February 2007: The Score
The science of reading
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Australian researcher Sean Müller has found that good batsmen predict bowlers better. Nagraj Gollapudi spoke to him*
Watching a superior batsman in the nets, you may have wondered how he always seems to have plenty of time. How did he read the ball, move into position in time, and play his shot with ease to wherever he wanted?
Sean Müller took a PhD in Human Movement Studies from the University of Queensland in 2005 in an attempt to answer precisely that question. Müller came to the conclusion that top-class batsmen have the ability to read the ball much earlier than players at a lower level. World-class batsmen, he found, also predicted more accurately than other cricketers which way the ball would swing even before the ball left the bowler’s hands, and where it would bounce well before it was in flight.
Time is critical in picking up the line. At international level, when a fast bowler is bowling, it takes about 600 milliseconds for the ball to reach the batsman from the point of release, and approximately 900ms for a spinner. The total time the batsman takes to make his movements is much greater. The visual processing of the information takes about 200ms, the movement of the feet about 350-400ms, the back-lift about 200ms, and the downswing another 200ms. “So, you can’t wait till late in the ball’s flight or bounce to start making your decision,” says Müller.
Müller says that most batsmen can’t verbally explain where the information is coming from. They just tend to be able to predict where the ball is going when they are shown videos, which means the information is received on a subconscious level.
Source** -->** CricInfo (for complete article)
Really good article and an equally informative read.