New Zealand Cricket analyst Zach Hitchcock with the new video analysis system Photograph © CricInfo

A good game is a quick game they say in many sports, but New Zealand Cricket analyst Zach Hitchcock has developed the ability to reduce a day's play to 30-35 minutes.

When that involves recording every ball of the day into the laptop computer analysis system formerly known as the "Pooch", it makes life simple for all concerned.

Since the end of the last summer, Hitchcock has been writing a new computer program for the New Zealand analysis system and its potential is outstanding.

Previously, the New Zealand analysis system was one developed for use across a variety of sports.

Now the system is cricket specific and much easier to work. With several other options to be developed, it is also likely to be more accessible to players than before.

Until now Hitchcock, who flies out to Sri Lanka with the CLEAR Black Caps on Friday, has had to take a seat at grounds close to power feeds and television connections to be able to work his wonders with the system.

However, it was restrictive enough to mean that Hitchcock wasn't able to provide specific information to players until they were back in their hotels, not the best time for computer watching when players are more concerned about getting out to get a meal of an evening.

It also meant lugging 24kgs of gear around the world in order to do the required recording.

Now with a much smaller laptop, the system is more portable, and in the right circumstances, Hitchcock will be alongside the players in their dressing room, providing instant analysis for players to absorb.

That is an especially valuable tool for bowlers attempting to find weaknesses in their opponents while batsmen can be advised in breaks just where they could minimise the opportunities for bowlers to break through them.

Hitchcock has devised a system which merely by clicking the mouse on a part of a scoreboard can provide any amount of information, all fours hit, any balls played at and missed, anything.

And it all rolls around in a few seconds. Not too long to make it boring, and just quick enough to make an impression to the right enquiring mind.

Similarly, for bowlers, to specific batsmen. What happened when balls short of a length were bowled to a batsman, playing back, forward or anything else he might do.

Player v player information is also available.

"I started to write it last year when we were in South Africa and I had it about one-third finished by the end of the summer.

"Since then I have worked full on to have it ready for Sri Lanka. One of the good things about this system is that because a lot of our guys now have their own laptops, I can download the material and send it to them and they can keep it all on their own computers," he said.

Hitchcock said that while analysis systems are now common place with all teams, the Australians are the only ones to have theirs on laptop format and he felt his system would be right up with the best he has seen.

There is good news too, for New Zealand associations as he is looking to have the software available for them. The only thing they will have to do is come up with the hardware, included the video capture card which is one of the main reasons for the improved system.

His work with the system is still not complete as he intends to incorporate among other things alpha blending, or overlays, of players playing shots allowing them to make comparisons with other batsmen.

While he has a degree in software engineering, Hitchcock is also a cricket fan having played to senior level in Taranaki before attending university.

"But doing this, I've learnt so much about cricket, and bowling, and spin bowling especially," he said.

The hope has to be that future New Zealand cricketers get the benefits of exposure to this home-grown system for the game's advancement on the world stage.

© Cricinfo