Pakistani cricket fans have not been too proud about their team’s performance at the international level in recent times. However, a fact that might make the cricket lovers in Pakistan happy is that a group of the country’s young engineers have developed a device that can determine the legitimacy of deliveries by measuring the action of the elbow in real time, according to a report in The Indian Express.
The newspaper reports that the device is named CricFlex which consists of small motion sensors which would be attached to the sleeve that would be worn by a bowler while he is bowling. As soon as the ball is delivered, the device would send it’s readings to an app either on a phone or a computer.
“Chucking,” as they call in cricket is referred to a bowling action when the bowler straightens the bowling arm while delivering a ball. Cricket laws also suggest that only the rotation of the arm can be used to put speed on the ball. Chucking has always haunted bowlers and even legends like Muttiah Muralitharan whose career was at stake due to accusations of throwing or chucking.
Bowlers in recent times who have come under the scanner for their bowling action are Saeed Ajmal, Sunil Narine and Sachitra Senanayake. This has heavily impacted the career of the Pakistani off-spinner Ajmal. He had an error in his bowling action and was last seen playing for Pakistan in 2015. Illegal bowling action totally drew the curtains on what could have been a phenomenal career. Even the bowling actions of Pakistani all-rounders Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez have been questioned. Bowlers who are banned from bowling in international cricket have to undergo bio-mechanic tests which would enable them to correct their action and return to bowling.
However, this process of using bio-mechanics is extremely costly. Also bowlers who ‘chuck’ regularly at the initial stages of their cricketing career only get exposed to such tests when they reach the highest levels of the game. In comparison, CricFlex is low in cost at $250-300, which is way below than that of the tests in the bio-mechanic laboratories. Also, it provides the user with faster results.
While talking to an international cricket website, the CEO of CricFlex, Abdullah Ahmed said, “You just need to put on the sleeve on your arm. Turn on your application. It gets connected to your mobile phone. And now you are ready to monitor the degree of elbow bent.” He also added, “The main purpose of creating this was to make it accessible at grass roots level for (cricket) clubs and academies. That’s why we have set very low price for this. You get result in real time. Just put on the sleeve. Deliver the ball and within few seconds you get the result. Whereas, labs take 14 to 21 days to give you the result,”
The research papers of the team behind the making of this device were accepted at an MIT conference in 2015. They also have their work patented in the US and acknowledged by a leading bio-mechanist. The device is still a prototype, which requires further testing and development and the team is in search of formal validation testing from a bio-mechanics lab.