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Hands up if you have become a North West of England meteorologist over the past couple of days. One of the fascinations (and frustrations) of cricket is its ability to have days or entire matches disrupted due to bad weather and that is the position we find ourselves in with the 4th Ashes test between England and Australia. Will Mother Nature permit England the time they need to take the final five Australian wickets or will we be robbed of a climatic deciding test at the Oval? I can't help thinking that the thirty overs (180 balls) bowled yesterday was an unexpected bonus and England's window of opportunity to win the match. In any event, today, get those weather apps refreshing!
Onto the round-up and I hope you have dedicated sufficient time to read this week's blockbuster edition which covers no less than nine different sports with a staggering 17 pieces of content. Let's go!
The Women's World Cup has kicked off with the somewhat typical slow start as teams find their way and momentum. VAR announcements seem to be a step in the right direction but we'd all love to hear the conversation between the officials, wouldn't we?
First up, we have the amazing Neil Richards sharing this view of all competing teams between 1991 and 2023 and the respective stages of the tournament they got to. It's fantastic to see how the tournament is expanding with a number of new countries being represented this year.
Evan Gower takes a similar look at the participating nations but with a strikingly different, and beautiful matrix. The flow of the design works brilliantly as each tournament progresses. great job, Evan.
If you haven't made a wager on the eventual winners then check out this from DataVizMich looking at the various probabilities of progression and eventual triumph. It's difficult to look past the USA but there are a number of teams waiting to pounce should they have an off day and they don't look entirely comfortable in their first match.
Finally, a fantastic and powerful Sankey from Allison McCann of the New York Times showing the distribution of tournament prize money for the Men's and Women's US Soccer teams. As you get to the bottom of the Sankey, note what you see, the pooled prize money shared equally across both teams. Great to see.
Keeping with football but switching levels to the domestic game and taking a look at the close-season shenanigans of player transfers, Ben Norland gives us the chance to dream of what our various team squads could look like with this awesome player comparison dashboard. Pick a player and then compare them to a huge range of players across Europe's top leagues. Are you happy with your club's current squad? Is the player the manager is looking to sign any good? Find out here!
Dropping down a couple of levels now to the level of U12 Girls football and Donna Coles has created this stunning dashboard celebrating the recent season for Didcot Town. Wow! Some impressive stats there including: 11-0 and 12-0 record home and away wins, and an overall record of 20 wins with just 2 draws and 2 losses. An incredible season, congratulations!
Keep up! We're moving onto golf now and the Open Championship is in full swing at Royal Liverpool Golf Club Hoylake. It's shaping up for a fascinating final day with a number of key contenders nicely in position. Brett2Point0 has shared a couple of vizzes with us taking a look at 1st Round and average scoring comparisons across the Opens of the past. Check them out!
I was lucky last week to have a relatively quiet Sunday afternoon and was therefore able to watch the vast majority of the latest epic Wimbledon final between Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz. Stunning play by both players rewarded with a five-set struggle lasting well over four hours. Chris Westlake helps us relive the final with this beautifully designed progression through the final. What makes the final even more extraordinary is the one-sided nature of the first set. What character from Alcaraz to return from a 6-1 drubbing to triumph. Great work, Chris!
If you like a little touchy-feely element to your vizzes then check out this embroidered texture from Reuters in their view of the 2023 ATP tournament calendar.
Neil Richards is back in the round-up and thanks to Neil for sharing this viz from Irene Strodel featuring Luca Brecel and his victory at the World Snooker Championships: one of this year's best sporting stories. Check out the interactive element too and pot some balls!
Sport number five now with Ice Skating and it's fantastic to see Victor Muñoz finding the #SportsVizSunday community. Welcome, Victor! I love this stunner of a viz which depicts the beauty and artistry of Figure Skating so well.
Netball fans tune in now. Lauren Webb has built this impressive collection of designs showcasing the teams competing in the 2023 SunCorp Super Netball League. Much detail but also summarised well for those looking for quick insights. Lovely work, Lauren!
Switching hoop sports to BasketBall and Devin Hendrick takes a look at the career of Lamelo Ball with this Tableau Public viz. Encompassing shot charts, shooting averages and much more, there's some fantastic detail to explore here.
The WHKYHAC is a one-day online conference showcasing state-of-the-art research in analytics in women's hockey from around the globe. Congratulations go to Jeremy Brooks for winning an award for his entry looking at visualising the scoring plays. The interactivity is breathtaking with so much to explore and it's great to see Jeremy follow this original with an added section on goaltenders showing build-ups for each of their goals against + their season stats.
James McCaghrey kindly shares his full data showing the adjusted cricket batting averages comparison. Find your favourite player and see how they compare with the greats, past and present.
Finally, I've run out of words (either kind or playfully teasing) for CJ and what he creates and shares with the community. So, here is another tutorial–this time on pass networks, split by timeframes. You know the drill by now, read, enjoy, follow and create.
And breath! Wow. I hope you had the same amount of joy reading that as I did writing it. Thanks, as always, to the amazing contributors to this week's epic round-up. Until next time, have a great sporting week ahead.
Simon & the #sportsvizsunday team.