Comparing the Visual Skills of a Trinidadian Cricket Team

ABSTRACT

This study attempted to determine if there is a correlation between visual skills and physical sporting performance by comparing the members within a Trinidadian cricket team based on their ranked visual skills, as well, as their ranked playing ability for batting, fielding and bowling. Visual skills measured were; hand-eye dominiance, static visual acuity, dynamic visual acuity, steropsis, contrast sensitivity, accommodative facility, central and peripheral awareness and eye movement. SPSS Analysis of data showed that there was a weak correlation between the visual ranking and physical ranking. This can be attributed to the many different factors that contribute to remarkable athleticism. One of which is the percetual-cognitive skill that allows athletes to use visual information in the process of decision making and to execute accurate and rapid anticipatory movements. Performance in sports may possess an interdependency of both the hardware (quality of system) and software (knowledge based system) elements, and thus, futher study must be done into the integration of both systems as a unit.