdraw the surface data that is available to everyone, with access to the back end from clubs he can produce extremely valuable insights for coaches.

One local cricket club is using his statistics for specific match-ups, while others use it to determine their own weaknesses.

“One local club is using it to map out certain triggers in match situations, they map out if they’re in one situation this guy comes on, in another situation this guy comes on,” he said.

“They’re looking at it down to individual batters, how many left or right-handed batters they have coming up, they know so much information and metrics that they’re able to plan on the fly.”

Others, like player agents and even Cricket Victoria are using Mathieson’s information to compare the performances of players who play in several competitions.

Patrick Mathieson’s RKT Sport is changing the game.

By using his meticulous data, those who matter can now see who is performing against what calibre of opposition and at what point in the match.

“That was something they (pathway coaches) struggled to get oversight on, players in totality and be able to compare apples to apples,” Mathieson said.

“These kids in the under-17s and 19s programs that are playing Premier Cricket, 17s, 19s, local cricket, Dowling, Craig Shield, school cricket – they want to see all of that together, because that is much more valuable than looking at just their Premier Cricket numbers.

“Most are playing Premier Cricket, but once they go to state and national championships, it’s about when you see that data next to each other and how it actually compares.

“You know this guy on MyCricket has scored 1000 runs for the year, but what does that actually mean? They want to see if is he doing that against good opposition or is that all in mid-week under-16s.

“They can then benchmark players and spot the players that perform at each level against what opposition, as opposed to the ones that bully the lower levels.”

A sample of some of the comparisons Mathieson can deliver to club officials.

Mathieson’s sprouting software has plans in place to accommodate for the change from MyCricket to PlayHQ – which is already in place in a number of other states – and also has endless other opportunities to improve.

If ultimately provided the means, Mathieson is confident he can code data that will be able to determine information that is only available to those at the highest level.

“It’s just a resource thing, if there was an unlimited budget then you would be able to do it in every game a player plays in,” he said.

“Not only would you be able to ask whether they bowl well to left or right handers, you will be able to determine what their full ball does against their short ball.

“How does he get his wickets … is it the short, short, full combination or is he a full, full, short bowler, that is what they’re doing at the highest level.

“It’s not treating each ball as an isolated event, it’s what combinations can you use, like your combination to each field, which is another thing you could capture to get the best outcome.”

In an insight to exactly what RKT Sport can offer, Mathieson hinted at a statistic a Victorian Premier Cricket coach kept close to their chest in order to use data to exploit their opposition.

“Without giving their names away, there are a pair of Premier Cricket opening bowlers that have an economy in one-day cricket to right-handers of three and go at about nine an over to left-handers,” he revealed.