Off target? Try the underarm ‘granny’ toss

FORGET manly overarm throws – a slow underarm “granny” toss is likely to be more accurate, whether on the cricket field or aiming for the waste paper bin, a study has shown.

Yale and Harvard universities weighed the chances of hitting a target in different ways and found that fast throws fared worst because deviation was magnified by the speed of release.

“Once you launch the ball, there’s nothing you can do,” said Dr Madhusudhan Venkadesan, assistant professor of mechanical engineering. “The ball’s just going to carry out the consequences of what you did.”

However, the team found that small errors in the angle of release had little effect on slow and curved flight paths.

“What we find is that almost the slowest arc is often the most accurate,” he added.

“We’ve compared these calculations to published data of people throwing into waste baskets. You don’t just want to be fast or just accurate, you want to be fast and accurate, and this work tells us that this is particularly challenging. How can we be both? That’s a question we’re pursuing.”

The team found that in cricket, fielders achieved better results with a fast underhand toss.

In American basketball, Rick Barry was famed for his underarm technique – nicknamed “the granny throw” – but the method has largely died out.