Home advantage and LBW decisions : the contribution of umpiring to the home-ground (dis)advantage in cricket
- Authors: Adie, Joshua , Renshaw, Ian , Polman, Remco , Mann, David
- Date: 2022
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport Vol. 25, no. 6 (2022), p. 520-523
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- Description: Objectives: This study aimed to determine whether elite cricket umpires' decisions contribute to home advantage via leg-before-wicket decisions. Design: Leg-before-wicket decisions (n = 4971) from actual elite level cricket matches in Australia between 2009 and 2016 were analysed using a binomial logistic regression to predict the umpires' leg-before-wicket decisions. Methods: Regressions were performed to determine whether the batter's team (home or away) influenced the likelihood that the umpire would give them out leg-before-wicket. Results: We found no evidence of home advantage in umpires' leg-before-wicket decisions. In fact, we found evidence that umpires in some instances disadvantage the home team. Conclusions: We suggest that the increased professionalism of sports officials, and the scrutiny they are placed under, may lead umpires to reduce or even overcompensate for any existing biases in their decision making. © 2022 Sports Medicine Australia
No expectation bias in elite-level cricket umpires’ leg-before-wicket (LBW) decisions according to batting order position
- Authors: Adie, Joshua , Renshaw, Ian , Polman, Remco , Mann, David
- Date: 2022
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Psychology of Sport and Exercise Vol. 60, no. (2022), p.
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- Description: Objectives: Previous studies have shown that sport officials’ decisions can be impacted by biases associated with expectations. The aim of this study was to determine whether elite cricket umpires’ decisions are also influenced by expectations associated with batter skill. Methods: LBW decisions (n = 5578) from actual elite level cricket matches in Australia between 2009 and 2016 were analysed in a multi-level binomial logistic regression paradigm. In our first model, we predicted the likelihood that an umpire will answer ‘out’ for batters in the top order (1–4), middle order (5–7), and low order (8-11). In our second model, we controlled for the correctness of a decision. Results: Umpires were more likely to respond ‘out’ as the batting order progressed, however this did not appear to be due to biased decision-making. Instead, as batting order progressed, batters were more likely to actually be ‘out’. Conclusions: Cricket umpires do not seem to be impacted by expectation bias associated with batting order. This study highlights the importance of controlling for the correctness of a decision when exploring bias in sport officials’ decisions. © 2022
When in doubt, it's not out : match format is associated with differences in elite-level cricket umpires’ leg-before-wicket decisions
- Authors: Adie, Joshua , Renshaw, Ian , Polman, Remco , Thompson, Matthew , Mann, David
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Psychology of Sport and Exercise Vol. 51, no. (2020), p.
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- Description: Objectives: Contextual factors can influence the way sports officials apply unambiguous rules. The aim of this study was to better understand the leg-before-wicket (LBW) decision-making behaviour of elite cricket umpires and determine whether their behaviour changes according to the format of the game in which they are adjudicating. Methods: LBW decisions (n = 5578) from actual elite level cricket matches in Australia between 2009 and 2016 were analysed using a signal detection paradigm. Umpire sensitivity (A) and response bias (B) were compared to chance performance in three formats of the game: Four-day, One-day, and T20. Mixed effects models assessed sensitivity and response bias differences between match types. Results: Umpires were able to differentiate between “out” and “not out” appeals to a high standard but were conservative and had a bias to respond “not out” in all formats of the game. Umpires were less accurate in the shorter formats of the game, particularly T20 cricket and were also significantly more conservative in T20 compared to Four-day Matches. Conclusions: Cricket umpires are conservative and are highly accurate LBW decision makers. However, differences in their judgments were associated with different match formats. The unique task goals and contextual pressures afforded by the shorter formats of the game, particularly T20, may account for the observed performance differences we see here. © 2020 Elsevier Ltd
Influence of expertise on the visual control strategies of athletes during competitive long jumping
- Authors: McCosker, Chris , Renshaw, Ian , Polman, Remco , Greenwood, Daniel
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Expertise Vol. , no. (2020), p.
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- Description: Understanding performance of athletes in competition is required for enhancing the quality of how athletes co-adapt to the specific, changing constraints of those environments. In long jumping, for example, an athlete must co-adapt with these constraints while also meeting the challenging accuracy demands of the sport. Examining then how long jumpers with different levels of expertise navigate the competition environment is important. This analysis is necessary, given evidence from motor learning research showing that individuals with higher levels of expertise use different sources of information to guide their performance behaviors. In this study, key gait variables during the long jump run-up were recorded during performance at 8 competitions in the 2015 and 2016 Australian track and field seasons to examine the visual control strategies of athletes differing in expertise levels, when performing legal and foul jumps. No statistically significant differences were observed between jumpers differing in levels of expertise when comparing gait patterns in foul and legal jumps. However, different footfall variability curves did emerge that can advance current understanding of long jump run-ups. International-level athletes exhibited higher levels of functional variability during the initial phases of the run-up of legal jumps, with step adjustments spread across the whole of the run-up, compared to National-level athletes. Since athletes of lower levels of expertise exhibited a more stereotyped run-up profile, it is suggested that coaches and practitioners encourage more exploration in training of this group by incorporating increased levels of representative variability during practice. From a practical perspective, increasing variability in practice contexts could encourage National-level athletes to explore different movement solutions and (re)calibrate actions to changing environmental demands, providing more representative simulations of the competition environment.
Run-up strategies in competitive long jumping : how an ecological dynamics rationale can support coaches to design individualised practice tasks
- Authors: McCosker, Chris , Renshaw, Ian , Polman, Remco , Greenwood, Daniel , Davids, Keith
- Date: 2021
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Human Movement Science Vol. 77, no. (2021), p.
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- Description: Understanding how individuals navigate challenging accuracy demands required to register a legal jump is important in furthering knowledge of competitive long jumping. Identification of co-ordination tendencies unique to each individual emphasises the need to examine the presence of unique movement solutions and presents important information for individualisation of training environments. In this study, key measures of gait were recorded during the long jump run-ups of 8 athletes at 8 national level competitions in the 2015 and 2016 Australian track and field seasons. These gait measures were examined to identify whether different visual regulation strategies emerged for legal and foul jumps for each competitor. Emergence of different footfall variability data curves, illustrating how step adjustments were distributed across the run-up for each athlete, suggests that athletes interacted differently with features of the competition environment. This observation highlights the importance of movement adaptability as constraints change and emerge across each performance trial. Results provided further support in conceptualising the run-up as a continuous interceptive action task consisting of a series of interconnected events (i.e., individual step lengths) influencing the regulation of gait towards the take-off board. This information can be used by coaches and practitioners in designing training environments that promote athlete adaptation of more functional movement solutions closely matched to the dynamics of competition environments. Results suggest that training designs that help athletes to search, explore and exploit key sources of information from the competition environment will enhance the fit between the individual and the environment and the development of rich, adaptable movement solutions for competitive performance. © 2021 Elsevier B.V.
Coaches’ use of remote coaching : experiences from paralympic sport
- Authors: Taylor, Sarah , Renshaw, Ian , Pinder, Ross , Polman, Remco , Russell, Scott
- Date: 2023
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International Sport Coaching Journal Vol. 10, no. 3 special issue (2023), p. 316-327
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- Description: Remote coaching via the use of digital technologies has been utilized within Paralympic Sports since 2015 to address challenges experienced by coaches. These technologies have connected coaches and athletes in real time, alleviating time and travel costs. However, very little is known about the experience of coaching in these environments. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore the experiences of coaches’ use of remote coaching technologies. Seven coaches from five Paralympic Sports were recruited for this study and participated in semistructured interviews. Additionally, observations were conducted of remote coaching sessions that were part of their regular training schedules. Coaches’ insights highlight that remote technologies created opportunities to increase coach–athlete interactions and positively impact the development of interpersonal relationships. This allowed coaches to explore and exploit newly discovered information from within training environments to aid athletes in skill development. Additionally, remote coaching provided unexpected opportunities for coach development. However, coaches also reported new environmental and logistical challenges which disrupted their usual coaching approach. Overall, remote coaching technologies were perceived as being beneficial despite the challenges experienced. However, future research that looks to understand how to impact coach and athlete development through the online environment is encouraged. © 2023 Human Kinetics, Inc.