Emotional Intelligence Scores Predict Team Sports Performance in a National Cricket Competition

Abstract

The relationship between team emotional intelligence (Team EI) of six cricket teams and their sports performance in a South African national cricket competition over two consecutive seasons was investigated. Team EI was based on cricketers measured prior to the start of the competition in each season using the MSCEIT ability test and averaged over all games for that season. This was correlated with a team sports performance measure, the final log points standing for the team at the end of a competition. The results showed that Team EI was positively associated with the sports performance of the cricket teams. Further, Team EI was shown to be a significant predictor of sports performance, with 61% of the variation in the log points explained. This finding suggests that EI may contribute to the success of teams participating in complex sports like cricket.