Oculomotor Behavior Predict Professional Cricket Batting and Bowling Performance

Abstract

Importance: A new, shorter version of cricket was introduced recently (Twenty20; T20). Since its inception, T20 cricket has rapidly become a popular and exciting format of cricket. However, there is little understanding of factors such as visual-motor control that influence expert performance.Objective: The purpose of this project is to determine if a series of oculomotor measures can predict batting and bowling performance in professional cricket players.Design: This study used a cross-sectional design. Each participant took part in a suite of eye-tracking tests to measure oculomotor behavior compared to their performance data.Participants: This study used a sample of 59 male T20 league professional cricket players (30 Bowlers and 29 Batsman).Results: One-way univariate analyses of variance examined the differences in oculomotor behavior between batsman and bowlers. A series of multiple regression analyses was conducted to evaluate how well the visual variables predict bowling and batting performance variables. Results demonstrate that several oculomotor eye tracking measures were good predictors of run performance and strike rate, including sports total score, sports on-field score, and sports functional score. Likewise, several of the same metrics predicted Runs and Wicket performance for bowlers. Overall, results provided further validation to a growing body of literature supporting the use of eye-tracking technology in performance evaluation.

Psychomotor and visual skills underlying position specialization in 1352 elite youth baseball players

“…The individual tests comprising the Brain and Sports Vision modules measured the amplitude, velocity, and precision of eye movements during tasks that require saccadic and smooth pursuit eye movements, as well as oculomotor reaction times to central and peripheral stimuli. Participants were instructed to track the dot on the screen or saccade to new dots and task scores were combined into proprietary summary scores that consisted of linear combinations of individual variables with weights ranging from 0.1 to 13% across metrics [ 22 , 23 ]. Brain and Sports Vision modules measure the following summary scores;…”

Studies of Vision in Cricket—A Narrative Review

“…In a recent paper by Murray and colleagues, computerized measurements of visual-motor control were made and compared to cricket batting and bowling statistics [ 47 ]. Domain-general studies such as this one, in which correlations between ex situ measurements of visual function and on-field performance are made, are common in the sports vision literature [ 48 ].…”

“…Selected visual skills were assessed and trained in a domain-general manner. Some of the training was directed at eye movements, which are thought to be related to performance in cricket matches [ 24 , 47 ]. In addition, some of this training could improve stereoacuity [ 62 ], which Barrett and colleagues found to be better in elite cricket players compared to the general population [ 9 ].…”