Champions Trophy: ICC unveils innovative tech to enhance fan experience with drones, bat sensors

The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Tuesday launched a series of technological innovations in partnership with Intel to be used during the Champions Trophy getting underway in the UK on June 1.

With the focus firmly on enhancing the tournament experience for fans, players, media and broadcasters, the innovations will use data, analytics and visualisation and ensure cricket remains at the forefront of technological advancements.

The technology being introduced at the ICC Champions Trophy includes an Intel drone that will provide advanced pitch analysis, a bat sensor powered by an Intel Curie module that will allow for profiling of the bat swing and a VR experience for fans at the stadium.

"We couldn't be more excited to have Intel as our Official Innovation Partner of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017," said David Richardson, Chief Executive of the ICC.

"The innovations Intel is bringing to the game promise to transform how cricket is experienced and enjoyed around the world, and we look forward to partnering with Intel in this effort."

Intel Sports Group vice president Sandra Lopez highlighted the role of technology in transforming the way sport is played and viewed.

With higher levels of digitisation, Intel is in a unique position to enable the sports industry to capture and analyse data to uncover and respond to new insights in real time.

"Our goal is to lead the way forward into the digitisation and personalization of sports, transforming the way fans and athletes experience sports," Lopez added.

In a first at the Champions Trophy, the Intel Falcon 8 Drone, equipped with HD and infrared cameras will be used for advanced pitch analysis before every match. Images captured by the drone will offer rich visual data on pitch conditions such as grass cover, grass health, and topology, which will be used to generate daily pitch reports leveraged by commentators during broadcasts.

The new bat sensor powered by the Intel Curie technology that can be mounted on any cricket bat to generate data for every stroke that the batsman plays.

With this technology, parameters like back-lift, bat speed and follow-through can be tracked for every cricket stroke. Several batsmen will use these bat sensors in the games at the 2017 Champions Trophy, enabling new insights on stroke play and rich story-telling in broadcast. Analytics from the sensor will be available for fans to analyse.