Wearables help Australian cricketers to improve their bowling

The Australian cricket team is using wearables to help improve its bowling capabilities.

The team is using technology that’s much more usually found in a military context in a wearable that will help coaches understand the finer details of its bowling prowess.

Wearables used to track bowling

The wearable can track an individual bowler’s performance, monitoring metrics like speed and trajectory. They run algorithms to help understand how fatigue can affect performance.

Bowlers spend huge amounts of time practicing and even the slightest loss of performance ability can cost the team dear in terms of runs. So being able to understand the factors that might affect individual bowler’s performance can help understand how to ensure they remain at the peak of their powers during a game.

A better understanding of individual bowler’s performance can help boost their training regime and prevent injuries. It isn’t just cricket that can benefit. The same research group is also helping the Wales rugby team, for example.

Missile technology

The wearable, developed by sports scientists at the Australian Catholic University (ACU), incorporates an accelerometer, gyroscope and magnetometer. These are technologies more usually found in missiles and spacecraft. In this context, they are used to allow the wearable to track a bowler’s movement thanks to an algorithm developed by the sports scientists.

Wearables and IoT in sport

This is by no means the only example of wearables infiltrating professional sports, with football and cricket clubs in particular using fitness trackers and other devices to see how their stars are performing.

Motor sports, like Formula One, are also now using Internet of Things sensors and platforms to monitor how their cars are faring in real-time, bringing in their drivers at exactly the right time so ensure the team has the best chance of winning.