For the first time, the cricket ball will talk

Mumbai: Ben Tattersfield, an Australian, is a specialist in innovation. He has a strong entrepreneurial spirit together with a passion for technology.

As a self-taught techie Ben Tattersfield’s out of the box thinking has led to a number of interesting and innovative solutions and ideas that have made him an inventor of a world’s first micro-chipped cricket ball. The embedded chip will enable real-time feedback that will change the game of cricket.

"For the first time, the ball will talk", says Shannon Gill, Head of  Communications at Kookaburra.

"The Kookaburra SmartBall looks, feels and moves the same way as a regular Kookaburra cricket ball, but collects and communicates instant statistical data on revolutions, speed - both at release, pre-bounce and post-bounce from the embedded microlight chip. Never before have we been so close to the action, nor have players and coaches had such insight to performance", he added.

Elaborating more about the inventor, he says, "the idea came to Ben via golf. Being a frustrated golfer who loses a lot of golf balls, he came up with a Bluetooth device inside a golf ball that would find your golf ball. However, golf ball companies weren’t keen on the idea as they make money of people losing their golf ball! He then switched his focus to cricket and it has been a three-year process to get to this point".

"He came to Kookaburra with the idea and has linked up with Michael Kasprowicz and his business to make it a reality".

"The ICC is aware and very interested in the concept, along with lots in the coaching and broadcasting space. However there still need to be a significant amount of testing before we see it at the highest level", Gill signed off.