‘Biomechanics lab can’t be used until 2015’

PCB’s plans will take atleast two more years to materialise.

KARACHI: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has started work on re-launching its bio-mechanics lab in at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore but it will take nearly two years to get it up and running, according to details made available to The Express Tribune.

Upon completion, the PCB will be the first Asian board – and third in the world – to have this facility. But an official closely linked with the development revealed that a successful model was needed before having it registered with the International Cricket Council (ICC).

“It will take two or three years to have the bio-mechanic lab up and running,” the official told The Express Tribune. “The completion of the building and installation of the equipment is just a small part of the whole process.

“The most important thing will be to build a realistic model having the flexibility, movement, hyper-extension among other things similar to the Asians bodies. Then it will have to be endorsed by the ICC.”



The equipment was purchased during Nasim Ashraf’s tenure for nearly Rs40m and was meant to be installed by the end of 2008. However, all the equipment for the lab, including over a dozen cameras along with the other hardware and software, has been lying unused.

The official added that even the experts involved cannot start work as data collection will be another important aspect of the project. This process was due to start in 2009 but Ijaz Butt’s reluctance to get the project rolling was a factor behind it being delayed.

The official disclosed that the board has bought the software needed for the lab but was still looking for an expert.

“We’ve got the Polygon software which will help in generating reports while Nexus is also available which helps in capturing movements of the joints in 3-D.”

The board’s employee pointed out that injuries to Pakistani players were quite common and could be easily limited with the help of the biomechanics expert who can devise s specialised training method for each player according to the needs of his body.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 21^st, 2012.