As we know that there is a rule in the International Cricket Council (ICC) that arm of the bowler could not swing more than 15 degrees while he is bowling. If that happens, his bowling action would be considered as illegal. This illegal action of bowling is either interpreted through umpire’s judgement or a detailed testing process which is held in bio-mechanics lab. Currently a startup has been initiated in Pakistan which has developed a smart sleeve for detecting illegal bowling actions of the bowlers.
Smart Sleeve – Revolutionizing Bowling:
This product is very affordable, it is a sleeve embedded with sensors. When this sleeve is worn by the bowler, his illegal bowling action could be detected through a smartphone application. This product is soon to be released, the team is just working on a couple of things related to it. One of the developers of this smart sleeve has even said that he wants to introduce it to the cricket academies and cricket clubs first. This sleeve is definitely required by cricketers on grassroots level.
How it all began:
The idea of developing smart sleeve occurred to five electrical engineers from NUST university. They came up with this idea in a university project held in 2014, around the time when Saeed Ajmal, a top-ranked Pakistani spinner was in trouble due to his illegal bowling action. This sleeve could detect illegal bowling actions with up to one degree of accuracy.
CricFlex – An Android App:
CricFlex is an amazing android application which allow bowlers to know how much spin is on the ball and what is the speed or force of their action at the release point of ball. It also helps in determining the time taken by ball to complete its delivery. CricFlex could also be used to detect and conquer illegal action of bowling in a very effective manner.