Video analysis of bowling techniques a powerful tool

The Australian way of integrating various specialised disciplines into an overall training programme was brought into sharper focus on the concluding day of the seminar organised for coaches from all over the country by the MRF Pace Foundation in Madras on Saturday. Those to benefit from the lectures included India bowlers, Venkatesh Prasad, Ajit Agarkar and Debashis Mohanty. In the morning session the powerful tool of video analysis was illustrated with the bowling techniques of a stream of trainees, both Indian and Australian, being dissected in clinical fashion.

Mark Portus, a biomechanist associated with the Australian Cricket Board, pointed out how freeze frames of the actions of different bowlers, or the same bowler bowling two separate balls, could be synchronised and compared at identical moments in the delivery stride. For example balls bowled at different speeds can be compared to study how a bowler can be made to bowl consistently at the higher speed. Dennis Lillee considered that the bowler needed to balance forward to a greater extent and also pull his leading arm down a bit further to bowl quicker.

These images also indicate whether there is any counter rotation of the shoulder between the landing of the front and back feet, which is the prime cause of back injury and which is well nigh impossible to detect with the naked eye. But what became clear on viewing the footage was that a perfect action is an oxymoron. Invariably the hips and shoulders aren't entirely in alignment but as long as the angle of counter rotation is down to about 20-25 degrees, its within acceptable limits, said Portus. It would also have been more instructive, one felt, if the actions of fast bowling greats from over the years had been displayed to contrast them with those of the tyros.

Dr Sandy Gordon, psychologist with the Australian Cricket Board, carried off from where he left yesterday and one of the interesting training methods which he said was being looked at closely in Australia was getting the players to have a 20 minute nap during the day's play. Sleep, he said, was a great reenergiser and was better than just sitting with a glazed look in the dresing room.

Gordon also observed that while it was important for the players to exhibit heightened concentration at the point of delivery, they should learn to switch down in between balls because its impossible to sustain it for any length of time. Although bowlers are advised to focus on a target spot as they run in, he disclosed that Shane Warne, in a rather radical departure, bowled with an image in his mind of the shot which he wanted the batsman to play.

Troy Coolley, fitness trainer at the Australian Cricket Academy, then gave a demonstration of the Swiss ball routine which he said provides a natural training environment incorporating the whole body movement unlike machine based programmes which focus on isolated muscle groups. The Swiss ball, an inflated sphere of 30-75 cm diameter depending on the height of the athlete, which comes with a price tag of 30 US dollars, helps to develop the body as a single unit. Coolley had two willing accomplices in rookie Australian quicks, Shane Watson and Paul Roffe, who exercised on the ball with aplomb.

The finale was a session where all the speakers fielded queries from the audience following which TA Sekhar, Chief Coach at the Foundation brought the curtain down by thanking the panelists and the participants and calling for audience feedback so that the organisers could prepare better for the next such convocation in 2002.