The relationships between impact location and post-impact ball speed, bat torsion, and ball direction in cricket batting

Abstract

Three-dimensional kinematic data of bat and ball were recorded for 239 individual shots performed by twenty batsmen ranging from club to international standard. The impact location of the ball on the bat face was determined and assessed against the resultant instantaneous post-impact ball speed and measures of post-impact bat torsion and ball direction. Significant negative linear relationships were found between post-impact ball speed and the absolute distance of impact from the midline medio-laterally and sweetspot longitudinally. Significant cubic relationships were found between the distance of impact from the midline of the bat medio-laterally and both a measure of bat torsion and the post-impact ball direction. A "sweet region" on the bat face was identified whereby impacts within 2 cm of the sweetspot in the medio-lateral direction, and 4.5 cm in the longitudinal direction, caused reductions in ball speed of less than 6% from the optimal value, and deviations in ball direction of less than 10° from the intended target. This study provides a greater understanding of the margin for error afforded to batsmen, allowing researchers to assess shot success in more detail, and highlights the importance of players generating consistently central impact locations when hitting for optimal performance.

Relationships between technique and bat speed, post-impact ball speed, and carry distance during a range hitting task in cricket

“…The combined importance of impact location in the medio-lateral and longitudinal directions, together explaining 43.1% of the variation in ball launch speed, suggests that players who are consistently able to impact the ball close to the sweetspot of the bat are more likely to be successful than those who generate higher bat speeds without the required accuracy. This supports previous research in cricket (Symes, 2006;Bower, 2012;Peploe et al, 2018) and tennis (Elliott et al, 1980), indicating that off-centre impacts cause significant reductions in post-impact ball speed. However, for those players able to consistently generate impacts near the sweetspot, such as the elite batsmen included in this study, increasing bat speed at the point of impact becomes vital in producing higher ball launch speeds.…”

“…A second forward stepwise linear regression incorporating the same trials was then conducted to explain the variation in vertical ball launch angle, although the resulting model (containing bat angle about the global medio-lateral axis and impact location in the medio-lateral direction of the bat) did not meet the assumption of normal standardised residuals. As such a third forward stepwise linear regression was conducted and presented, incorporating only those trials with impacts occurring within 2 cm of the midline of the bat (n = 99; representing the 'sweet region' in the medio-lateral direction; Peploe et al, 2018). This was intended to remove any effect caused by off-centre impacts and isolate the influence of other bat-ball impact and launch parameters.…”

“…This ensured familiarity for the participants, as the altered inertial properties of a standardised bat would have affected the kinematics of the shot. Previous work has shown little difference in batted ball speed for a given impact location, or impact location-ball speed relationship between different bats (Symes, 2006;Peploe et al, 2018). Only trials where the ball was projected forwards in the anterior-posterior direction (towards the bowling machine) post-impact were selected for analysis (n = 239; 12 ± 2 trials per participant).…”

“…The single ball displacement equation methodology of Peploe et al (2017) was used to determine the impact location relative to the sweetspot (17.5 cm from the toe along the midline of the bat; Bower, 2012;Peploe et al, 2018) in the X (mediolateral) and Z (longitudinal) directions on the bat, resultant post-impact ball speed, and vertical ball launch angle for each trial. Vertical ball launch angle was calculated from vertical and anterior-posterior instantaneous post-impact ball velocities.…”

“…In general, these studies have identified an optimal vertical launch angle for maximum carry distance, dependent on the launch speed, release height, and aerodynamic properties of the projectile in question. Strong relationships have been identified in cricket between the impact location of the ball on the bat face and ball launch speed (Peploe et al, 2018), with impacts just 2 cm off-centre in the medio-lateral direction causing a 6% reduction in ball speed. In golf, higher clubhead velocities have also been linked to greater ball launch speed (Chu et al, 2010) and driving distances (Hume et al, 2005;Gordon et al, 2009).…”