Individual differences in the use of visual-perception information to guide weight transfer and bat movements in elite cricket batting

John Brenton

Early pick-up of visual information is vital for success in high-speed striking sports such as cricket batting. Expert performers are more adept at utilising visual information to anticipate and guide motor skill action than lesser-skilled performers. Research in sport expertise has compared the capability to use visual information to guide motor skill action between groups of experts and groups of less skilled performers, whilst sport biomechanics has focused on motor skill execution. Little is known about individual differences within experts groups and the capability to use visual information to guide biomechanical action variables in striking skills. The purpose of this master’s thesis was (a) to provide a critical review of literature in a position statement that would assist the implementation of perception-action coupled representative task experiments, and (b) advance existing sports science literature by combining sport expertise and sport biomechanics methodologies in an attempt to identify individual differences within an expert group of cricket batsmen. Eight expert cricket batsmen from the Western Australian Cricket Association High Performance Squad were tested on their capability to utilise early visual information to guide the timing of weight transfer (kinetics) and bat movement (kinematics) in an in-situ temporal occlusion batting task. Comparisons revealed there were some significant differences between batsmen for measures of initiation of weight transfer, initiation of bat downswing and duration of bat downswing. There was, however, no significant difference between batsmen in the completion of weight transfer measure. After comparing quality of interception, no significant difference was found between batsmen, indicating different movement patterns may be used to achieve the same outcome, a concept known as motor equivalence. These findings have extended both theoretical and applied knowledge of understanding expertise in striking sports, which may be useful for other sports.

Individual differences in the use of visual-perception information to guide weight transfer and bat movements in elite cricket batting

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