# Question about cricket ball velocity. (Physics question)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-cricket-ball-velocity-physics-question/833415>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 3, 2019, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-cricket-ball-velocity-physics-question/833415 "2019-05-03T11:44:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2019, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-cricket-ball-velocity-physics-question/833415/21 "2019-05-04T17:54:13Z")

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> [@TSBG](#):
>
> This article is very dense and I didn’t really follow it all, but it suggests that a baseball fielder may be able to get the ball to another fielder slightly faster on the hop than in the air, so it may be that a bowled cricket ball actually can pick up speed, especially because bowling is a more controlled motion than a throw made by a fielder in the heat of the action.
> 
> [The Physics and Timing of the Infield Bounce Throw | The Hardball Times](https://tht.fangraphs.com/the-physics-and-timing-of-the-infield-bounce-throw/)

I played outfield through my teens, and we were always taught that the fastest way to get the ball to the catcher is on a one-bouncer. But that’s only due to the thrown ball having a lower trajectory, so less time in the air. I don’t think that it works the same way for a bowled ball that is already coming at a downward angle.

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**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2019, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-cricket-ball-velocity-physics-question/833415/22 "2019-05-04T21:43:19Z")

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> [@Quartz](#):
>
> I agree with you. The ball has significant movement in three dimensions and the direction the ball is moving after the bounce may be significantly different from the direction it was moving before the bounce. The human eye is very good at tracking 2D movement, but not so good at tracking 3D movement.

This comes in to play with a baseball pitch called a “rising fastball”. It doesn’t actually rise; but it’s a faster pitch than “normal” fastballs. Since it takes less time to get to the plate, it doesn’t drop as much as the fastballs the batter usually sees. Hitters often perceive this pitch as rising up at the end of its flight. It’s an illusion (per Leonard Koppett’s _The New Thinking Fan’s Guide To Baseball_, where I read about the pitch), that arises from the human eye’s difficulty with depth perception.

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