How do World-Class Cricket Batsmen Anticipate a Bowler's Intention?

Abstract

Four experiments are reported that examine the ability of cricket batsmen of different skill levels to pick up advance information to anticipate the type and length of balls bowled by swing and spin bowlers. The information available upon which to make the predictive judgements was manipulated through a combination of temporal occlusion of the display and selective occlusion or presentation of putative anticipatory cues. In addition to a capability to pick up advance information from the same cues used by intermediate and low-skilled players, highly skilled players demonstrated the additional, unique capability to pick up advance information from some specific early cues (especially bowling hand and arm cues) to which the less skilled players were not attuned. The acquisition of expert perceptual-motor skill appears to involve not only refinement of information extraction but also progression to the use of earlier, kinematically relevant sources of information.

The coupling between gaze behavior and opponent kinematics during anticipation of badminton shots

“…As predicted, the expert participants were significantly more accurate at anticipation on the temporal occlusion test compared to the novice participants. Findings support previous research showing that expert athletes are better than novice athletes at anticipating upcoming actions (Abernethy, Gill, Parks, & Packer, 2001;Dicks, Button, & Davids, 2010;Gabbett, Rubinoff, Thorburn, & Farrow, 2007;Muller, Abernethy, & Farrow, 2006;Savelsbergh et al, 2002;Williams et al, 2002), especially earlier in the execution of the action (Abernethy, 1990;Williams et al, 2002). The expert group have a significantly greater amount of domain specific experience, thus enabling them to combine the current environmental situation with those previous experiences to aid in response selection (Causer et al, 2012), whereas the novices do not.…”

Information–movement coupling in developing cricketers under changing ecological practice constraints

“…Research in cricket batting has demonstrated a relationship between skill level and anticipation, consistent with those seen in other sports (Müller, Abernethy, & Farrow, 2006). Current evidence from expertise research suggests that only skilled batters have an ability to utilize information from the prerelease actions of a bowler (Weissensteiner et al, in press).…”

Inside the brain of an elite athlete: the neural processes that support high achievement in sports

“…Specifically, they make use of the motion of the bowling arm, in relation to the bowling hand, primarily between the time of front foot impact and ball release 85 . Differences in information pickup are found between novices and skilled cricketers, but also between skilled and elite players 85 .…”