The Straight Drive in Cricket

Batting in cricket is altogether different from batting in baseball in both objective and technique as well as the bat itself. In cricket the batter can hit or play at and miss as many of the balls bowled as he or she wants with a flat faced bat and scores by running between wickets or hitting the ball over the boundary. In baseball, it is 3 strikes and you are out and home runs or base hits, hit with a rounded bat, are the goal.

In both sport, professional bowlers or pitchers can deliver the ball at around 100 miles per hour and therefore timing and reaction are very important. In cricket though the batter can play a shot anywhere on the oval field, even behind him as long as he does not get caught or run out (I will not go into the rules of cricket but you can find them here). This means that in cricket there are a large variety of shots that can be played that require exceptional timing as well as perfect technique.

One of the classic and most eye catching shots in cricket is the straight drive. Most of the best cricket batters in the world such as Jacques Kallis and Ricky Ponting play this shot with ease and little effort.

Here is some video of Sachin Tendulkar, another cricket batting legend playing some straight drives off one of the fastest bowlers around, Brett Lee. The first shot is slightly mistimed and the ball angles off his bat, but the next 2 shots are perfect examples of a straight drive.



His timing and technique in the second shot is perfect and therefore requires little effort to transfer power and speed to the ball so that it races along the ground to the boundary and 4 more runs.

Let's analyze the video and break down his technique:

• Tendulkar starts his movement by stepping with his front foot toward where the ball will bounce on the pitch and lifting his bat. As the ball is coming toward him at around 145 km/hr, he has very little time to react and therefore must move toward the ball and plan the shot he will play at the same time.
• As bowling in cricket requires the ball to bounce, it can change direction and speed quite a bit after the bounce. Stepping forward to the area in which the ball will bounce allows the batter to get closer to the bounce and reduce the amount of movement that can occur after the bounce. This also allows the batter to get over the ball and prevent the shot from flying through the air and giving one of the fielders a chance to catch it.
• Tendulkar brings his bat down straight with the flat face of the bat directed at the ball. Angling the bat will force the ball off in the direction toward which the bat is angled and also increases the chances of catching the edge of the bat or missing the ball completely. Although batters do sometimes play shots by changing the angle of the bat, you will not play a good straight drive with an angled bat.
• Tendulkar connects with the ball around 1:21. By pausing the video you will see that his bat is alongside his front leg at the point of contact. His weight is also forward and over the front leg. He does this so that he can hit the ball directly toward the ground giving no chance for a catch. This timing also ensures that he has perfect balance and control over the shot.
• He keeps his head down looking at the ball being hit off his bat and continues to keep his head down as he begins his follow through. Just as in other sports (golf, rugby place kicking) this helps him to maintain his balance through the shot and once again to keep the ball from lifting into the air.
• Tendulkar then continues to follow through keeping the flat part of the bat facing in the direction he hit the ball and bringing his arms all the way above his head. This ensures that he hits straight and all the way through the ball.

The results of this perfect timing and technique are obvious as the ball flies off to the boundary and 4 more runs for Tendulkar.

The 2009 ICC Champions Trophy begins September 22 and the likes of Jacques Kallis and Ricky Ponting and Sachin Tendulkar will be showing off their batting prowess and often flawless technique from which we can learn.

Cricket Bowling: Video Analysis of a Throwing Action

On the Video Analysis of Sports we are excited to show how video can be used to improve your performance in almost any sport. We are also interested when video or motion capture is used to study the intricacies of laws in sports.

This week Dudley came across an article about the use of a motion capture system to study the bowling action of a cricketer, http://www.gulfnews.com/sport/Cricket/10308342.html . For many years there has been controversy over legal bowling actions and numerous players have been called for suspect bowling. In fact the leading wicket taker in world cricket, Muttiah Muralitharan, was regularly called for a suspect action, early in his career. With the performance of 3D motion capture studies at the University of Western Australia, his action was finally ratified and was no longer called into question.

For those of you who know very little about cricket, here is a link with a brief explanation http://uk.cricinfo.com/link_to_database/ABOUT_CRICKET/EXPLANATION/ .
Bowling is the action of pitching the ball at the wicket (see link above) in an attempt to beat the batter.

There is a law in international cricket that the angle of the bowling arm (arm with the ball) cannot straighten more than 15 degrees during the final part of the bowling motion before releasing the ball. If it does then this motion can be considered illegal and in the end can result in a player being suspended from International cricket until he corrects his action.

It therefore makes perfect sense that video analysis is used to evaluate a cricket bowler's action before they are suspended. In fact the maximum change in angle was increased to 15 degrees based on a study using 3D motion capture analysis. Motion capture and biomechanical tests proved that it is almost impossible to bowl the ball without some flex or bending at the elbow and in 2004, it was discovered that many bowlers in International cricket flex their elbow more than the previously set limit during their bowling motion.

With video analysis we can:

1. Capture the motion with high speed cameras, so we can assess the motion frame-by-frame and concentrate on the part of the bowling action that is relevant.
2. Set up our cameras appropriately so we get a good view of the arm and how and where it bends.
3. Measure the change in angle of the arm using mathematical concepts rather than "eyeballing" it.
4. Capture the bowling action using multiple cameras to obtain a 3D view of the action and find the physical change in elbow angle rather than a 2D simple angle assessment.
   

The International Cricket Council (ICC) actually appoints a panel of human movement specialists to assess any possibly illegal bowling actions. This panel is instructed to use video and motion capture to analyze a suspect player's bowling and present their findings to a review board.

Here is a video of Muttiah Muralitharan bowling and taking the last few wickets on his way to the world record. His once suspect bowling delivery called the "doosra" is the first delivery you will see. In full speed and with the naked eye, it certainly looks like he is throwing the ball (straightening his arm by more than 10 degrees), but further investigation using 3D motion capture proved that this was not the case.

It is commendable that the ICC uses motion capture and technology to evaluate a rule that could cost a player his career. There are not many sports in which the player's action can be called into question; but all sports can benefit from some form of video analysis to improve players' performances.

If you have some sports video or are interested in analysis of a particular sport, let us know with a comment or send us an email.