Evaluation of a Cricket Bowling Machine With an Arm and Hand to Deliver the Ball

Abstract

The use of bowling machines to train batsmen whether it be indoors or outdoors have increased significantly. In the absence of bowlers, batsmen can bat for hours without any bowlers getting tired. The designs of these machines are often a derivative of ball projection machines used for other sports such as tennis. Reviewed literature highlights the deficit in visual information in the form of an arm and hand when using these machines. Hence a cricket bowling machine was developed with an arm and hand. The usability, functionality, repeatability and accuracy of the cricket bowling machine with an arm and hand was tested which had been previously designed and built by Dr Kelvin Loutan Jr (2016) at The University of Trinidad and Tobago. A trajectory model was developed for an indoor environment and experimentally validated with data collected from extensive testing of the bowling machine using Pitch Vision hardware and software. A design procedure had to be formulated to determine what test had to be done and the method of collecting data. The testing, collecting data and validation of the model was done with the cricket bowling machine at its current state with minor changes to the hand. The release angle at which the ball leaves the hand was found to have a significant impact on the length of the delivery. Finally, the bowling machine was able to bowl various lengths and varying speeds consistently. The variation in speed placed the machine in the category of medium-fast, that is, speeds between 120 km/h (75 mph) and 130 km/h (81mph).

Design and Development of a Bowling Machine for Effective and Efficient Cricket Batting Training

“…There are also other similar sports that use ball throwing machines for training purposes such as badminton [18], tennis [19], football [20], volleyball [21], and baseball [22]. When considering these machines with respect to propelling a ball, there are main 4 mechanisms that can be used for ejecting a ball such as pneumatic powered [23], rotary wheel [18]- [22], spring actuate [24], and pitching arm [24].…”

“…This mechanism is used to propel the ball manually or using any other means. During the first phase of the cycle, the tension spring is stressed, and in the second phase, the spring is released to propel the ball [24]. This mechanism has more drawbacks than the previous two mechanisms.…”

“…The pneumaticpowered mechanism is more complex than the other mechanisms and its controllability in variations is lower [23] and the operating cost is higher. The pitching arm mechanism and spring actuation have limited bowling variations [24]. Based on the above discussion, it is evident that target bowling technique and bowling variations are critical factors to consider when designing a cricket bowling machine.…”

“…[25], (c) spring mechanism-figure extracted from ref. [26], and (d)pitching arm mechanism-figure extracted from ref [24].…”