Sources of information pick-up for anticipation by skilled cricket batsmen

This study investigated whether skilled West Indian cricket batsmen could use contextual and kinematic information to anticipate the type of ball being bowled. Thirty-one participants were recruited that formed first class (n = 10), elite club (n = 10), and elite youth representative (n = 11) groups. Each group completed a video temporal occlusion batting test under two conditions. Condition one presented bowler kinematic information; that is, occlusion occurred at back-foot, front-foot, and ball release, with a no occlusion control. Condition two presented game contextual information in the form of field placings that was congruent with the ball types prior to temporal occlusion trials. Results revealed no significant skill group differences in the timing of information pick-up under kinematic or contextual conditions. Prediction accuracy for all skill groups was at guessing level at each temporal occlusion that presented kinematic information, but was above chance at no occlusion. Prediction accuracy for all skill groups increased to above guessing level at advance cue temporal occlusions when contextual information was provided. Findings indicate that this group of skilled batsmen did not use kinematic information for anticipation in this temporal occlusion task, but relied heavily upon contextual information. An implication of this study is that skilled batsmen should be targeted for visual-perceptual training to pick-up contextual and kinematic information to guard against deception from the latter that can negatively impact batting performance.