CT 2017: Special bats with chips to be used in the tournament

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has tied up with Intel as Innovation Partners for the Champions Trophy 2017 and as a result, a new technological advancement for the game is set to be introduced in the tournament. A number of bats that will be used by batters in CT 2017 will have Intel developed chips installed inside the willow.

It will mark the first time anything of this sort has been experimented in the sport. This Champions Trophy is termed “Smart Cricket Tournament.” Using the chips Intel wants to transform the experience fans enjoy while watching the game and also create an aid for the coaches as well as the players to enhance their game further.

Bats with chips

Chips placed in the bats will help the engineers track the movement of the players, it will be trailed by cameras and the data thus obtained will be analysed by the experts. Three players each from the eight teams will bat with the specially crafted bats as per Xtratime.com.

The three venues hosting the 15 matches of the tournament – the Oval, Edgbaston and Sophia Gardens have been equipped with hawk-eye cameras. Along with that the usual Spidercam and drone cameras will be seen in action covering the game for the very first time.

Another technical advancement is that the team sheet with the name of the XI players fielded for the game will not be a physical one rather the captains will sign and submit it on a tablet. There is also something to cheer about for the fans as they will have HD Wi-Fi available at all the venues.

Steve Elworthy the director of the tournament said: “I think it probably is up there [as the first Smart Cricket tournament]. Everything we’ve done when we’ve sat down and planned this, we say “Smart” immediately you jump a technology solution for it.”