Robots not yet bowling the perfect doosra, but AI is already reshaping cricket

In The Guardian’s The Spin column published on 16 September 2026, former OpenAI researcher Daniel Kokotajlo warned last week that it was possible we would end up “creating a new species that ends up ruling the world”, and the piece examined how artificial intelligence is already reshaping cricket.

Freddie Wilde, an analyst who works with Indian Premier League and The Hundred teams and is head of cricket intelligence at CricViz, says “almost all elements” of his day-to-day work have been touched by AI, and the article describes a grey area between traditional analysis and work now shaped by machine models and faster tools processing more information.

Wilde tells the author that AI’s first meaningful change has been to increase analyst autonomy, allowing individuals to attempt tasks that previously required a data engineer or data scientist, and the piece stresses that AI is not replacing players, coaches or analysts but enabling them to do more.

The article gives practical examples of that enhanced capability: for a batter, AI can indicate where a bowler is most likely to pitch and which risks are worth taking; for a bowler, it can surface weaknesses against particular angles, lengths or field settings, while insisting that the final act on the field remains human.

China’s second World Humanoid Robot Games last month is cited as a measure of progress off the field — more than 500 robots competed in football, athletics and boxing, many stumbled or required human assistance, but one ran 100m in 8.64sec — and the piece invokes Ray Kurzweil’s Law of Accelerating Returns to frame the debate about how quickly machines might reach new capabilities.

The column discusses whether society would accept increasingly capable systems: it questions how long an umpire’s authority would be preserved if an AI could make every call perfectly, and contrasts that speculative future with the current, quieter work being done to measure and develop players.

EquiPlay is presented as an example of that quieter change: described as a talent-pathway platform that standardises coach assessments, tracks players’ development over time and uses AI to turn scores into narrative feedback, it has already captured more than 2,000 assessments on 300 young cricketers, completed by 28 coaches in a first-class county pathway. Prof Adeela ahmed Shafi of the University of Gloucestershire, a board member at Gloucester CC, says the aim is not to replace coaches’ judgment, but to make it visible, explaining: "Before, we wouldn’t have noticed that," she says. "We knew who was coming into the pathway, but we never really knew how they were progressing." The platform also tests for assessor consistency and whether particular groups are scored higher or lower.

The piece turns to media and journalism, asking whether readers would object if a report arrived in seconds produced by a machine, noting editors might welcome that speed; the author, who teaches journalism at the University of East London and St Mary’s University, Twickenham, reports more student assignments now carry the ‘‘unmistakable stamp of AI’’ and says editors must be trained to interrogate and reshape AI output. It warns that if prose and observations come from the same language pool the discourse could flatten, possibly reducing distinctive voices such as Gideon Haigh or Mike Atherton and producing writing that resembles the sport itself — a parade of indistinguishable franchises and the same players hitting sponsored "maximums" — while quoting Wilde that live sport is "authentic and real", unpredictable and impossible to stage.

The author tested an AI tool for a closing reflection and quotes its output in full: "As technology advances, the spirit of cricket will endure, reminding us that the game is not merely about statistics, but about passion, unpredictability and the timeless connection between players and fans." The writer calls that line "A bit wafty, but perfectly acceptable. Which is precisely why I dislike it."

This article is an extract from the Guardian’s weekly cricket email, The Spin. To subscribe, just visit this page and follow the instructions.