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Physics of Cricket (2005)
- amit400076 7y agoWould love to know about how different cricketers used these to their benefit
- ddek 7y agoMost people who play cricket are oblivious to the physics, but they know what’s going on at a high level. Cricketers know that shining the ball will cause swing, and they also know that (usually) the most swing occurs on mild, partly cloudy days. That’s why England has a reputation for swing conditions (if not always great swing bowling) - mild and slightly cloudy is the predominant non-rain condition from about April to October. Other things here, like the drop/gravity step used to start sprinting, are just things coaches will drill in without thorough explanation.
- harry8 7y agoThere are similar levels of abject nonsense in cricket as baseball. It's useful to have proper scientific analysis of these things to counter stuff like "all reverse swing is cheating because it's not scientifically possible" given that some of it clearly has been cheating. And yes various cricket commentators and officials have said just that. One umpire changed a ball on the Pakistan team with no more evidence than "it's swinging so you're cheating" resulting in a walk off. Beyond that kind of thing it's no more useful to players than differential equations are to David Beckham when he finds the optimal path from a spot kick over the wall into the top corner of the net. He's solved that diffeq but he's not consciously aware of how he's done it and could probably have done so in the time of Roman numerals.
- tathagatadg 7y agoWhat about coaches? I wonder what state of art softwares look like these days now that iot is so common place. I remember Bob Woolmer, so ahead of his time - had an idea that the batsman would have a mini display so that they can rewatch the last ball before playing the next one.
- mav3rick 7y agoThe England team famously hired a physicist as a swing consultant.
- tathagatadg 7y agotell us more about it ...
- pknerd 7y agoI couldn't find article but former Pakistan bowler, Sarfaraz Nawaz who is considered the inventor of reverse swing, formed a theory of air and it's pressure on ball while he was traveling on a helicopter.
- potatofarmer45 7y agoCricket is a rare game where the condition of the tools used to play the game (the ball) is allowed to alter over the duration of the game. This differs from almost all other sports such as baseball, where new balls are used after every hit or less, and in tennis, where new balls are used after a set number of games. Imagine how different baseball would be if they only used 1 ball per side for the entire game. Within a few innings, the ball will have much more variance and unpredictability.
- iamgopal 7y agoAnd one has to plan for it, don't use your reverse swing bowler early on or start with best swing bowling playing batsman etc...
- Gatsky 7y agoI haven’t read it, but I presume this is about time dilation during a test match.
- kxxsc 7y agoThe science of swing bowling is fascinating, and makes cricket watching a beautiful, nuanced affair. This article helped me understand the basics of swing, and explains why moisture in the air makes a huge difference, as does the condition of the ball: https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/17104279/the-science-swing-bowling https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/17104279/the-science... One of the most successful fast bowlers in cricket, James Anderson, is notorious for his ability to be able to swing the ball when there is moisture in the air. So much so, that he is referred to as James "Clouderson": https://www.quora.com/Why-is-James-Anderson-known-as-Clouderson https://www.quora.com/Why-is-James-Anderson-known-as-Clouder...
- mikelward 7y agoThanks for the links! The first one appears to be missing all the pictures and figures he refers to. https://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/story/1143037.html https://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/story/1143037.html seems to be equivalent but with the images.
- thomasfoster96 7y agoSadly it seems to be out of print, but Bob Woolmer’s posthumously published Art and Science of Cricket[0] is an incredibly expansive and throughly researched study of cricket as a sport. It seems to have been really difficult to translate the physics of cricket into actionable things for players, but this book is in my opinion the best attempt. [0] https://www.amazon.com.au/Bob-Woolmers-Art-Science-Cricket/dp/1770076581 https://www.amazon.com.au/Bob-Woolmers-Art-Science-Cricket/d...
- newyankee 7y agoActually it is very interesting even to understand what is the difference between legal bowling vs. chucking (> 15 degree flex at elbow at point of release ). Bowling in cricket is not as straightforward as pitching in baseball.
- pinkfoot 7y agoThe correct definition of the legal action is "whatever it took to keep Muralitharan bowling".
- Mikeb85 7y agoThe law actually isn't that the arm can't be flexed/bent. It's that the arm can't straiten more than 15 degrees once it's above shoulder height. So you can have a bent arm as long as you keep the angle more or less the same.
- pinkfoot 7y ago> "The crowd loves a batter who can hit sixes." Batsman. sigh.
- tomhoward 7y agoNot anymore, now that women’s cricket is being heavily promoted. All the top level players and commentators were referring to “batters” during this past Australian summer. Times are a-changin.
- pinkfoot 7y agoTFA article failed to mention the recent Australian innovations in achieving swing-bowling.