Decoding Chris Lynn's six hitting

It is not very often that Brendon McCullum gets overshadowed in a contest of power-hitting. Chris Lynn, however, has been doing just that. In Match 17 of the sixth edition of BBL, Brisbane Heat romped home with 32 balls in hand chasing 174 against Perth Scorchers at the WACA.

Lynn blasted a 49-ball unbeaten 98 with 11 sixes joint most in an innings with Chris Gayle and Craig Simmons in BBL history taking his series tally to 309 runs from five games at a staggering strike rate of 178.

Although his penchant for big hits was known for long, Lynn's six-hitting ability has hit the spotlight in BBL 6. He had hit 26 sixes by end of the game against Perth Scorchers, which at that time was more than every other opposition in the competition except Adelaide Strikers (29).

In BBL, Lynn has earned a reputation for himself akin to Chris Gayle in the IPL. He is the second highest run-getter in the tournament history (1412), just five runs behind Michael Klingers aggregate of 1417 runs and has hit more sixes than anyone else (94) 43 ahead of next placed Gayle.

In this edition of the tournament, Lynn has hit a six every 6.69 balls - easily the highest among anyone with a minimum of five sixes. His overall balls/six ratio in 20-over cricket is also an excellent 11.14 146 sixes in 1627 balls. Among those with 150-plus sixes, he is slotted only behind the Caribbean trio of Russell (8.85), Gayle (9.07) and Kieron Pollard (10.09).

Balls per six ratio

+ Only players with at least 150 sixes are considered for the above table. The only exception is Lynn with 146 sixes.

Splitting each of his innings in 20-over cricket to blocks of ten balls each, we can infer that the deeper Lynn gets into his innings, the rate at which he scores increases significantly.

Like most players, the chance to get into the groove before teeing off is seen. And having got used to the conditions, he starts to use the long handle almost immediately. His numbers between the 11th and 20th ball of each innings the strike rate shoots to 153 while balls/six ratio more than halves to 9.96 - support the same. But what stands out is the rate at which he clears the boundaries. Off his 673 runs in this 11-20 ball block, 294 runs (49 sixes) have come just through sixes.

As we join he dots to move further, a clear pattern emerges an increase in strike rate with decreasing balls/six ratio and an increase in contribution by sixes.

Innings progression for Lynn

Looking into numbers at various stages of a match also testifies his ability as a game changer in 20-over cricket. Strike rates of 140, 137 and 181 in Powerplays (first six overs), middle overs (overs 7-15) and death (over 16-20) with a decreasing balls/six ratio and increasing percentage contribution by sixes suggests his adeptness in stepping up the game as his innings progress.

However, there is a blip in his strike rate in the middle overs. Out of the 34 instances he came out to bat in the middle overs, he didn't last till the end of the 15th over on as many as 25 occasions (excluding one undismissed innings). His average in these 26 innings is a mere 12.40 with a strike rate of 124. But while coming to bat with the field still up, he has played 37 innings and remained unbeaten on more instances five and the average skyrockets to 50. He has done well coming in as a finisher after the end of 15th over as well scoring 153 off 95 balls with balls/six ratio of 10.55.

Batting at various stages

Lynn's move to the top of the order has been key in helping him realise his potential. Before the start of 2015, Lynn had batted at number three just thrice in 35 outings. He averaged 28 combined with a strike rate of 137 with five scores upwards of fifty.

When he was promoted up the order (37 off 45 games since Jan 2015), he has scored a hundred and 11 fifties in the last two years at an average of 41 and a strike rate just below 150. The balls/six ratio got halved from 20 to 10 as well. Lynn clearly enjoys batting up the order as the table below suggests:

Batting at #3 v #5 & #6

Another pattern emerging from his six-hitting is the times he strikes a maximum at the start of the over. He has hit most sixes off the first ball of an over 35 times. In comparison, only seven out of his 146 sixes came off the final ball of an over. 64% of his sixes have come within the first three balls of an over thereby enabling transferring the pressure to the fielding side and let him to play out the further part of the over without taking undue risk.

Despite off him dominating attacks in the BBL, he has featured in just five matches in the IPL since making his debut five years ago for the Deccan Chargers. The fact boils down to his weakness against spin bowling. He averages 28.19 against the spinners striking only at 109 per 100 balls. In comparison, he averages 44 against pace at 170. At home again his numbers give an excellent reading 1517 runs at 38 with a SR of 155 with a hundred and 11 fifties. The numbers outside look very much less ordinary 837 runs from 30 innings at 32 and SR of 129 with five fifties.

At present, Lynn is known among the IPL crowds mostly for the catch he took off AB de Villiers in 2014 in the UAE rather than his exploits with the bat. The fact that Kolkata Knight Riders have retained him for the upcoming season points to the confidence in Lynn's ability. Should he address his shortcomings against spin, Lynn could soon be setting records all over the globe.