A fast-moving cricket ball hurts much more to catch than a slow-moving one because its kinetic energy increases quadratically with speed.

Kinetic energy is directly proportional to an object's mass and the square of its velocity. According to the work-energy theorem, the work done in accelerating a body from rest appears entirely as its kinetic energy. Because velocity is squared in the formula, even small increases in speed result in a quadratic increase in kinetic energy.

Always verify whether the velocity term needs to be squared and remember to include the half-factor ($1/2$) when applying the kinetic energy formula in numerical problems.