Young Pakistani engineers develop cheap technology to detect illegal bowling action
- By Web Desk -
- Jan 30, 2017
A group of young Pakistani engineers have developed a cost-effective wearable technology to detect illegal bowling action which is also known as chucking in cricket.
Bowlers who are suspected of bending their arms over 15 degrees are tested in biomechanics labs. It is very expensive to get test your action from these labs, hence bowlers used to chucking at grass roots level reach senior level with the same style.
CricFlex, which consists of small motion sensors embedded in a wearable sleeve, can measure the elbow flex in real time. The device is connected with an application where you can calculate accurate elbow angles.
“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,” said CEO CricFlex Abdullah Ahmed while talking to an international cricket website.
He said this technology will cost only $250-300, which is way more low-cost as compared to biomechanics labs.
“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,” said Abdullah Ahmed.
Read More: Hafeez reported for illegal action: ICC
This device is still a prototype and the engineers are now seeking formal validation testing to gauge how accurate this product is.
This should be noted that at least three Pakistani international players have been reported for illegal bowling action including Shoaib Malik, Saeed Ajmal and Muhammed Hafeez.
Sri Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan and Pakistani Shoaib Akhtar were given physical exception in this regard.
