Seasonal Incidence and Nature of Cricket Injuries among Elite South African Schoolboy Cricketers

Objective. To identify the incidence and nature of injuries sustained by elite South African schoolboy cricketers. Design. Data were collected retrospectively using a questionnaire. Cricketers recalled all injuries from June 2003 to May 2004. Setting. The population consisted of 196 cricketers representing all provincial teams in the 2004 under-19 Coca-Cola Khaya Majola cricket week. Results. Sixty-seven injuries were sustained by 196 cricketers; with an incidence of 34.2during the period under review. Injuries occurred during matches (71.6); throughout the season due to repetitive stresses sustained during matches and practices (14.9); during practice (11.9) and during other forms of training (1.5). Bowling accounted for 50.7of the injuries; fielding 32.8; batting 14.9and the remaining 1.5occurred while warming up or training. The primary mechanism of injury occurred during the delivery stride and follow through of the fast bowler (34.3). Eighty seven per cent of the injuries were first-time injuries while 13were recurrent. Most injuries (40.6) reported were severe and took the cricketers more than 21 days to recover. Cricketers were more prone to injury during December and January. Conclusion. The incidence and nature of injuries have been recorded and potential risk factors for injury have been identified. It is suggested that coaches and cricketers partake in continuous educational processes that focus on all the physical; mental and technical components necessary for success in cricket; with a national database

A Review of Cricket Injuries and the Effectiveness of Strategies to Prevent Cricket Injuries at all Levels

Objective. This review evaluates the scientific research on cricket injuries; including long-term injury surveillance studies; the consensus statement paper for injury surveillance; specific counter-measures to reduce the risk of cricket injuries and finally identifies areas of future concern. Results. The literature shows that three major cricketplaying countries; Australia; England and South Africa; have collected long-term injury data. While these sets of data show definite trends; it was not always possible tomake direct comparisons between data collected in various countries. As a result a consensus statement paper with regards to definitions and methods to calculate injuryrates; incidence and prevalence was developed. The first study using this newly accepted injury surveillance method showed injury patterns in West Indies domestic andnational cricket teams. There have been three primary studies carried out with regards to interventions aimed at reducing the risk of injury to fast bowlers. These includeda coaching interventions programme; the use of a bowling aid in an attempt to modify bowling technique and a study that evaluated the recommended bowling workloadsin young cricketers. The implications of the changes to the laws relating to the bowling action and the increased usage of the sliding stop in fielding are reviewed. Conclusion. From the review it is evident that there is a need to continue with injury surveillance; as well as a need to continue with and increase the number of studies that evaluate the efficacy of intervention strategies in order to reduce the risk of injury to cricketers