Smart balls reveal how better bowlers get that perfect strike

London, Jan 11 (ANI): Always wondered how some people always manage to get a strike in the bowling alley, while you struggle to keep your shots out of the gutter? Well, a smart training ball might hold the key to the secret.

Sports scientist Franz Fuss of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia fitted aluminium tubes in the thumb and finger holes of a regular tenpin bowling ball.

Each tube had a strain gauge at the bottom to measure and log the forces the players' fingers were applying on each shot.

The researchers made ten players of differing abilities to use the ball to attempt various shots.

Fuss found that the strain gauge measurements from the ball enabled him to identify the characteristics of successful shots, reports New Scientist.

For instance, better bowlers consistently pinch the ball with much greater force immediately prior to release, to allow a faster delivery.

The study has been published in Sports Technology. (ANI)