A new and unpublished study by the University of Sydney’s lecturer in sports biomechanics Rene Ferdinands and his PhD student Gerard Dias sheds light on the challenges of facing fast bowling.
At 130 kph, the ball takes 0.49 seconds to arrive at the batsman from the point of release, giving the batter 0.29 seconds to decide how to play the ball and execute the shot. At 149kph, the batter must react within 0.22 seconds. That doesn’t sound like a lot of difference, but it means that the batter must react 25% faster. In terms of athletic performance that’s a massive leap.
Over the past 15-20 years, there have been profound changes in the techniques taught to batsmen to enable them to better handle fast bowling.
Read all about it on the ABC website.
