Biomechanics and fast bowling

By Adam Kelly

Underarm bowling until 1828 (Dellor 2010)

MCC approved ‘Over-arm’ in 1864 (Dellor 2010)

Back foot ‘drag technique’ (Perves 2001)

Modern day fast bowling actions◦ Front on◦ Mixed◦ Side on

History of fast bowling

Phases of the bowling action

Back foot contact Mid delivery stride Front foot contact

Ball release

MCC (1976)

Modern day fast bowlingearly research

Front on Side on Mixed

Bartlett et al (1996), Davis and Blanksby (1976), (MCC 1976) and Foster et al (1989)

•Hip and Shoulder Alignment of 200 +

•Back foot lands at 0

•Hip and Shoulder alignment 180

•Back foot lands at 270

•Longer delivery stride 0.42m

Coaching text recommends not to use this action

Understanding the actionEarly video analysis

Delivery Stride length75 – 85% of height of bowler (Elliott et al 1992)

Front foot contact peak vertical forces4.7 times body weight (Elliott and Foster 1984)

6.4 times body weight (Elliott et al 1992)

Front foot contact and knee anglesElite bowlers flexed 6.6°College bowlers 31.8° (Burden and Bartlett 1989)

Shoulder counter rotationMean 28.2° ± 13.2° (Stockill and Bartlett 1992)

Increasing ball release speed1 or 2 camerasExtended front knee at contact 164° ± 11

(Portus et al 2004, Loram et al 2005, Wormgoor et al 2010)

Slater et al (2007) highlight that: Angular velocity of bowling arm (P=0.001)Vertical velocity of non bowling arm (P=0.031)Stride length (P=0.018)

Multiple cameras

Shoulder alignment – release speed (P= 0.013) (Wormgoor et al 2010)

Centre of Mass kinematics (Ferdinands et al 2010)

Proximal – Distal energy transfer (Robertson 2004, Bartlett 2007)

Injury Prevention

3D Motion analysis systems

Flexes, Lateral bend and rotation simultaneously (Ferdinands et al 2009)

Significantly range of lateral flexion relative to the pelvis (Stuelcken et al 2010)

Harness reduced angle of separation (P=0.006) (Wallis et al 2002)

Counter rotation of 35.4° in shoulders lead to lower back injuries (Elliott et al 2002,Ranson et al 2008)

Legitimacy of bowling actions 3D Motion analysis systems

A legal action has less than 15° elbow extension when the upper arm is parallel to the ground (ICC 2009)

Opto reflective system most accurate (Elliott and Alderson 2007)

Umpires v Vicon mx13 (Aginsky 2010)

Elbow extension angular velocity (Ferdinands and Kersting 2007)

Hyperextension of (19.5°±5°) increased speed Short pitch deliveries had more elbow extension (12 °±6.6°)

(Portus et al 2006)

Future directions

Analyses of legitimacy of bowling actions during a match

EMG and Muscle recruitment sequences in bowling actionsNoakes and Durandt (2000) heat affecting cerebral cortex and muscle recruitment

Optimum action for top release speeds

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzdZNXsHHrc&feature=related

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