Abstract
Vision plays a crucial role in sport as it is the primary source of external information and provides
85 – 90% of the sensory input during athletic performance (Vickers, 2007; Kluka & Knudson,
1997). The study aimed to investigate the effect of sports vision training on the batting performance
and predictive judgement of high school cricket players.
The sample included male, high school level cricketers ranging in ages 13 – 18 (14.8 ± 1.2) with
at least two years playing experience in cricket. Three high schools were invited to participate in
the study. The participants were randomly assigned to two groups, 15 participants to a sports vision
training group (n=15) and 15 participants to a regular practice group (n=15).
Each group was assessed according to the tasks of visual skills, fitness, batting performance,
predictive judgement and fitness. The visual skills testing included eye hand coordination, central
peripheral awareness and visual response. The fitness assessment was a multistage fitness test. The
batting performance test assessed the quality of interception and the predictive judgment assessed
the ability to judge the length bowled. The results showed that the intervention group showed
significant improvement within the visual skills, batting performance and judgment test conducted
(p< 0.05), however, these improvements were not statistically different to the control group (p>
0.05). Although there were improvements in certain parameters tested, a larger sample may
produce better results. Further investigation is required into the visual training of high school level
cricketers.
M.Phil. (Sports Science)