Swing – Reverse Pyschology or weather ? from the New York Times
The NEW YORK TIMES recently addressed the issue of SWING in cricket bowling.
From the USA’s John Bart King, Pakistan’s Kings of pace and swing Imran Khan,Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Sarfraz Nawaz, Australia’s Ray Lindwall and Denis Lillee, England’s John Anderson, Guyana’s underrated Randolph Ramnarace , New Zealand’s Richard Hadlee, WI’s Gary Sobers & Malcom Marshall, and South Africa’s Dale Steyn to name a few there have been many great swing bowlers.
Rabi Mehta, a NASA scientist who has analyzed the movement of cricket balls in laboratory conditions, begs to differ from the belief that the weather, specially moisture, affects the swing of a cricket ball.
His credentials, not just as a scientist but a cricketer whose former team-mates include the Pakistan captain Imran Khan and the Indian bowler Syed Abid Ali, both adept users of swing, are compelling.
When he tried to reproduce the effect under laboratory conditions, he said, he found that moisture did not affect the movement of the ball.He admitted:
“It is possible that we have missed something and that in some way moisture does matter, but I’d say there is a very low possibility of that being the case.”
Mehta, who has talked extensively to players and coaches, argues that the crucial element is in the bowler’s motion, in particular the way it is released. If weather conditions do matter, it is a matter of psychology rather than moisture. READ MORE in the New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/07/sports/cricket/07iht-CRICKET.html
15 Aug 2010, 8:05 pm
Swing ? Reverse Pyschology or weather ? from the New York Times ……
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