Why are easy catches difficult?
A study finds why easy catches, those that go up in the air either of a top edge or of a miss-hit, are difficult to catch. Their conclusion:
"generates a rotating sheath of air around the ball that results in a curved and unpredictable trajectory."
Uh! I would rather drop an easy catch than try to understand why I dropped it.
11 comments:
It's good that someone knows these things.
Imran Khan, when bowling reverse swing, would sometimes see the ball swing in the 'normal' direction, even though the ball was old. And the science was eventually able to explain what was going on - there's some threshold speed (I think around 85mph), above which the ball will swing reverse and below normally (or maybe the other way round).
I agree knowing 'why' is good, but it still doesn't help in holding on to them.:)
You've got an excuse next time you drop one though. "It was the rotating sheath of air around the spinning ball, captain..."
Will he believe you?
Some time back i blogged that slip catches coming from a back foot play usually get dropped. As for the easy high catches the reason may be the players take it easy.
This study makes it easier for them to take it easy.
They could rather spend their time researching on how to negotiate the volley of abuses showered by the bowler and the captain on dropping an easy catch... would be more helpful to cricket and the players :)
I am always amused by this reverse swing thing. Is it fasters googly? There were some in those good olden days who bowled this type of deliveries but they never cared to name it. I doubt whether many cricketers really know what EXACTLY is this. Frankly I am unable to make head and tail out of this discovery. To me it is something like left right combination which is supposed to baffle bowlers.
Ravindran, given the explanation of the various types of swing here, I am confident that many fast bowlers don't actually know what's going on.
Scorpi,
Good one.
David,
Excellent link.
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