Performance advantages of left-handed cricket batting talent

Connor, Jonathan D., Mann, David L., Gomez, Miguel-Angel, Leicht, Anthony S., and Doma, Kenji (2020) Performance advantages of left-handed cricket batting talent. Frontiers in Psychology, 11. 1654.

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine performance advantages associated with batting stance, in the form of left- vs. right-handed dominant stance, and orthodox vs. reverse stance, of talented junior cricket batters within age-restricted competitions. Data were sourced from the national male younger age competition (YAC; Under-17;n= 237) and older age competition (OAC; Under-19;n= 302), as well as female YAC (Under-15;n= 234) and OAC (Under-18;n= 260) over a 4-year period. Left-hand dominant (LHD) batters were consistently overrepresented in the male YAC (Right: 69.2%; Left: 30.8%) and OAC (Right: 68.2%; Left: 31.8%) compared with the expected general population distribution. Male LHD batters exhibited a significantly (p< 0.05) higher batting aggregate (YAC: 116.82 +/- 84.75 vs. 137.84 +/- 89.74; OAC: 117.07 +/- 89.00 vs. 146.28 +/- 95.99), scored more runs (YAC: 19.65 +/- 12.32 vs. 23.96 +/- 14.71; OAC: 19.27 +/- 12.61 vs. 23.98 +/- 14.15), spent more time batting (YAC: 45.33 +/- 25.89 min vs. 54.59 +/- 28.62 min; OAC: 39.80 +/- 21.79 min vs. 49.33 +/- 27.41 min), and scored more boundary-4s per game (YAC: 1.83 +/- 1.40 vs. 2.44 +/- 1.87; OAC: 1.76 +/- 1.32 vs. 2.19 +/- 1.83), across both YAC and OAC groups with small effect sizes. No overrepresentation was present for either female group (YAC, Right: 88.5%/Left: 11.5%; OAC, Right: 90.0%/Left: 10.0%). Female LHD batters exhibited significantly higher batting aggregate (68.97 +/- 53.17 vs. 102.96 +/- 73.48), batting average (13.24 +/- 10.88 vs. 17.75 +/- 12.28), and spent more time batting per game (25.52 +/- 15.08 vs. 37.75 +/- 26.76 min), but only at the OAC level with small-moderate effects sizes. Finally, there were few performance advantages identified to batting with a reverse stance, with further work needed to clarify any potential biomechanical benefits. Team selection practices may exploit the left-handed advantage by over-selecting talented left-handed junior cricketers. Practical implications for coaches include creating practice environments that negate the negative frequency-dependent selection, such as providing more practice opportunities for their players against left-handed opponents.

Item ID: 64359
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1664-1078
Keywords: handedness, laterality, frequency dependence, talent identification and development, talent selection
Copyright Information: Copyright © 2020 Connor, Mann, Gomez, Leicht and Doma. This is an open-accessarticle distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License(CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, providedthe original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the originalpublication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. Nouse, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Date Deposited: 16 Sep 2020 07:35
FoR Codes: 42 HEALTH SCIENCES > 4207 Sports science and exercise > 420703 Motor control @ 100%
SEO Codes: 95 CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING > 9501 Arts and Leisure > 950102 Organised Sports @ 20%
97 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 970117 Expanding Knowledge in Psychology and Cognitive Sciences @ 80%
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