England’s secret ‘Ashes weapon’ revealed
By ANIThursday, October 21, 2010
LONDON - The ProBatter, a true-to-life bowling simulator, has emerged as England team’s new secret weapon for preparing for the upcoming Ashes series.
The ProBatter was made for baseball, but has been adapted for the Ashes.
The system includes a video component that permits a batsman to observe the life-size image of an actual bowler running in and delivering a ball, which is thrown through the video screen by a computer controlled module.
“It gives us a chance to see the Aussies up close,” the Sun quoted England wicketkeeper Steve Davies, as saying.
The state of the art bowling machine is capable of throwing fastballs and the slower ones.
The ProBatter is too big to take to Australia, but England will have TrackMan, which uses missile technology to monitor spinners.
The first of the five Ashes Tests will be held at The Gabba in Brisbane from November 25 to 29.
It will be followed by Tests in Adelaide, Perth, Melbourne and Sydney.
The tour also has two Twenty20 clashes and a seven-match ODI series. (ANI)
