Kinematic And Anthropometrical Analysis Of Cricket Throws Performed By Different Functional Classes

Throwing is one of the most important and complex skills within the game of Cricket. In a throwing motion every movement of the segment/part counts. There are different types of throws and a player is expected to be able to perform the throw accurately. There are numerous aspects of throwing performance making it a complex skill to master, such as velocity, movement, etc. It has been shown that throwing is an important aspect of many sports and that a sound understanding of throwing techniques can facilitate improvements in throwing performance (Atwater, 1979). Increased knowledge in the components of effective throwing action can be considered extremely beneficial in the general sporting community, as the throwing action is a skill that can be positively transferred to many other skills such as cricket, softball and the javelin, Hay (1993), Elliott and Anderson (1990). There are several types of throwing motion, such as bilateral or unilateral, and overhand, side hand, or underhand. Among these unilateral overhand throwing is a motion which is acquired last from the developmental view-point. Increased scientific knowledge of the components of effective throwing action allows coaches to reduce the chance of injury and optimize their performances. It has been well documented in biomechanical Abstract: The purpose of this study is to support literature representing the importance of lower body technique in the over-arm throw through the comparison of skilled and un-skilled cricket players. Ball velocity, stride length (in metres and as a percentage of performer's body height), trunk forward tilt and the change in knee angle from front foot contact to ball release were compared between performers to check for variations in technique. The Twenty participant (10 skilled and10 un skilled) performers performed 20 successful throws at maximum velocity at a target area at stump from 20 m distance. Cricket players were filmed and digitized and data was entered into SPSS where independent t-tests was run to check for significant differences (p < .05) in the parameters between the cricket ball throwers. ISSN:-2249-894X