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Previous experiences can influence individual cricket spin bowlers’ perceptions of affordances in the performance landscape

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Abstract

The ecological dynamics framework emphasises that movement solutions are guided by the relationship that exists between the performer and their environment, scaled to an individual’s own action capabilities. This suggests that representative practice tasks should be used in high performance settings to encourage individually optimised movement solutions for both team and individual sports. This study specifically focuses on individual cricket spin bowlers and aims to understand the influence of their prior learning experiences on their perceptual attunement strategies when tasked with performing on a familiar Australian cricket pitch and a less familiar bespoke international (Indian) pitch. Two right hand leg spin bowlers that were part of a group of eight emerging expert spin bowlers were chosen for individual analysis. Bowler A reported 80 prior experiences of bowling on subcontinental (i.e., India, Pakistan, or Bangladesh) pitches whereas Bowler B had only 20 prior experiences. Overall, both bowlers’ outcome performances either met or exceeded their expectations. Bowler A chose to calibrate his bowling style on the less familiar pitch to improve the fit between his delivery characteristics and the environmental pitch conditions, whereas Bowler B maintained his bowling style, even though he recognised a difference in the pitch conditions. Therefore, Bowler A maintained stable performance outcomes by implementing flexible movement solutions. In contrast, while Bowler B achieved his expected performance outcomes, his lack of diverse learning experiences may limit his action capabilities, although more performance trials are needed to confirm this conclusion. Regardless, this study demonstrates that there is valuable information in knowing how a player achieves a successful result, which should be coupled with performance outcomes to help create individualised development strategies.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author (RC). The data are not publicly available due to restrictions (e.g. containing information that could compromise the privacy of research participants).

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the joint partnership between Cricket Australia, Queensland University of Technology, University of Canberra and University of the Sunshine Coast who resourced this project. Special thanks to Jarrod Bird (head curator at the National Cricket Centre/Queensland Cricket) for preparing the BIP.

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cricket Australia, National Cricket Centre, 20 Greg Chappell Street, Albion, Brisbane, QLD, 4010, Australia

    Rian H. Crowther

  2. School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Faculty of Health, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

    Rian H. Crowther, Ian Renshaw & Adam D. Gorman

  3. University of Canberra Research Institute for Sport and Exercise (UCRISE), University of Canberra, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia

    Wayne A. Spratford

  4. School of Health and Sport Sciences, Faculty of Science, Health, Education and Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore DC, Locked Bag 4, Sippy Downs, QLD, 4558, Australia

    Mark G. Sayers

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  1. Rian H. Crowther
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Correspondence to Rian H. Crowther.

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Crowther, R.H., Renshaw, I., Spratford, W.A. et al. Previous experiences can influence individual cricket spin bowlers’ perceptions of affordances in the performance landscape. Psychological Research 87, 1729–1742 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-022-01769-6

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