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How do bowlers deal with hitting batsmen? Which approach works best against speed? When do you turn to Paul McKenna?
By James Wallace for Wisden Cricket Monthly
It will take you longer than 0.4 seconds to read this sentence. It will take your brain longer still to make sense of it. The fastest bowlers propel the ball at speeds in excess of 90mph. At the point of release, they are just shy of 19 metres away from their intended target. That’s if the intended target is the wooden stumps. A big if. The flesh and bone batsman, defending their stumps, body and pride (not necessarily in that order), is positioned around 17.5 metres away on the line of the popping crease. Some choose to take guard here; others retreat back towards their stumps in an attempt give themselves more time.
Because time is in short supply. Studies have shown that it takes a batsman 0.3 seconds to “react” − to process the line of the ball, make a judgment on its likely course and decide which stroke to play. It takes another 0.3 seconds for the limbs to receive the information from the brain and perform the shot. That’s 0.6 seconds in total – longer than 0.4 seconds, so something has to give. “Speed defeats reactions,” says former England fast bowler John Snow in Letting Rip, Simon Wilde’s thrilling exploration of fast bowling. Continue reading...