Cricket research project to examine fast-bowler injuries

A cricket research project investigating the differences between male and female fast-bowlers and their injuries began at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in Canberra this week.

Led by Cricket Australia Sports Science Officer Marc Portus, the research team will collect data over the next two weeks from 30 medium-to-fast bowlers in the Women's National Cricket League on factors such as technique, flexibility, body composition and other individual characteristics.

The female players will then have their bowling performance and workload tracked over two seasons of cricket.

The research project aims to understand why female bowlers tend to sustain more shoulder injuries, while their male counterparts generally incur a higher incidence of back injuries.

Portus said the results of the project should provide important information for players and coaches in structuring workloads and programs, and preventing injury.

"Anecdotally, male and female fast-bowlers tend to sustain different types of injuries, and the purpose of this research is to try and understand the reason for that," said Portus.

"The results may help us determine ways to prepare fast-bowlers with fitness programs, and assist with technique improvement based on a number of individual components such as body type.

"That information becomes particularly valuable for coaches and athletes to try to prevent and reduce the number of injuries sustained by fast-bowlers and perhaps even prolong their careers."

A group of male fast-bowlers from the Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales will serve as a control base to compare and analyse the data collected from the female project participants.

Portus said a number of injuries to members of Australia's women's team, the Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars, over the past 12 months was cause to investigate fast-bowling injuries.

"From Australia's most recent series (a five-week tour against New Zealand and England), the physiotherapist provided 126 treatments - and 82 of them were either for the bowling/throwing shoulder, or the lower back," said Portus.

"Many of the injuries impede performance, interrupt, or even cut short a player's career and our task is to try to better understand why this occurs and how to prevent it."

The project is a joint research assignment between Cricket Australia, the AIS and the University of Sydney School of Exercise and Sport Science. The testing will be carried out at the AIS sports science/sports medicine facility and biomechanics laboratory.