HOWZAT! CQU puts AI eyes on cricketers for real-time precision fielding

13 January 2026

A cricketer wears white, stands on a grass field ready to catch a red ball above him. — CQU's AI-based solution for Cricket Australia aims to allow coaches, analysts, and athletes to monitor fielding positions in real-time. Image via Canva

Australia’s cricket fans are used to fielders covering iconic positions like slips, gully, fine leg and silly point, but CQUniversity research could make ‘AI on’ the new key to on-field dominance.

CQU experts are combining sport science and artificial intelligence (AI) to give Cricket Australia a cutting-edge advantage in fielding.

The innovative six-month project uses real-time monitoring of fielding positions, to maximise tactical advantage and strategic responses.

The new collaboration emerged from Cricket Australia’s Innovation Day, with the Global Sports Innovation Center powered by Microsoft, in 2025.

The event challenged participants to pitch a video and AI-based solution to allow coaches, analysts, and athletes to monitor fielding positions in real-time, to provide a competitive edge.

CQUniversity’s team was led by Director of Sport Strategy Professor Fabio Serpiello, and was named a finalist in the international challenge. The team will now design and deliver a solution for Cricket Australia.

“Our research-informed development will use computer vision technology and AI to solve the current challenges around strategically assigning fielding positions,” Prof Serpiello said.

Prof Serpiello is a globally renowned sport scientist, and is driving the project alongside intelligent information systems expert Assoc Prof Santoso Wibowo, AI specialist Dr Anwaar Ul-Haq, and automation and machine learning expert Dr Zhenglin Wang.

Exercise and sport science academics Dr Nathan Elsworthy and Assoc Prof Aaron Scanlan bring expertise in movement tracking and strategic decision-making in team sport.

Cricket Australia will provide match vision, analysis, and access to live test events to the team, to support computer vision algorithm training.

A wide image of a cricket field and cricketers is overlayed with lines and boxes to track fielding positions. — An example of CQU's computer vision technology

A cricket team’s fielders may occupy any of the traditional fielding positions, with countless possible variations in placement and combinations, highlighting the need to systematically quantify and record these positions for deeper performance insights.

Cricket Australia’s Senior Manager of Performance Data & Technology, Johnpaul Caia said:

“Historically, capturing fielder positions has been a manual, labour-intensive task, prone to error.

“We are on a mission to change that with a cutting-edge solution that efficiently collects this data and enables real-time monitoring, ultimately providing novel and critical information for coaches, analysts, and athletes across Australian cricket.

“CQU technical proficiency, paired with Cricket Australia’s domain expertise and contextual experience, ensures solutions are not only technologically sound but also highly practical.”

In 2025, CQUniversity launched its SPORT (Sport and exercise, Physical activity, Occupational and Rehabilitation Therapies) Strategy 2025-2028, driving collaboration with grassroots, government and industry partners for high performance and community engagement outcomes.

Learn more at the SPORT at CQUniversity website.