Biomechanics and visual-motor control: how it has, is, and will be used to reveal the secrets of hitting a cricket ball

Abstract

Cricket batting is an incredibly complex task which requires the coordination of full-body movements to successfully hit a fast moving ball. Biomechanical studies on batting have helped to shed light on how this intricate skill may be performed, yet the many different techniques exhibited by batters make the systematic examination of batting difficult. This review seeks to critically evaluate the existing literature examining cricket batting, but doing so by exploring the strong but often neglected relationship between biomechanics and visual-motor control. In three separate sections, the paper seeks to address (i) the different theories of motor control which may help to explain how skilled batters can hit a ball, (ii) strategies used by batters to overcome the (at times excessive) temporal constraints, and (iii) an interpretation from a visual-motor perspective of the prevailing biomechanical data on batting.

Keywords:

• Hitting/batting
• cricket
• kinematics
• motor control

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the coaching staff at Activate Cricket Centre for their contribution and use of facilities.