Nov 23, 2007
Do you need to be fit to play cricket? Do the best batsmen in the
world really have the ability to predict the type of ball they will
receive before it even arrives? And is cricket really more of a
mental game than a physical one?
In this rather longer episode, we talk to Dr Rob Duffield
from the School of Human Movement at Charles
Sturt University who has found that indeed you really do not need
to be as physically fit to play cricket as you do other sports such
as football. We also have a chat about the direction of research
with regards to sport and cricket in particular, and how scientific
endeavour is reforming the way cricketers train and prepare for
games.
We chat to Dr Allistair McRobert from
Liverpool John Moores University who's work has shown that the best
batsmen can predict to some extent where a bowler will bowl. This
work also encompasses a look into the subconscious mental game of
cricket and how the most successful players are more mentally
prepared for the top level than lesser players.
Finally, I discuss the role of psychology in cricket and the
various measures that are being put in place to look after the
cricketer's brain.