Cricket Batting Biomechanics Study: Male and Female Power Hitting
Channel: Stuart McErlain-Naylor
Date: 2021-06-15

A video summary of our recent #ScienceOfCricket study in Journal of Sports Sciences, titled "Comparing power hitting kinematics between skilled male and female cricket batters": https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2021.1934289 

Abstract:
Organismic, task, and environmental constraints are known to differ between skilled male and female cricket batters during power hitting tasks. Despite these influences, the techniques used in such tasks have only been investigated in male cricket batters. This study compared power hitting kinematics between 15 male and 15 female batters ranging from university to international standard. General linear models were used to assess the effect of gender on kinematic parameters describing technique, with height and body mass as covariates. Male batters generated greater maximum bat speeds, ball launch speeds, and ball carry distances than female batters on average. Male batters had greater pelvis-thorax separation in the transverse plane at the commencement of the downswing (β = 1.14; p = 0.030) and extended their lead elbows more during the downswing (β = 1.28; p = 0.008) compared to female batters. The hypothesised effect of gender on the magnitude of wrist uncocking during the downswing was not observed (β = -0.14; p = 0.819). The causes of these differences are likely to be multi-factorial, involving aspects relating to the individual players, their history of training experiences and coaching practices, and the task of power hitting in male or female cricket.

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Other resources:
Full video lecture on cricket biomechanics: https://youtu.be/mTJfW2skBuk 
Study on power hitting technique in male batters: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330800596_Relationships_between_technique_and_bat_speed_post-impact_ball_speed_and_carry_distance_during_a_range_hitting_task_in_cricket 
Study on bat-ball impact locations / sweet spot: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320438138_The_relationships_between_impact_location_and_post-impact_ball_speed_bat_torsion_and_ball_direction_in_cricket_batting 
Method used for the impact location / sweet spot paper: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319048935_A_curve_fitting_methodology_to_determine_impact_location_timing_and_instantaneous_post-impact_ball_velocity_in_cricket_batting 
All of our cricket batting research: https://www.stuartmcnaylor.com/project/cricket-batting/ 

00:00 Cricket Batting Biomechanics Study: Male and Female Power Hitting Comparison
00:16 Dynamical Systems Theory in Cricket Batting: Organismic, Environmental, and Task Constraints
01:08 Technique Factors Linked to Cricket Power Hitting Bat Speed
01:27 Cricket Power Hitting Biomechanics Data Collection
01:45 Cricket Bat Speed, Ball Launch Speed, and Ball Carry Distance
01:55 X-Factor, Elbow Extension, and Wrist Uncocking in Cricket Batting
02:23 Male and Female Lead Elbow Extension in Cricket Batting
02:47 Implications for Cricket Power Hitting

Web: https://www.stuartmcnaylor.com/sportsbiomls/ 
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