With an aim to reduce injuries and enhance performance of the country’s pacemen, the Australian cricket team has been using ‘torpedo technology’, more commonly used in military settings, for their upcoming tour of Sri Lanka.
According to the Guardian, sports scientists at Australian Catholic University’s School of Exercise Science have developed the revolutionary algorithm because the current method of reporting of professional cricketers’ workloads, which only measures the number of deliveries bowled and not the intensity and effort required to do so, was inadequate.
The scientists have, instead, recommended in the British Journal of Sports Medicine that coaches should use missile-guiding microtechnology implanted in newly-developed wearable devices, which would run the so-called ‘smart algorithms’.
According to sports scientist and co-author Dr Tim Gabbett, the same technology is used to navigate submarines, guided missiles and spacecraft.
Reflecting more on this technology, fellow ACU sports scientists Dean McNamara said that measuring bowling intensity for individual balls or sessions will provide context for the acute and chronic workload of the individual bowler, and ultimately the preparedness of the bowler for the maximal workload of the immediate competition.