In a powerful move for the cricket coaching world, PitchVision - the leading cricket technology company - have purchased BATEX, cricket’s premier fitness app.

PitchVision CEO, Richard Welch explains some of the reasons behind the acquisition and the story leading up to the launch of the revamped PV-BATEX app.

The original BATEX app developed fitness in batsmen by adding realistic running to net sessions. Batsmen bat in a range of different ODI and T20 situations and run as they would in a game. The app controls the number of runs and the pace of running.

Our new app, PV-BATEX, retains all the batting-specific cricket fitness features that of users have come to love. Only now, the resources of PitchVision will allow the us to expand on the concepts (and underlying method) and bring the techniques to a much wider audience of cricketers from club and school level, all the way up to the international game.

It's a natural fit with our (PitchVision's) ball tracking systems: allowing batsmen to analyse their technique as they tire, as well as see how well they hit the ball after a long time at the crease. It’s also an enjoyable tool to use simply as a workout, building fitness in a more fun and competitive way than endless jogging, for example.

The story of BATEX starts, of course, with its creator, Dr. Laurence Houghton. We had known Laurence for a long time, because he was actually one of the very ‘early adopters’ of PitchVision. He first used early versions of PitchVision way back in 2010. In those days, Laurence was a fresh-face researcher at the University of Western Australia, trying to produce a study into the effects of batting for long periods on a batsman's game.

BATEX is now considered a breakthrough piece of research - and on securing his PhD, Laurence realised that he could adapt his research methods into a smartphone app so others could enjoy the benefits of improved batting and cricket-specific fitness training . To his credit, it was an innovative move in a world where, frankly, cricket nets have not changed for decades.

The app did well with forward thinking cricketers, and we began getting many reports coming in about how well the system was working with players.

However, what was also apparent to us was that BATEX was almost criminally under recognised, and deserved a bigger platform. Enough to let BATEX be what it deserved to be; a fully accepted day to day tool used by millions of cricketers at every level.

We maintained a warm relationship with Laurence through the years, and so when the opportunity arose to work with Laurence on a new revamped version we were excited by the possibilities and very keen to be part of the next chapter of BATEX.

So, early in 2017, the company did not hesitate to sign Laurence to develop the next generation of the system. The result is our new joint creation: PV-BATEX.

PV-BATEX fits perfectly with our vision to bring innovation through technology to everyone. From elite training centres with full hardware installations, to a simple smartphone at nets; there is a way to play better cricket and stay ahead of the game.

The future for PV-BATEX is further development into fitness and cricket and to become another chapter in the PitchVision legacy of helping coaches and players around the globe at every level.

PV-BATEX will be released to App Stores on 04/05/2017 For more details and to get the app visit the Google Play or Apple App Store