Head movement and eye tracking in elite cricket batters

How do elite cricket batters track the ball compared to less skilled batters?

The title of this article is also the summary: the head tracks and gaze predicts

2 main differences were found:

1) Elite batters tracked the ball with the head, not just the eyes, to maintain the ball closer to central gaze

2) Elite batters stayed “ahead” of ball flight with predictive saccades (eye moments) in anticipation of where the ball was going 

Summary:

This study discusses the eye and head movements of elite cricket batters and how they use predictive eye movement strategies to track the ball and hit it accurately. Previous studies claimed that batters cannot track the ball because it moves too quickly, but this study found that elite batters are able to track the ball by coupling the rotation of their head with the movement of the ball. They also use distinctive eye movement strategies to anticipate the location of the ball bounce and the location of bat-ball contact. These head and eye movement strategies contribute to their interceptive expertise in hitting the ball.

Link to article

Mann, D. L., Spratford, W., & Abernethy, B. (2013). The head tracks and gaze predicts: how the world’s best batters hit a ball. PloS one, 8(3), e58289.