I started playing for Gloucester when we were a very successful one-day side, with Jack Russell behind the stumps, and we won a lot of trophies. In my first year on the staff, I was picked for my fielding, because the make-up of the team meant there was always a spare spot. I spent the first two years playing as a specialist fielder.

In my last two years at Gloucester, I was the team’s fielding coach while still a player. I had always taken the players aside with suggestions to do some extra fielding and specific drills. I was always looking for ways to improve and investigating any new trends.

The app records a cricket match ball-by-ball – everything from a direct hit from the boundary, to a mid-on fielder picking it up and throwing it in the keeper.

I’ve been a fielding coach in the IPL and the Big Bash, and I have data for both of the previous tournaments – I wanted to capture data from every piece of fielding at these tournaments because they’re the best competitions out there.

I’ve personally inputted every piece of data so far – at the end of each game it’s uploaded to a server and it then comes out into a spreadsheet.

I can see stats for diving, tumbling, throwing at stumps – in the most recent Big Bash, for example, Melbourne Stars hit the stumps 24 percent of the time with direct hit throws I use this data to show players what skills to work on and, from a coach’s point of view, how the player can work on it.

This article first appeared in Wisden Cricket Monthly. Subscribe here