What type of energy does "a batsman hitting a ball" use?

Concept

Kinetic energy is the energy a body possesses because of its motion. Any object that is moving has kinetic energy, and its amount grows with the object's mass and with the square of its speed.

Application

When a batsman strikes a ball, the bat is swung through the air, so the bat is a moving body. It is this movement of the bat that drives the ball forward and does the work on impact. The energy supplied by the moving bat is, by definition, kinetic energy, so the energy used here is Kinetic Energy.

Why the other choices do not fit

• Potential Energy is stored energy that depends on position or configuration (for example a raised weight or a stretched spring), not on the act of swinging; the bat's action is motion, not stored position.

• Frictional Energy is not a basic form of mechanical energy at all — friction dissipates energy as heat; it does not describe the energy of the moving bat.

• Gravitational Energy is the potential energy due to height in a gravitational field; the hitting action is governed by the bat's motion, not by a change in height.