New gizmo putting batting techniques under spotlight
Players sign up to having microchip in bat handle Drone to analyse pitches in Champions Trophy
As Jason Roy searches for the reasons behind his loss of form, he may only have to look down as far as his bat handle. Roy is one of three England players who have signed up to wear a microchip on their bat which will analyse bat speed through the stroke and at impact, angle of backlift and follow through, and the time between backlift and hitting the ball.
Ben Stokes and Alex Hales have also agreed to use the chip, which weighs 25g, is about the size of a 50 pence piece and sits in a rubber cup that covers the top of the bat.
The gizmo, designed by Intel, will be used by broadcasters during the Champions Trophy and is part of a longer-term roll out of wearable technology in cricket. Called Batsense, the units will cost around £120 and be available for recreational cricketers this year to use along with an app downloaded on a phone which will relay information on their bat swing, and also take video of each stroke in the nets.
“As a coaching tool, it’s absolutely vital. Take Jason Roy, struggling a little bit at the moment,” said Sky pundit Nasser Hussain at the Kia Oval on Monday. “Say this technology had been in place for two or three years, he could have a net tomorrow at the Oval, play normally, and then take the data from two years ago and say, ‘Is everything I’m doing with my bat exactly the same as it was?’ And if you know it was, you know that’s not the issue.
“As a broadcasting tool, how many times have we spoken about people having ‘fast hands’ or ‘great bat speed’? But what does that mean? We’ve never quantified it. The first couple of games when we put out that A B de Villiers’s bat speed is 78kph or whatever it will be measured in, that won’t mean a lot, but hopefully by the end of the tournament, when we are comparing it to someone else, we’ll find out who does have the best bat speed.”
The technology is light and some batsmen already put tape on the top of the bat handle to balance it out but not every player has embraced its use. Six from Pakistan have signed up but only three from England and three from India.
“You know how fidgety I was with my bat and bat handle, it’s not too intrusive. It’s not something batsmen will think ‘Crikey that feels uncomfortable or too heavy’,” said Hussain. “As one of the fussier people with a bat in my hand, that’s not something a batsman will feel, ‘I can’t bat with that’.”
Intel will also provide a drone camera that will analyse the pitch, capturing the “topography and grass health”. As a pitch report, it is a long way from Tony Greig sticking his car key in the wicket to work out how hard the surface is for batting.
“Duncan Fletcher [former England coach] told me the first day I got the broadcasting job: ‘Be careful, because you think you know it all about the game now, but in two years’ time this game will have changed. Keep up to date’.” said Hussain. “And within two years of him saying that to me, Kevin Pietersen was turning round left-handed and switch-hitting the ball out of the ground, scores of 450 were becoming possible in one-day cricket. The game changes quickly. If it gives you that one per cent to improve the game, someone will be using it.”