Technology in Cricket

"Sorry, I must disagree that "cricket is undoubtedly one of the most exciting sport of modern day world. And as obvious, it is also adopting more and more technology for its smooth running." Any game that takes days to complete is pretty slow and to me is not very exciting.... and as for technology, how much technology is needed for a ball, a bat, and some funky clothes...?"

I think he meant it as a joke.. :D

Nope, Dead serious.. I have traveled all over the world and I find it amazing and mysterious why people like Cricket. But just to get myself in more trouble, I don't understand why people like American Baseball either...

Last time I was in the UK I saw a great episode of Braniac where they did a face off between a Cricket bat, a Baseball bat, and a Golf club in smashing cars. The Cricket bat won for good reason. That was entertaining.

Cricket??? Not for me...

Yes, of course, everyone has got a different perception of things and a different perspective of viewing them. The same is true for u too. Atleast I think so about cricket!!!! U dont and u have made it known on screen as well. But the main thing was the answer of the question which u didnt bother about. Well nothing in this world is simple, it all depends on the way u see it!!! Even before we came to know about gravity, everything used to fall down...!!! Everything has its own charm. Rather than being sarcastic in columns, you should rather focus on helping someone out with their queries using your intelligence. I apologise if I offended you. I also thank you for taking out precious time for posting an "answer" for my query.

Uh, first of all if you read a bit closer above you will find that I did address the question.

Once more, a radar gun is a good way to measure ball speed, as I said above.

Second, there is a long standing tradition at CR4 of getting off topic, just as would happen in any friendly conversation. I was not being sarcastic at all. If the comment is not pertinant to your question, feel free to mark it off topic, and then the next time you log in you won't see it..

Finally, this is a online forum, don't take things so seriously!

As a true Brit, I feel I must divulge the secret of cricket in the UK. Ie, why it's at all popular. (And no, I'm not a fan)

It's the drinking!

Cricket boring? Maybe seems so at first for people with short attentions spans, but a game can really start to hot up after only the first 16 or 17 hours.

With test cricket, you have days, nay, weeks of top entertainment!!!

Alright Ky, you have me convinced. Next time I am in Oz we can put on our best sheer summer dresses, put down a few pints of Fosters and go watch the blokes go rub themselves shiney.

I think I owe the original poster an apology. He rightly chastised me for my answer, because now things have really gone off the deep end....

......but in such a fun, nice way!!!!

sorry for the following statement which i make under extreme provocation: "if cricket became america's no.1 sport, there will be no wars in this world".

:0)

reverting to the topic, would embedding a transmitter chip in the ball and then tracking it be more accurate?

I don't follow the logic of the statement regarding cricket and prevention of war. I thought football (in the soccer sense) was what kept the Europeans from each other's throats.

As to putting a chip into the ball I would expect that the chip would have to be incapsulated in a way that would prevent the shock loading from the bat (or whatever it's called in cricket) from destroying the circuit.

They do it in the states with Ice Hockey Pucks already, so it must be possible.....the accelerations of a cricket ball must be similar I would guess....

Yeah, that's interesting. Here's a link to a reference article.

http://csdl2.computer.org/comp/mags/cg/1997/02/g2006.pdf

I'm not positive this approach is usable for a cricket ball, but the radar system might work as cricket is played outdoors, so the reflected radar signal wouldn't be an issue.

Cricket commentary "Oh look, 2 seagulls doing it on the field, about as much action we have had on this slow day"

Now, if Cricket was replaced by the original (as documented in Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy) then it would be exciting ;o)

Ball tracking and speed can be done optically,

You have a camera at the side, and at the end, you know the arc the ball takes, the distance from end to end, and from the footage, the time the ball travels over the known distance.

Then from this, you can plot on the TV screen, the trajectories of the ball in flight, where it goes, how fast, and so forth.

Now for Cricket being so full of action, they don't need super fast computers to display this information, as they have all the time in the world between each bowl, and over (damn game is never over)

If you were brought up in a country where cricket is played:-

UK, South Africa, West Indies, Australia, New Zealand, India & Pakistan (apologies if I messed anyone out!) for example and you REALLY understand the game by "being immersed since Birth" so to say, it is an interesting sport indeed.

If you were not lucky enough to be so born, it could appear to be very boring. But living in Germany, I miss having the possibility of a lazy Sunday, watercress sandwiches, tea and later a beer maybe......it was very relaxing......I used to help keep score when I was not even 10 years old......TV cricket is a poor substitute for being there......seeing the ladies in their thin summer dresses etc etc etc.....

I am sure many people who profess a complete lack of interest would change their mind if they actually had the chance to "BE THERE!".....

I would say to those who are not interested, just leave it to those who are!!!

I would expect that the same electronics (radio transmitter) that goes into Pucks for ice hockey could be adapted for cricket!!! How the signals are detected, I haven't a clue sorry....but they do a great job on TV for Ice Hockey!

I agree completely Andy. The one American baseball game I enjoyed was when I lucked into some fre box seats in Philadelphia, about 2 meters from the field. That was fun.

I am sure I would enjoy attending an actual match. Especially the sheer summer dresses!

....ON THE LADIES I meant!!!!

I bet Andy can pull it off... I have a moustache so for me it doesn't work so well..

...you do have to try and ignore my beard.....sorry about that!!

I've even bought matching lipstick and underwear, JUST 4 YOU!!!

Why do we need to know the speed of the ball or the bat, surely the only thing that matters is whether or not the batsman hits the ball?

One of the things that really puts me off of watching sport on tv is the excess of meaningless statistics that the commentators produce, mainly I suspect because they have nothing interesting to talk about.

It seems instead answering question there are comments regarding the game. Every country has its popular sport. It can be cricket, football, base ball etc. If it is popular in one country why others should feel bad about it. You play your own game and allow other to play their game. If you dont like game dont play it or watch it, play or watch what ever is liked by you. I am sorry I cant answer basic question about speed of ball etc, it may be like cop checking up speed of running car on the highway.

This company makes a life out of measuring the in flight characteristics of balls for various sports. (http://www.edhsport.com/) They started out measuring the characteristics of the projectiles from big guns, field and naval and branched of with the same technology into sport.

PS. I prefer chess to cricket, less boring.

i think you might got the answer for this question from a software developer rather than asking here... its all the sensors that do detect and measures the speed in micro or nano seconds so it is exact and accurate ... just the necessity is that u hav to believe it

Hi Guys,.. there is actually plenty of reasons for adding technology to cricket - all the subtle skills of how you flight the ball, where you make it bounce, how much spin you put on it, how sucessfully the batsman uses footwork to get in position for a particular shot ,where you place fieldersetc etc.....all of these (and many more) are specific skills that if measured flaws can be identified and worked on and improved. . On tv the technology is more about explaining the game and tactics (and entertainment of course).

Also perhaps not fully understood by some posters is how big the sport is world wide - its actually second only to Soccer! Big big bucks in cricket - particularly in Asia.

I know of a UK company that is specialising in mass-market cricket technology -

"PitchVision" - they have a range of cricket technology products and I find it interesting; though Im not sure how affordable it would be for most people!