4 ms·

Would love to know about how different cricketers used these to their benefit

ddek 7y ago
Most 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 ago
There 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 ago
  What 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 ago
The England team famously hired a physicist as a swing consultant.
- tathagatadg 7y ago
  tell us more about it ...
pknerd 7y ago
I 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.

ddek 7y ago

Most 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 ago

There 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 ago
What 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 ago

The England team famously hired a physicist as a swing consultant.

tathagatadg 7y ago
tell us more about it ...

pknerd 7y ago

I 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.