Hitting a cricket ball: what components of the interceptive action are most linked to expertise?

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Weissensteiner, J, Abernethy, B and Farrow, Damian ORCID: 0000-0002-5020-7910 (2011) Hitting a cricket ball: what components of the interceptive action are most linked to expertise? Sports Biomechanics, 10 (4). pp. 324-338. ISSN 1476-3141 (print) 1752-6116 (online)

Abstract

Differences in interceptive skill between highly skilled and lesser skilled cricket batsmen were examined using a batting task that required participants to strike front-foot drive strokes from a machine-projected ball to a specified target. Task difficulty was manipulated by varying the width of the bat (normal, half, and third width) and target accuracy, and quality of bat–ball contact was monitored along with temporal and sequential elements of the hitting action. Analyses revealed that the highly skilled batsmen were distinguishable from less skilled counterparts by their higher accuracy under the normal and half-width bat conditions, significantly earlier initiation and completion of the front-foot stride, greater synchronization of the completion of the front-foot stride with the commencement of the downswing of the bat, and consistent timing of downswing relative to ball bounce and impact. In keeping with studies of other hitting sports, temporal and spatial coupling of the downswing to ball bounce to help minimize temporo-spatial error at the point of interception appeared critical to skilled performance. Implications for the understanding of interception and for coaching practice are briefly discussed.

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Item type Article
URI https://vuir.vu.edu.au/id/eprint/9169
DOI 10.1080/14763141.2011.629303
Official URL http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1476314...
Subjects Historical > FOR Classification > 1106 Human Movement and Sports Science
Historical > FOR Classification > 1702 Cognitive Science
Historical > SEO Classification > 9301 Learner and Learning
Historical > Faculty/School/Research Centre/Department > Institute of Sport, Exercise and Active Living (ISEAL)
Keywords ResPubID23694, coincidence timing, cricket, expertise, interceptive skill, perception–action coupling
Citations in Scopus 20 - View on Scopus
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