The science and medicine of cricket: an overview and update

Abstract

Research into the science and medicine underlying cricket performance and injury has progressed since the First World Congress of Science and Medicine in Cricket in 1999. This review covers material on the physiological and psychological demands of the game and preparation for it, the biomechanics and motor control of cricket skills, the psychology of team dynamics, performance analysis and cricket injuries. Technological aspects of cricket equipment are also covered, where such research could influence injury risk or player performance. Fielding remains the least studied of the skills. Much more research needs to be done before we can gain a full understanding of the scientific aspects of the game. There is a need to address common definitions of injury, along with more research into injury mechanisms. Research on batting needs to bring together motor control and biomechanics more fully. The fitness demands of the game are still poorly understood, along with the mechanisms causing fatigue. Evaluation of the efficacy of intervention strategies needs to continue and to develop. The applications of research need to be communicated more to coaches and players — for example, in team dynamics — so that they can be applied, and tested further, in international matches.     

Visual-perceptual training with motor practice of the observed movement pattern improves anticipation in emerging expert cricket batsmen

ABSTRACT

This study addressed the paucity of evidence of whether visual anticipation can be improved in emerging experts in striking sports. Twelve emerging expert batsmen from a state cricket squad were equally randomised into intervention and control groups. They were pre-and-post tested on a video temporal occlusion test of a fast bowler, as well as transfer tests of different fast and slow bowlers. The intervention group received two sessions per week of point-light display temporal occlusion training with motor practice of the observed bowler’s action over a 4-week period. The control group completed only the testing phases. Batting averages before, during, and after the study were recorded for both groups. The intervention group, but not the control group, improved anticipation to significantly above chance level across pre-to-post-tests based upon pre-ball flight information. The intervention, but not the control, transferred their learning to anticipate significantly above chance level based upon pre-ball flight information across different fast and slow (spin) bowlers. Batting average of the intervention group was higher than the control group during the study. Findings indicate that the intervention can improve anticipation in emerging expert batsmen, beyond sport-specific practice. This improvement may benefit competition performance, but further evidence is required.     

Effect of different types of cricket batting pads on the running and turning speed in cricket batting

The aim of this study was to compare a batsman's running and turning speed during three runs while wearing either traditional batting pads or one of two models of newly designed cricket batting pads. Fifteen cricketers participated. The running and turning speeds were measured on three different days with players using the three pairs of batting pads for each trial in random order. The weights of the pads were 1.85 kg, 1.70 kg and 1.30 kg for P¹, P² and P³ respectively. Each player had to run three runs (3 × 17.68m), with the times recorded at the completion of each run, as well as the time to cover the distance from 5 m before and after the turn at the end of the first run. The fastest time from two trials for each pair of pads was retained for analysis. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures was used to determine the differences between the mean times of the three trials. The results showed no significant differences between the types of batting pads and the time to complete the run‐three‐runs test (P¹ = 10.67 ± 0.48 s; P² = 10.67 ± 0.43; P³ = 10.69 ± 0.44 s), the turning time (P¹ = 2.34 ± 0.18 s; P² = 2.32 ± 0.18 s; P³ = 2.35 ± 0.19 s) and to complete the third run (P¹ = 3.49 ± 0.44 s; P² = 3.53 ± 0.34 s; P³ = 3.51 ± 0.36 s). Of the 45 trials of three runs used for analysis, P, recorded the fastest time on 16 trials (36%), P² on 19 trials (42%) and P³ on 10 trials (22%). The results showed no significant differences in the running or turning speeds, although there may be some practical relevance to using the newly designed cricket batting pads.     

The position of the head and centre of mass during the front foot off-drive in skilled and less-skilled cricket batsmen

The aim of this study was to compare selected kinematic variables of the front foot off-drive in skilled and less-skilled cricket batsmen. High-speed digital cameras were used to record the three-dimensional kinematics of 10 skilled and 10 less-skilled right-handed batsmen when playing a shadow front foot off-drive to realistic projected video footage. Skilled batsmen were more likely to identify the type of delivery bowled. Seventy percent of skilled batsmen had preparatory feet or foot movement before committing to play forward, while only 20% of the less-skilled batsmen utilized this trigger movement. Throughout the drive, the head of the skilled batsmen was further forward of the centre base point than that of the less-skilled batsmen. This forward head position was associated with the tendency for the skilled batsmen's centre of mass to be further forward during the predicted bat–ball contact. There were no significant differences between groups in the shoulder angle, bat angle or bat speed during the different phases of the stroke. There was a tendency for the less-skilled batsmen to have a larger hip angle at contact. This study provides further understanding of the factors associated with skilled performance in cricket batting, which coaches should consider when training less-skilled performers.     

If you build it,they will stay: the development of public cricket provision as a construction of social citizenship

Abstract

Immigration is transforming the United States and cultural diversity is becoming increasingly visible within an emerging poly-ethnic society. Such a challenge to the singularity of cultural assimilation is having policy implications at multiple levels. For municipal parks and recreation departments, this cultural shift presents an extra dimension to the local government role of providing facilities that meet the needs of residents. This paper presents the case study of Church Street Park in Morrisville, North Carolina, which is the site of the first purpose-built cricket facility in the Research Triangle area. Furthermore, this paper argues that a Marshallian framework, albeit in re-conceptualized terms, can elicit the objective and subjective domains of citizenship as constructed through sport participation. Specifically, the development of the cricket field fosters a mono-ethnic and diasporic identity as well as a rich sense of belonging among the growing resident South Asian immigrant population.     

Sprint running: how changes in step frequency affect running mechanics and leg spring behaviour at maximal speed

The purpose of this study was to investigate the changes in selected biomechanical variables in 80-m maximal sprint runs while imposing changes in step frequency (SF) and to investigate if these adaptations differ based on gender and training level. A total of 40 athletes (10 elite men and 10 women, 10 intermediate men and 10 women) participated in this study; they were requested to perform 5 trials at maximal running speed (RS): at the self-selected frequency (SF_s) and at SF ±15% and ±30%SF_s. Contact time (CT) and flight time (FT) as well as step length (SL) decreased with increasing SF, while k_vert increased with it. At SF_s, k_leg was the lowest (a 20% decrease at ±30%SF_s), while RS was the largest (a 12% decrease at ±30%SF_s). Only small changes (1.5%) in maximal vertical force (F_max) were observed as a function of SF, but maximum leg spring compression (ΔL) was largest at SF_s and decreased by about 25% at ±30%SF_s. Significant differences in F_max, Δy, k_leg and k_vert were observed as a function of skill and gender (P < 0.001). Our results indicate that RS is optimised at SF_s and that, while k_vert follows the changes in SF, k_leg is lowest at SF_s.     

田径竞赛新旧规则对比分析

通过对田径新旧规则常用部分的对比分析,目的在于帮助广大体育工作者加深对规则修改部分的理解、掌握;同时提出:教练员、运动员和裁判工作人员应主动适应规则的变化以及基层田径运动会灵活运用规则的建议.     

Biomechanics and visual-motor control: how it has, is, and will be used to reveal the secrets of hitting a cricket ball

Cricket batting is an incredibly complex task which requires the coordination of full-body movements to successfully hit a fast moving ball. Biomechanical studies on batting have helped to shed light on how this intricate skill may be performed, yet the many different techniques exhibited by batters make the systematic examination of batting difficult. This review seeks to critically evaluate the existing literature examining cricket batting, but doing so by exploring the strong but often neglected relationship between biomechanics and visual-motor control. In three separate sections, the paper seeks to address (i) the different theories of motor control which may help to explain how skilled batters can hit a ball, (ii) strategies used by batters to overcome the (at times excessive) temporal constraints, and (iii) an interpretation from a visual-motor perspective of the prevailing biomechanical data on batting.     

Asylums and Sport: Participation,Isolation and the Role of Cricket in the Treatment of the Insane

In the histories of mental institutions, sports and recreations have played a central role. Particular focus has been placed on staff and patients but it is only recently that historians have sought to explain the role of sport in general, and cricket in particular, in therapeutic terms. In addition, other recent work has highlighted the importance of cricket as one of the activities that placed asylums at the centre of a wider network within society. Yet there remains a pervasive sense these institutions were both isolated and distant. The aim of this article is to understand this apparent contradiction by drawing together recent themes relating to therapy and interaction. Using contemporary and secondary sources, it will explore the composition of teams. Focusing primarily on Great Britain, and using a case study from the north of England at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, it will seek to explain who played cricket in the asylum and who represented the teams that played in the local community. It will also explore reactions locally to those teams. Ultimately, it will show that although teams were integrated within their local communities, it was their composition that contributed to both physical and social senses of isolation.     

The Positioning of Indigenous People in Australian History: A Historiography of the 1868 Aboriginal Cricket Tour of England

Abstract

The first international tour by an Australian sports team was the 1868 tour of England undertaken by a group of Aboriginal cricketers. In the following 148 years there have been many histories of the tour written. This paper undertakes a historiographical examination of the tour, contextualizing the writings and their place in Australian society. In doing so, it uncovers the phases of reporting, forgetting, rediscovery, exploiting, ambivalent times, and self-determination that representations of the tour go through. It is argued that these phases provide an analogy for the positioning of Indigenous people and Indigenous history in Australian society.     

场域视野下高校图书馆发展社会学分析——以北京体育大学图书馆为例

运用文献资料、专家访谈和逻辑分析等方法,以布迪厄场域理论为基础,以北京体育大学为例,对高校图书馆场域中行动者的资本和惯习等进行了详细分析。通过研究,得出以下结论,高校图书馆管理者的权力资本在高校图书馆场域中占据支配地位,管理者和工作人员技能资本的不足使高校图书馆的服务质量有待提升,作为经济资本持有者之一的大学生在师道尊严的惯习下知识学习和技能习得诉求未得到很好的满足。因此,高校图书馆要从弱化图书馆管理者的权力资本、构建新型的师生关系、提高图书馆管理者和工作人员的技能资本、激发大学生主观能动性的发挥等几个方面促进图书馆的建设与发展,真正体现“读者第一、服务至上”的图书馆管理理念,从而使高校图书馆真正成为学生知识学习、技能掌握、科研创新的第二课堂。     

创新是体育视觉设计艺术的生命——北京奥运会会徽设计评委林家阳访谈录

针对体育视觉设计艺术的主题,对2008年北京奥运会会徽设计评委林家阳教授进行了访谈。受访者对中外体育视觉设计艺术的审美倾向、设计思路的异同进行了观念的阐述,并对体育视觉设计教育提出了自己的观点：要提高中国的体育视觉设计艺术,首先要提高领导者及管理者的艺术修养;要推进中国体育视觉设计艺术的发展,需营造社会文化和艺术教育环境,才能让孩子们从小在美学环境中健康成长,最终获得高层次的创新及审美能力。     

"野外生存生活训练"作为高校体育课程内容的意义

野外生存生活训练作为高校体育课程内容，不仅体现了现代教育理念，符合我国高校体育课程改革的发展趋势，而且是实现我国高校体育课程目标的基本手段。开发野外生存生活课程内容是深化我国高校体育课程改革的需要。     

Anatomy of a Dead Heat: Visual Evidence at the 2012 US Olympic Trials

The adoption and use of visual technologies as decision aids in professional sport is increasing at a rapid rate, yet the study of such practice is virtually non-existent. Beyond the specific play or call in question, images used as decision aids in sport have immediate and far-reaching material and cultural impacts including athlete sponsorship packages, the professional reputation and expertise of athletes and officials, and lucrative contracts for imaging and technology companies. This paper borrows Lorraine Daston and Peter Galison's work on objectivity to examine one such case: the dead heat between Jeneba Tarmoh and Allyson Felix at the 2012 US Olympic Trials. The Tarmoh/Felix dead heat involved a complex assemblage of human and machine vision, and contains within it many of the issues involved in the use of sports decision aids. The paper argues that analyses of images used as decision aids in sport have much to offer academic and non-academic audiences interested in sport and visual culture.     

体育文化节-高校校内传统田径运动会的改革方向

针对近几年高校校内传统田径运动会淡化的实际情况,提出在新世纪高校校内传统田径运动会应走出原来田径锦标赛的竞赛模式,它应该有崭新的理念和指导思想,有更灵活、有效、开放的形式和更易于实施的组织形式,有更充实、合理的项目和内容,让高校校内传统田径运动会变成集竞技与普及并存、健康与趣味结合、参与与提高相宜的趣味性体育文化活动-体育文化节.     

Bend sprinting performance: new insights into the effect of running lane

Athletes in inner lanes may be disadvantaged during athletic sprint races containing a bend portion because of the tightness of the bend. We empirically investigated the veracity of modelled estimates of this disadvantage and the effect of running lane on selected kinematic variables. Three-dimensional video analysis was conducted on nine male athletes in lanes 8, 5 and 2 of the bend of an outdoor track (radii: 45.10, 41.41 and 37.72 m, respectively). There was over 2% (p < 0.05) reduction in mean race velocity from lane 8 (left step 9.56 ± 0.43 m/s, right step: 9.49 ± 0.41 m/s) to lane 5 (left step: 9.36 ± 0.51 m/s, right step: 9.30 ± 0.51 m/s), with only slight further reductions from lane 5 to lane 2 (left step: 9.34 ± 0.61 m/s, right step: 9.30 ± 0.63 m/s). Race velocity decreased mainly because of reductions in step frequency as radius decreased. These unique data demonstrate the extent of the disadvantage of inner lane allocation during competition may be greater than previously suspected. Variations in race velocity changes might indicate some athletes are better able to accommodate running at tighter radii than others, which should have implications for athletes’ training.     

Predicting motivational regulations in physical education: the interplay between dispositional goal orientations,motivational climate and perceived competence

In this study, we examined the main and interactive effects of students' goal orientations, perceived competence and perceptions of the motivational climate on the motivational styles advanced by self-determination theory. The participants were 328 British secondary school students aged 13.6±0.6 years (mean±s). Moderated hierarchical regression analyses revealed task orientation, perceived competence and perceptions of a mastery climate to be positive predictors of self-determined styles of motivation. Perceived competence in physical education was negatively associated with amotivation. Significant interaction effects for mastery climate×task orientation and for ego orientation×perceived competence emerged. The results indicate that: (1) for students endorsing a high task orientation, the perception that the class climate was high in mastery cues was associated with increased intrinsic motivation; and (2) for students high in ego orientation, the belief that one was competent increased, while perceptions of incompetence attenuated intrinsic motivation. Additionally, a three-way interaction between ego orientation, performance climate and perceived competence emerged. In light of achievement goal and self-determination frameworks, we propose that studying the potential interplay between both individual and situational goal perspectives and the moderating effect of perceived competence may further enhance our understanding of motivation in physical education.     

Sports vision training: A review of the state-of-the-art in digital training techniques

Athletes need excellent vision to perform well in their sports, and many athletes have turned to vision training programs as a way to augment their traditional training regimen. The growing practice of ‘sports vision training’ relies on the notion that practice with demanding visual perceptual, cognitive, or oculomotor tasks can improve the ability to process and respond to what is seen, thereby improving sport performance. This enterprise is not necessarily new, but has been advanced greatly in the past few years by new digital technology that can be deployed during natural training activities, by perceptual-learning-inspired training programs, and by virtual reality simulations that can recreate and augment sporting contexts to promote certain sports-specific visual and cognitive abilities. These improved abilities may, in turn, instill a competitive advantage on the playing field, underscoring the potential value of these approaches. This article reviews emerging approaches, technologies and trends in sports vision training. Where available, critical review of supporting research is provided.     

Out of Eastern Africa: An Examination of Sport Labour Migration in the Post-Independence Era

Abstract

Globalization spearheaded professionalization and commercialization of sports, which has contributed and elevated sport labour migration out of Africa. People move far from their home base to improve their standards of living, form new identities, and to enhance national pride, which enabled many African men and women involved in elite sports to become an integral part of global sport competitions. This paper investigates factors that influenced the migration of athletes/players out of Eastern Africa and to understand their transnational experiences in a global context. The World System Theory, transnationalism and neoclassical theoretical perspectives guided this research in broad and specific contexts. Data sources included research journal articles, public government documents, theoretical and philosophical papers, newspapers, and internet documentaries that provide stories about sport migrants individually and as a collective group. Themes emerging from this study focus on the following: (a) patterns of migration, (b) factors that spearhead movement of sport migrants out of Eastern Africa and (c) transnational experiences with exemplifications.