Cambridge to examine why leather cricket balls swing
14/02/2018
Cricket ball swing has been observed since the early days of the sport with players, including WG Grace, noting the “peculiar flight” of leather balls as far back as the nineteenth Century. Since then cricketers and aerodynamicists have identified the seam position, ball speed and surface condition of the ball as key factors determining the direction and magnitude of swing.
Published scientific papers offer explanations of swing but, according to Dr Grimshaw, the connection between these theories and real game conditions is lacking.
“Modern cricketers rely on experience, intuition and no little guess work to predict whether a cricket ball will swing for a certain bowler, at a particular ground and under particular conditions,” he said on launching the search for a PhD student. “Factors impacting swing such as ball type, ball condition, bowling action, temperature, humidity, cloud cover and so on are difficult to account for and the aim of this PhD is to develop a fundamental physical understanding of cricket ball aerodynamics.”
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