Sources of information pick-up for anticipation by skilled cricket batsmen

Novel Twenty20 batting simulations: a strategy for research and improved practice

Twenty20 cricket and batting in particular have remained vastly understudied to date. To elucidate the effects of batting on the batter, tools which replicate match play in controlled environments are essential. This study describes the development of two Twenty20 batting simulations, for a high and low strike rate innings, generated from retrospective analysis of international and domestic competition. Per delivery analysis of probabilities of run-type and on/off-strike denomination produce ball-by-ball simulations most congruent with retrospective competitive innings. Furthermore, both simulations are matched for duration and dictated through audio files. The `high' strike rate innings requires a batter to score 88 runs from 51 deliveries, whereby 60 runs are from boundaries. Similarly, the `low' strike rate innings requires a batter to score 61 runs from 51 deliveries, where 27 runs are scored from boundaries. Because batting simulations dictate run scoring outcomes, a method of quantifying a batter's performance from bat-ball contact scores is described. Ten elite batters achieved a mean performance score of 72 (SD = 26) and 88 (21) for the low and high strike rate simulations respectively. This study provides sport practitioners with a training technique to improve specific skill acquisition and enables research in understudied Twenty20 batting.

"What we talk about is creating a probability": Exploring the interaction between the anticipation and decision-making processes of professional bowlers and batters in Twenty20 cricket

Expert performers in time constrained sports use a range of information sources to facilitate anticipatory and decision-making processes. However, research has often focused on responders such as batters, goalkeepers, defenders, and returners of serve, and failed to capture the complex interaction between opponents, where responders can also manipulate probabilities in their favour. This investigation aimed to explore the interaction between top order batters and fast or medium paced bowlers in cricket and the information they use to inform their anticipatory and decision-making skills in Twenty20 competition. Eleven professional cricketers were interviewed (8 batters and 3 bowlers) using semi-structured questions and scenarios from Twenty20 matches. An inductive and deductive thematic analysis was conducted using the overarching themes of Situation Awareness (SA) and Option Awareness (OA). Within SA, the sub-themes identified related to information sources used by bowlers and batters (i.e., stable contextual information, dynamic contextual information, kinematic information). Within OA, the sub-themes identified highlighted how cricketers use these information sources to understand the options available and the likelihood of success associated with each option (e.g., risk and reward, personal strengths). A sub-theme of 'responder manipulation' was also identified within OA to provide insight into how batters and bowlers interact in a cat-and-mouse like manner to generate options that manipulate one another throughout the competition. A schematic has been developed based on the study findings to illustrate the complex interaction between the anticipation and decision-making processes of professional top order batters and fast or medium paced bowlers in Twenty20 cricket.

Studies of Vision in Cricket-A Narrative Review

Vision is thought to play a substantial role in hitting and fielding in cricket. An understanding of which visual skills contribute during cricket play could inform future clinical training trials. This paper reviews what has been reported thus far regarding the relationship of visual skills to cricket performance and reviews the results of clinical trials in which the impact of visual skills training on cricket performance has been addressed. Fundamental or low-level visual skills, with the exception of color vision and perhaps near stereopsis and dynamic visual acuity, are similar between cricket players and the general population. Simple reaction time has been found to be shorter in cricket players in some but not all studies. While there is mixed or no evidence that the aforementioned visual skills are superior in cricket players compared to non-players, comparisons of eye and head movements and gaze tracking have revealed consistent differences between elite cricket batters and sub-elite batters. Future training studies could examine whether teaching sub-elite batters to emulate the gaze tracking patterns of elite batters is beneficial for batting. Lastly, clinical trials in which visual skills of cricket players have been trained have in many cases resulted in positive effects on visual skills, or judgments required in cricket, or cricket play. However, clinical trials with larger and more diverse groups of participants and correlations to on-field metrics and on-field performance (i.e., domain-specific assessments) are necessary before conclusions can be drawn regarding the efficacy of vision training.

The Use of Contextual Information for Anticipation of Badminton Shots in Different Expertise Levels

Purpose: The current study investigated the use of contextual information for anticipation in badminton. Method: Participants were groups of elites (n = 26), competitive (n = 15) and novice players (n = 17) whose anticipation accuracy and reaction time were assessed using an ecologically valid badminton specific video-based occlusion test. Two conditions were presented, where either only kinematic information was available (Last Strokes condition, LS), or kinematic and contextual information were both available (Full Rally condition, FR). Results: Participants reacted slower in the FR condition, while no differences in accuracy were observed between the two conditions. Furthermore, all participants were better at side predictions than length, and elites outperformed novices in both side and length predictions. Among the elite group (which was split into adult elites, adult sub-elites & young elites), adult elite athletes showed faster responses for both the LS and FR conditions compared to their other elite counterparts who were much slower in both conditions. Conclusion: These results indicate that even at the highest level, anticipation performance can discriminate between groups of expert performers. In addition, the findings of this study indicate that the role of contextual information might not be as large as hypothesized, and further research is needed to clarify the role of contextual information toward anticipation.

Attributes of Expert Anticipation Should Inform the Design of Virtual Reality Simulators to Accelerate Learning and Transfer of Skill

Expert sport performers cope with a multitude of visual information to achieve precise skill goals under time stress and pressure. For example, a major league baseball or cricket batter must read opponent variations in actions and ball flight paths to strike the ball in less than a second. Crowded playing schedules and training load restrictions to minimise injury have limited opportunity for field-based practice in sports. As a result, many sports organisations are exploring the use of virtual reality (VR) simulators. Whilst VR synthetic experiences can allow greater control of visual stimuli, immersion to create presence in an environment, and interaction with stimuli, compared to traditional video simulation, the underpinning mechanisms of how experts use visual information for anticipation have not been properly incorporated into its content design. In themes, this opinion article briefly explains the mechanisms underpinning expert visual anticipation, as well as its learning and transfer, with a view that this knowledge can better inform VR simulator content design. In each theme, examples are discussed for improved content design of VR simulators taking into consideration its advantages and limitations relative to video simulation techniques. Whilst sport is used as the exemplar, the points discussed have implications for skill learning in other domains, such as military and law enforcement. It is hoped that our paper will stimulate improved content design of VR simulators for future research and skill enhancement across several domains.

Reliance upon contextual information can impede visual anticipation

This study investigated whether skilled batsmen in a state cricket pathway could anticipate ball types when congruency of field-placings was manipulated with a bowler's action. Twenty-four male cricket batsmen were recruited who had played either first-class cricket (n = 6), were part of under 17 (n = 8) or under 19 (n = 10) state cricket squads. Participants completed a video-based temporal occlusion test where they were required to anticipate ball types from a swing bowler. In condition one, contextual field-placing information was presented to be congruent with the delivery type and bowler's action, whilst in condition two it was incongruent. Results did not reveal skill level differences across conditions for anticipation. In the congruent condition, all skill groups predicted above the chance level at the beginning and end of the bowler's delivery stride. In the incongruent condition, first-class players predicted above chance at the beginning of the bowler's delivery stride, and to a higher magnitude above chance compared to other skill groups at ball release. Under 17 and 19 players could not predict above chance at the start of the bowler's delivery stride with their magnitude of prediction lower than first-class players at ball release. Results indicate skilled batsmen find it challenging to integrate contextual and kinematic information to anticipate. This is likely due to greater emphasis placed upon contextual information in part supplied by data analysts. Findings have theoretical and practical implications respectively for lower body positioning for bat-ball interception and perceptual training to improve pick-up of kinematic cues.HIGHLIGHTSSkilled batsmen in a high-performance state cricket pathway could integrate congruent field-placings and bowler kinematics to anticipate ball types.First-class batsmen could integrate incongruent field-placing information to the start, but not the end, of the bowler's delivery action to anticipate ball types.Under 17 and 19 batsmen could not integrate incongruent field-placings to bowler kinematics to anticipate ball types.Skilled batsmen who cannot use kinematic information to anticipate ball types should be given visual-perceptual simulation training to accelerate performance.

An Active Inference Account of Skilled Anticipation in Sport: Using Computational Models to Formalise Theory and Generate New Hypotheses

Optimal performance in time-constrained and dynamically changing environments depends on making reliable predictions about future outcomes. In sporting tasks, performers have been found to employ multiple information sources to maximise the accuracy of their predictions, but questions remain about how different information sources are weighted and integrated to guide anticipation. In this paper, we outline how predictive processing approaches, and active inference in particular, provide a unifying account of perception and action that explains many of the prominent findings in the sports anticipation literature. Active inference proposes that perception and action are underpinned by the organism’s need to remain within certain stable states. To this end, decision making approximates Bayesian inference and actions are used to minimise future prediction errors during brain–body–environment interactions. Using a series of Bayesian neurocomputational models based on a partially observable Markov process, we demonstrate that key findings from the literature can be recreated from the first principles of active inference. In doing so, we formulate a number of novel and empirically falsifiable hypotheses about human anticipation capabilities that could guide future investigations in the field.