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[feverpitch]

This story has been reported by ABP 2 days ago. Anyway, here goes:

http://cricket.expressindia.com/fulliestory.php?content_id=1194

For Sehwag lbw Anderson, blame Mehta from NASA
 
Fluid mechanics scientist is helping English bowlers discover ‘contrast swing’

JAY  MAZOOMDAR    

Posted online: Sunday, March 26, 2006 at 0000 hours IST

NEW DELHI, MArch 25: If the Indian batsmen have not been comfortable against the English seamers, don’t blame them. They are up against something new—‘contrast swing.’ And the men behind it are a Nasa scientist of Indian origin and a no-nonsense bowling coach of Australian origin.

Batsmen of the world beware, the old-ball magic is not just reverse swing, an art invented and perfected by the Pakistani pace bowlers. Dr Rabindra D Mehta, a researcher with the fluid mechanics lab at Nasa’s Ames Research Centre in California, has given a new sting to it.

Dr Mehta has been helping the English bowling coach Troy Cooley to arm the seamers at the ECB cricket camps with the latest in the game. The result was evident during the recent Tests when English bowlers swung the ball late and far.

‘‘Troy has been working with Dr Mehta for the past three years. They remain in contact on a somewhat regular basis. Dr Mehta spent some time coaching various players at the ECB National Cricket Centre last year at Troy’s request. Troy has found Dr Mehta’s numerous studies on contrasting swing insightful and respects him very much,’’ ECB media manager James Avery told The Sunday Express.

So what is special about ‘contrast swing’? Well, unlike the reverse swing—the movement generated with one side polished well and the other left with the rough edge— here, the drift of the ball doesn’t depend on the seam position or the asymmetry caused by selective polishing. The seam remains upright and the ball moves towards the rough side when delivered in the range of 65-70mph. A little over 70-mph mark, and the ball swings towards the polished side from the same position. Batsmen can never expect to read this swing as it is near impossible to differentiate such minute variation of pace from 22 yards.

There’s more good news for seamers. Contrast swing doesn’t depend on the seam and works fine even when the seam is not prominent. And medium-pacers who seldom cross the 80 mph mark can comfortably get contrast swing.

Dr Mehta has been researching into the aerodynamics of sports balls since the early ’80s and studied games including cricket, golf, and baseball. But unlike the Pakistani maestros, he doesn’t believe in shrouding his theory in mystery—his technique is explained in an article in the April issue of Wisden Cricket.

The first glimpse of contrast swing was visible this series when Matthew Hoggard got the old ball to move late in Nagpur. Even in Mumbai, Indians got a taste of it. Both Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid lost their wickets in the second innings to balls which came in the same line and angle but swung differently—Sehwag was lbw to J M Anderson (the ball came in) and Dravid was caught behind off Andrew Flintoff (the ball moved away).

Dr Mehta says ‘contrast swing’ will mainly assist bowlers on sub-continental pitches. ‘‘The pitches in the sub-continent are usually flat and hard and, therefore, the theory of the ball swinging both ways will work out efficiently in the most conventional way possible because the flat seam comes easily in such conditions,’’ says Mehta.

Mehta explains why the England bowlers were so successful in using the technique in India. ‘‘They made the ball swing towards the smooth side, bowling fast, despite the fact that the conditions were not helpful. There was no particular direction of the swing and the seam position. The seam was simply pointed down the pitch, straight, which is in contrast to the conventional swing or the reverse swing,’’ he says.

No wonder, the ECB has long-term plans on contrast swing. ‘‘Troy has been helping the England bowlers with reverse swing for several years and this is obviously something the bowlers will continue to work on,’’ said Avery.

SWING OF THINGS

CONVENTIONAL:The ball is released with the seam angled towards first slip or fine leg, spinning backwards along the seam and with the polished side facing the batsman. The ball will swing in same direction as the seam is pointing

REVERSE: Same release, except with the rough side facing the batsman. The ball swings in the opposite direction to that of the seam

CONTRAST: Controlled by speed. With the seam positioned vertically , the ball swings towards the rough side at lower speeds and towards the smooth side at higher speeds

(With K Shriniwas Rao in Mumbai )

[kban1]

Why Mehta matters

Harsha Bhogle
Posted Friday, March 31, 2006 at 0000 hrs

Denial is usually in the swing of things when sportsmen confront science, but give him a fair hearing

There is an overwhelming sense of deja vu about the reactions to Dr Rabindra Mehta’s new theory of contrast swing. Duckworth and Lewis know it very well, to a lesser extent so does Jayadevan, whose rain-rule is now being used in Indian cricket. The sceptics, or indeed the disbelievers, are first off the blocks and Dr Mehta will soon be aware, if he isn’t already, that ridicule is the first link in the chain of acceptance.

Dr Mehta, an aerodynamics consultant and a NASA scientist, believes that quite apart from conventional swing bowling and its cousin, the reverse swing, it is possible to swing a ball by holding the seam pointing vertically rather than inclined towards the slips or fine leg, as accepted wisdom suggests.

It is different from what has been traditionally taught, and practised, but that alone isn’t a good enough reason to trash it.

Now Dr Mehta’s theory may be right and it may be wrong. England’s bowling coach believes it is good enough, someone else is entitled to another point of view provided that is tested. But to reject something because ‘‘it wasn’t made here’’ is disheartening.

Now, here are some quotes from The Times of India, from people who were magnificent users of a cricket ball:

Kapil Dev: What is all this contrast swing..I know swing bowling, not rocket science. I used to play cricket, not mathematics. These are new-fangled terms (not an expression Kapil Dev would use, hence I must advise some caution with the quote) for things we have been doing since way back.

Javagal Srinath thinks it must be “just some normal reverse swing thing” Venkatesh Prasad is “more comfortable going with what I know” T A Sekhar says, “Frankly I chose not to confuse my boys. Is there any need to?’’ And Manoj Prabhakar thinks it has to be “simply impossible”. Not one of them seems to have expressed curiosity, there doesn’t seem to have been a twinkle in the eye at an interesting new development. My suspicion is that if Dennis Lillee had said so, or for that matter Dr. Mehta’s roommate Imran Khan, there would have been almost instant acceptance. Sadly, around the sporting world there has always been a disdainful attitude towards knowledge from outside its accepted boundaries.

Indeed what a lot of our cricketers fail to understand is that they are wonderful practitioners of a craft and that this ability can be the starting point of a new, more universal theory. That is how all science progresses; from a series of observations to a predictive model. The practitioner may not always know the reason why he can do what he does. He cannot, for example, be expected to know that Bernoulli’s Principle could govern the flow of a ball in air.
Some of us cannot, either, but somebody can. That someone may not be able to bowl a cricket ball the way a champion can. One generates the observations, the other understands the science behind it. Neither can belittle the other.

Some of the greatest advances in sport these days are coming from new age shoes, apparel and equipment. Again the advances aren’t coming from players alone but from those who work with the players to generate the facts that science needs. Contrast swing could be a great advance, it could be a scientific method of putting random thoughts and actions together, or it might just be a hypothesis. But we ignore such advances at our own peril simply because they come from outside a closed community.

Most methods stall beyond a certain point, thereafter they need fresh infusion of thought. The high jump is a great example. Dick Fosbury revolutionised the sport in 1968 with his Fosbury Flop, a completely new way of going over the bar. The advantage with Fosbury was that he used it himself in getting a gold medal. But had he merely been a sports enthusiast with an inquisitive mind, would his fantastic technique have been any less valuable?

Cricketers have made significant contributions to our game but the most flimsy rain-rule came from the hugely respected and pioneering Richie Benaud and an army of former internationals came up with the super-sub (with a slight modification, it might have done good for the game), which was scrapped in a hurry. Now, if only we can have an open mind and accept that the best ideas can come from anywhere....
 
http://www.indianexpress.com/story/1466.html

[pieterSAN]

I suppose what is most interesting is that after 40 views there have only been 2 posts on this thread. I must admit that the whole story is interesting...simply because when my friend and I played in Madison, we saw the something similar happen - the ball swung even when the seam was pointing straight down the pitch - prodigious swing at that.

It leads me to believe that there is a lot we don't know about why the ball swings. I am not sure what I saw was contrast swing but it was strange.

[flute202020]

As usually, a very well articulated article from harsha

http://cricket.expressindia.com/fulliestory.php?content_id=1466


See full article in post above
 

[dextrous]

When flute says its great, it's pretty hard to read it. 

[flute202020]

When flute says its great, it's pretty hard to read it. 

you mean , you are not able to follow the drift of Harsha? linguistic challenge? 
sorry to know...

[dextrous]

When flute says its great, it's pretty hard to read it. 

you mean , you are not able to follow the drift of Harsha? linguistic challenge? 
sorry to know...

Yes, my English is very weak. Much like the kids I teach in college.

[toney]

I think fast bowlers are the dumbest. I remember a few dumb comments on HawkEye (like how would hawkEye know what the ball will do after it pitches if it was a full toss).

Here again,  Paaji's is the best. When AK dropped a catch in his debut series in England (off the great allrounder's bowling), he ridiculed AK on the team bus saying how engineers and mathematicians should confine themselves to books and not to the cricket field. AK is a gentleman, he opted to disprove this guy's veiled prophecy about his career. But these comments show why Kapil Dev lacks an open mind and has a poor attitude about things he doesnt know.

[flute202020]

When flute says its great, it's pretty hard to read it. 

you mean , you are not able to follow the drift of Harsha? linguistic challenge? 
sorry to know...

Yes, my English is very weak. Much like the kids I teach in college.

poor kids 

[flute202020]

I think fast bowlers are the dumbest. I remember a few dumb comments on HawkEye (like how would hawkEye know what the ball will do after it pitches if it was a full toss).

Here again,  Paaji's is the best. When AK dropped a catch in his debut series in England (off the great allrounder's bowling), he ridiculed AK on the team bus saying how engineers and mathematicians should confine themselves to books and not to the cricket field. AK is a gentleman, he opted to disprove this guy's veiled prophecy about his career. But these comments show why Kapil Dev lacks an open mind and has a poor attitude about things he doesnt know.

toney, din't know about Kapil's comments about SK..tome kapil always came across as someone with lot of heart but not much mental faculties. His crying on TV, making stupid comments every once in a while all point to it.

[Blwe_torch]

all these new fads!
cricket remains a simple game of bat and ball.
pseudo-intellectuals make the most of it even without batting an eyelid!

[flute202020]

all these new fads!
cricket remains a simple game of bat and ball.
pseudo-intellectuals make the most of it even without batting an eyelid!

yep, we should make Amarnath the coach, for he too thinks laptop is useless for cricket training.

[dextrous]

ok, so i finally read it. another harsha classic that has so little to do with cricket.

reading his articles is like reading a bad mystery book. you know who the killer is and what the plot was, but it doesn't surprise you.

[Blwe_torch]

all these new fads!
cricket remains a simple game of bat and ball.
pseudo-intellectuals make the most of it even without batting an eyelid!

yep, we should make Amarnath the coach, for he too thinks laptop is useless for cricket training.

do you really think these Indian players need a full time- Amarnath/ GC/laptop or whatever?
They need a friend/ philosopher and guide may be...but certainly not a laptop wielding head-master!