As if the world champions were not formidable enough, Australian experts are hard at work designing a "smart" bat.
By reducing vibration in the handle by up to 42 per cent, the Smart Cricket Bat will enable players to strike the ball without fear of strain or injury.
The secret weapon is being developed by the School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering at RMIT University, Melbourne.
Its innovative handle is equipped with electro-mechanical sensors and a vibration-absorbing synthetic material which converts shockwaves into heat and dampens vibration.
Consisting of a carbon fibre shell with a polymer insert, it employs technology called active vibration control which is already used in baseball bats and tennis racquets.
That increases the size of the bat's "sweet spot" - the zone in which the batsman experiences the least discomfort when smashing the ball towards the boundary.
"The big push for this is players who want a bit of technology in the bat and it would make them feel slightly better when the ball hits the bat away from the sweet spot," said Prof Sabu John, an RMIT expert in "intelligent" materials and the leader of the project. Prof John, a former research fellow at Imperial College, in London, told The Australian newspaper that the bat was being developed in conjunction with the manufacturer Kookaburra Sport and could be on sale within 18 months.
But a further £240,000 was needed before it could be manufactured on commercial levels, he said.
It is expected to cost about £40 more than the most expensive bats currently on the market, which are between £200 and £250 in Australia.
While tennis racquets and golf clubs are made of materials such as carbon fibre and titanium, cricket's archaic laws insist that bats can only be made from wood.
Prof John believes that he has found a loophole which would enable him to get around this: the restrictions apply to the bat's blade but not the handle. "As far as we know, it's legal," he said
By reducing vibration in the handle by up to 42 per cent, the Smart Cricket Bat will enable players to strike the ball without fear of strain or injury.
The secret weapon is being developed by the School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering at RMIT University, Melbourne.
Its innovative handle is equipped with electro-mechanical sensors and a vibration-absorbing synthetic material which converts shockwaves into heat and dampens vibration.
Consisting of a carbon fibre shell with a polymer insert, it employs technology called active vibration control which is already used in baseball bats and tennis racquets.
That increases the size of the bat's "sweet spot" - the zone in which the batsman experiences the least discomfort when smashing the ball towards the boundary.
"The big push for this is players who want a bit of technology in the bat and it would make them feel slightly better when the ball hits the bat away from the sweet spot," said Prof Sabu John, an RMIT expert in "intelligent" materials and the leader of the project. Prof John, a former research fellow at Imperial College, in London, told The Australian newspaper that the bat was being developed in conjunction with the manufacturer Kookaburra Sport and could be on sale within 18 months.
But a further £240,000 was needed before it could be manufactured on commercial levels, he said.
It is expected to cost about £40 more than the most expensive bats currently on the market, which are between £200 and £250 in Australia.
While tennis racquets and golf clubs are made of materials such as carbon fibre and titanium, cricket's archaic laws insist that bats can only be made from wood.
Prof John believes that he has found a loophole which would enable him to get around this: the restrictions apply to the bat's blade but not the handle. "As far as we know, it's legal," he said
No comments:
Post a Comment